Ryanair sees profit slump after Italian anti-competition fine

Ryanair reported a sharp drop in profits in the third quarter of its financial year, which ended in December.

The Irish airline's accounts were particularly squeezed by a fine imposed by Italy's antitrust authority.

Post-tax profit came in at €30mn, down over 80% from €149mn a year earlier.

This was despite a year-on-year increase in passenger numbers during the quarter, from a total of 44.9 million to 47.5 million.

In December, the low-cost carrier was ordered by Italy's antitrust watchdog to pay a €256mn fine for "abusing its dominant position" and for obstructing the activities of travel agencies and intermediaries.

According to the watchdog, Ryanair pursued "a complex strategy" aimed at "blocking, hindering or making more difficult ... the purchase of flights on ryanair.com when combined with flights operated by other carriers and/or other tourism and insurance services".

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The authority specifically explained that the airline acted in three stages.

Firstly, it introduced facial recognition procedures for people who bought tickets via a third party, penalising the activities of intermediaries.

Then it "totally or intermittently blocked booking attempts by travel agencies on its site", including by blocking payment methods or deleting accounts.

Finally, at the start of 2024, Ryanair imposed partnership agreements on online travel agencies that banned sales of Ryanair flights in combinations with other carriers, then extending this to physical agencies. The watchdog found that Ryanair intermittently blocked bookings and led an aggressive communications campaign against agencies that didn't sign its agreements.

Only last year, the airline introduced technical changes that enabled "the restoration of proper competitive conditions", making it easier for third parties to sell Ryanair flights.

Ryanair has appealed the Italian fine, branding it as "baseless".

Optimistic forecasts

Despite the third-quarter loss, the airline said it expects traffic in the 2026 financial year to grow 4%, reaching around 208 million passengers.

It is also specified that costs are expected to rise only modestly, thanks to deliveries of new aircraft and hedging against fuel price fluctuations, which should help offset some expenses that are set to increase.

Ryanair predicts fares will exceed a previous growth forecast of 7% by 1 to 2 percentage points, resulting in annual pre-tax profits of €2.13bn to €2.23bn.