Ryanair proves once again to be one of the world’s most profitable airlines in Europe. The budget airline released its figures for the 2026 financial year, posting net profits north of 2.1 Billion Euro.
In this post:
- Ryanair’s FY26 at a Glance
- Revenues Soar With Fuel Spike Impact Minimal
- Staff Costs Down And Hedged Fuel Push Net Profits Up 34%
- How The Global Instability Can Actually Boost Ryanair Revenue and Profit
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Ryanair’s FY26 at a Glance
| FY (millions) | 2026 | 2025 | VAR | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Revenue | 10,556.0 | 9,229.8 | 1.326.20 | 14,37% |
| Ancillary Revenue | 4,988.3 | 4,718.7 | 269.60 | 5,71% |
| Total Operating Revenue | 15,544.3 | 13,948.5 | 1.595.80 | 11,44% |
| Fuel | 5,418.6 | 5,220.2 | 198.40 | 3,80% |
| Staff Costs | 1,856.5 | 1,751.1 | 105.40 | 6,02% |
| Airport Handing | 1,762.3 | 1.683.5 | 78.80 | 4,68% |
| Maintenance | 552.6 | 476.2 | 76.40 | 16,04% |
| Operating Expenses | 13,170.1 | 12,390.5 | 779.60 | 6,29% |
| Operating Profit | 2,374.2 | 1,558 | 816.20 | 52,39% |
| Pre Tax Profit | 2,423.3 | 1,784.4 | 638.90 | 35,80% |
| Taxes | 249.6 | 172.8 | 76.80 | 44,44% |
| Net Profit | 2,173.7 | 1,611.6 | 562.10 | 34,88% |
| Operating Margin | 15.27% | 11.17% | 4.1pp | 36,74% |
| Net Margin | 13.98% | 11.55% | 2.4pp | 21,03% |
Revenues Soar With Fuel Spike Impact Minimal
While other budget carriers have faced some headwinds in recent times, such as Wizz Air, Ryanair is simply charging ahead with soaring revenues and profits, despite geopolitical instability and supply-chain constraints.
Ryanair’s financial comes to an end on March 30th and 2026 saw the airline post a 2.173 billion Euro net profit from 15.5 operating revenue.
Revenue rose in double digits in flight operations, up to 10.5 billion euro by +14.3% from last year’s 9.2 billion euro, it also rose by 5.71% from ancillary revenues hitting 4.9 billion euro from last year’s 4.7 billion.
Much of the merit is Ryanair’s own to have increased further its continental footprint. However, the struggles of other budget carriers in the space, such as Wizz Air, certainly helped the Irish budget airline reach these record highs.
Staff Costs Down And Hedged Fuel Push Net Profits Up 34%
In a low margin industry as aviation Ryanair’s capability of achieving consistent double digit net margins year in and year out is absolutely remarkable.
FY26 was no exception. Ryanair achieved an operating margin of 15.27%, which is up by 36% YoY, and a 13.97% net margin which is up by 36.74% YoY.
That was possible thanks to Ryanair suffering minimal impact in the final months of the FY from the fuel price spike as it has a massive portion of its fuel hedged (in excess of 80%) and further cost cutting which enhanced profits further.
Speaking of fuel, the airline has massively hedged its fuel needs well into 2027 meaning that the impact of any fuel price volatility will have a softened blow to the bottom line compared to other carriers. That also means that Ryanair can plan and price well in advance without the nasty surprise of a higher fuel bill than expected.
How The Global Instability Can Actually Boost Ryanair Revenue and Profit
Although the primary result of the middle eastern conflict, higher fuel prices, certainly hurts Ryanair the secondary result of passengers remaining more within the European area certainly will help boost Ryanair’s revenues and profits.
I’m sure that Michael O’Leary and his management will be looking with a bullish outlook at the coming months of Q2 (Q3 for most European carriers) as many passengers have steered away from long haul travel for this year and chosen to remain within Europe.
That means that potentially more users will fly Ryanair to get to their European holiday destination. That means a larger pool of clientele the airline can fish in this summer time which should translate to even higher revenues in the crucial summer months where Ryanair makes most of its profits.