Ryanair has reported profits down by one third in the period April to June this year as a result of an “oil price spike”.
Profits after tax fell from €820 million between April to June 2025 to €538 million in the same period this year.
Ryanair said the drop was “primarily due to the impact of the Middle East conflict” as well as Easter partly falling in the previous accounting period.
The Irish-based airline said 80 percent of its fuel was hedged until 2027, meaning it had guaranteed prices on four fifths of the jet fuel it needs.
But the remaining 20 percent must be bought at current market prices, which are currently riding high.
Ryanair said that it had to work harder to encourage people to book flights – including by lowering fares – due to nervousness about flying.
Fares “required stimulation as the Middle East conflict led to consumer hesitancy, concerns about EU jet-fuel shortages, economic uncertainty and later bookings,” the airline said.
Ryanair said it was in the process of concentrating on profitable routes including cutting back on flights to and from Dublin which it complains is an expensive destination.
“Our scarce capacity is being switched to those States, Regions and Airports cutting aviation taxes and lowering fees to incentivise growth (such as Albania, Italy, Morocco, Slovakia and Sweden) as we withdraw flights and traffic away from high tax/high cost markets like Austria, Dublin, Germany and Regional Spain.”
The level of profits for the rest of the year “remains highly sensitive to adverse external developments, incl. conflict escalation in the Middle East and Ukraine, the price of unhedged jet-fuel, macro-economic shocks and continuing European ATC strikes”, Ryanair warned.