Ryanair made a post-tax profit of €2.15 billion over the past six months, down 15%. Revenue per passenger also fell 3% as costs rose, especially fuel.

Ryanair has released its half-yearly results for the financial year and profits have dropped significantly for the airline.

Revenue per passenger has fallen by 3%, with the airline's post-tax profit coming to €2.15billion, down 15% overall.

Considering the costs of running an airline are rising, especially when it comes to fuel costs, with the unhedged or unfixed price of fuel doubling to $130 per barrel.

Speaking on Breakfast Business with Joe Lynam, Ryanair's CFO Neil Sorahan explained that there were a number of "moving parts" that contributed to the overall profit figures.

He shared: "[There are] a number of moving parts. We've had the Middle East conflict, which despite the fact that we saw traffic grow strongly up 6% to 126 million passengers, they come in at 4% lower fares.

"Some of that was due to the timing of Easter. We didn't have a full Easter in the first quarter, but most of it was driven by consumer hesitancy and closer in bookings as a result of the Middle East crisis.

"And then, importantly, as you rightly said, we saw our unhedged fuel double to $130 a barrel.

"So, while 80% of our fuel was hedged at $67 a barrel, the unhedged fuel was doubled at just over $130 a barrel, and that drove a 10% increase in costs.

"So, profits came in down 15% to €2.15 billion, which is still a very strong performance in the current volatile markets in which we're operating at the moment in relation to fuel."

While Michael O'Leary hinted last month that fares would be going up next summer, Ryanair does have new aircrafts coming in the new year that could help with fuel costs.

Mr Sorahan explained: "These are phenomenal aircraft. There's an awful lot to like about them, Joe. I mean, they're 20 percent more fuel efficient.

"I'd be delighted to take an awful lot more than 16, but we're getting 16 of these aircraft into the summer of next year, which is ahead of the 15 that was originally planned. So, Boeing are doing a good job getting the aircraft to us.

"But in addition to being 20 percent more fuel efficient, they also have 20 percent more seats. So, we can get more productivity and cost savings from these aircraft.

"We bought them coming out of COVID, so we bought them at a very attractive price.

"We're very excited and very much looking forward to getting the first of these aircraft, hopefully in January or early February."

Main image: Ryanair plane coming in to land Pic: Pixabay