Ryanair has upgraded its traffic guidance for the current financial year, despite its profit after tax dropping by 80% to €30m following a €256m fine by the Italian Competition Authority.

In Q3, the budget airline reported that its traffic increased by 6% year-on-year to 47.5 million passengers, while its revenue jumped by 9% to €3.21bn.

Ryaniar's average fare increased by 4% to €44 as a result of its strong October school mid-term and close-in Christmas and New Year bookings.

However, the latest update comes after the Italian Competition Authority levied what Ryanair described as a "baseless" fine for its direct distribution to consumers policy in Italy.

The airline, which expects the fine to be overturned on appeal, has applied an €85m exceptional charge to its profit after tax. Excluding this cost, its profit after tax still dropped by 22% year-on-year to €115m.

Ryanair stated that while it has increased its fleet of Gamechangers aircraft to facilitate its traffic growth, it expects its European short-haul capacity to remain constrained until at least 2030 as the big two original equipment manufacturers remain "well behind on aircraft deliveries".

However, the airline has said that it allocated its "scarce capacity" across the winter to regions and airports cutting aviation taxes and incentivising traffic growth, including Albania, Morocco, Slovakia and Sweden, by switching flights and routes away from high cost.

This trend has continued into 2026, with over 106 new routes on sale.

As a result, Ryanair has raised its traffic guidance from 207 million to 208 million passengers in the 2026 financial year, which represents a 4% year-on-year increase. It stated that this represents strong demand and earlier than expected Boeing deliveries.

Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould, said that although profits have dropped, Ryanair does not seem overly phased by its Q3 performance.

He concluded: "Ryanair’s third quarter profits have taken a nosedive after suffering a multi-million-euro competition fine in Italy. Even putting that fine aside, profits have still declined in the period. Ryanair doesn’t seem too worried, with an upgrade to full-year traffic guidance and fare growth.

"Running an airline is all about getting as many bums as possible on seats, selling extras, and keeping costs low. Ryanair is good at all these things, and it has form in riding out short bursts of turbulence. The downward trend in the oil price works in its favour and it has locked in a big chunk of its fuel requirements for the next financial year at a much lower price than the current year."

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