Ryanair profit more than doubles as fares jump
Profit after tax rose 128 per cent to €820m (£710m) over the three months ended June, alongside a 21 per cent increase in ticket prices.
Revenue rose by a fifth to €4.34bn as the low-cost carrier reported a four per cent increase in passenger numbers to 57.9m, at a load factor of 94 per cent.
Chief executive Michael O'Leary said quarterly air fares had 'substantially benefitted' from having a full Easter holiday in April, alongside a weaker prior year comparison.
Ryanair forecast a summer fare hike in May after a year in which lower fares caused a 16 per cent drop in profit.
O'Leary said it was too early to provide meaningful annual profit guidance amid highly variable external factors, including conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine, the risk of tariff wars and European air traffic control 'mismanagement.'
The airline earlier this month called on the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, to step down after industrial action by French air traffic controllers caused hundreds of flight cancellations.
Ryanair hits out at Boeing delivery delays
Ryanair on Monday pinned full-year passenger growth of just three per cent on 'heavily delayed' Boeing deliveries. It took in five new Boeing 737 Gamechangers over the quarter, bringing its total fleet to 618.
'This summer we will operate over 2,600 routes, including 160 new routes, and we're seeing strong summer travel demand across our network,' O'Leary said.
'Our group airlines capacity constrained growth is being allocated to those regions and airports who are cutting aviation taxes and incentivising traffic growth, and we expect this trend to continue.'
Competitive fuel hedging would provide a 'key advantage' amid volatile oil markets, the airline added, with the 2026 financial year nearly 85 per cent hedged at $76bbl.

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Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
How Trump's AI orders could throw states for a loop
EXAM ROOM A day after President Donald Trump unveiled plans to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence in health care, one expert warns that some aspects of the initiative could complicate state laws aimed at preventing discrimination in health care. Dan Silverboard, a health care attorney at Holland & Knight, says the White House AI Action Plan's requirement that the National Institute of Standards and Technology remove references to diversity, equity and inclusion could create significant challenges for state regulations. As the nation's primary technology standards body, NIST suggests standards and guidance on AI development and implementation. Within the health care sector, there's considerable concern that AI could make decisions that discriminate against certain patients. In 2022, NIST addressed the concerns by releasing recommended practices for managing bias and discrimination in AI — which Silverboard says may soon disappear. 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Message us on Signal: CarmenP.82, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. WORLD VIEW Hackers love Europe's hospitals, our colleague in Europe, Giedrė Peseckytė, reports. The European Union's health care sector was targeted in 309 cybersecurity incidents in 2023 — more than in any other critical sector. The cost of a major incident typically reached €300,000 or approximately $350,000. For cybercriminals, targeting health data 'is a perfect business plan,' according to Christos Xenakis, professor at the department of digital systems at the University of Piraeus, Greece. 'It's easy to steal data, and what you steal, you can sell it at a high price.' Ransomware attacks — where hackers lock data and demand a ransom — dominate the sector, an EU Agency for Cybersecurity report showed. 'They achieve two targets: One is to get the data and sell [it], and the other is to encrypt the whole system, disrupt the whole system and ask for money,' Xenakis said. 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Xenakis believes the health care sector sees cybersecurity as a 'luxury,' not an essential. Health care staff are unaware of the risks, he believes, resulting in poor 'cyber hygiene.' Findings from the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, an independent public foundation supervised by the Finnish Parliament, back this up. While many health care organizations have cybersecurity policies in place, they're often not 'clearly communicated or consistently understood by their staff.' High personnel turnover — not just among medics but also among cybersecurity officers — further 'exacerbates training gaps and the ability to enforce cybersecurity policies.' Europe mounts a response: In response to increasing cyberattacks on health care systems, the European Commission unveiled an 'action plan' for cybersecurity in hospitals and the health care sector in January. 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SMALL BYTES The Food and Drug Administration is adding more AI talent to its roster. The agency has brought on radiologist Rick Abramson to help support the agency's AI efforts, according to two current FDA staffers granted anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. Abramson previously served as Vanderbilt University's first vice chair for innovation in its Department of Radiology. He also briefly served as an adviser to the Office of Management and Budget under former President Bill Clinton. The Department of Health and Human Services did not return a request for comment as of press time.


News24
an hour ago
- News24
EU says China's links with Russia now 'determining factor' in ties
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Crypto Asset Manager CoinShares Secures EU-Wide MiCA License
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