Low cost airline Ryanair posted a 26 percent profit increase to €401m in the year to March compared to €319m the previous year.
 
Revenue rose 21 percent to €3.63bn from €2.98bn year-on-year due to a 12 percent jump in airfares, the company said on Monday.
 
“We were pleased to deliver a 26 percent increase in profits and eight percent traffic growth, despite higher oil prices, the global recession, and volcanic ash disruptions in Q1 last year,” CEO Michael O'Leary said.
 
The no frills airline also reported an eight percent increase in passenger traffic with a total of 72.1 million passengers. However, O'Leary warned that traffic growth is expected to slow to four percent in 2012 from last year's eight percent.

He said: “Since we have limited visibility on bookings, we remain concerned at the impact of the recession, austerity measures, and falling consumer confidence on fares.”
 
“Despite these concerns we cautiously expect that our average fares will rise by up to 12 percent this year due to a better mix of new routes and bases, slower traffic growth, and higher competitor fuel surcharges,” O'Leary added.