Profit after tax at Ryanair have increased by 34% to €1.43bn (£1.22bn) as its number of passengers jumped by 23% compared to the pre-COVID years.

The Irish airline also saw its revenue increase by 25% in the year to March 2024, reaching €10.78bn (£9.22bn), as its traffic grew by 9% to 184 million passengers, despite a 32% increase in average ticket prices.

Ryanair added that its increased revenue helped to offset a "significantly higher fuel bill", which increased by 32% in the same period to €5.14bn (£4.4bn).

In this time, the airline said that it was able to open five new bases across the year, with over 200 new routes being opened for summer 2024.

As part of the group’s outlook, it said that it expects to grow its traffic in the 2025 financial year to between 198-200 million passengers.

Furthermore, the Ryanair board has approved a €700m (£599m) share buyback scheme, which will be launched later this week, which once completed, will increase the funds that the airline has returned to shareholders to over €7.8bn (£6.67bn) since 2008.

Head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, Danni Hewson, said: "It might seem counterintuitive that Ryanair’s share price is enduring a bit of turbulence after the low-cost airline announced record passenger numbers and profits, but the prospect that ticket price cuts might be on the way has subdued sentiment.

"The post-pandemic demand for travel gave carriers an opportunity to recoup rising costs despite a cost-of-living crisis which ate into consumers’ disposable income. But even if people are beginning to feel a little better off as inflation falls, they are remaining cautious, which could have an impact on the number of bums on seats once the summer surge is over.

“Like rival airlines Ryanair needs to keep planes as full as possible to maintain margins, so keener pricing could be a requirement in those leaner winter months. That prospect is dragging London listed EasyJet along for the ride, its shares still struggling after last week’s announcement that its CEO is stepping down.”

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