The budget carrier on Monday (4 April) said it now expects to record a pre-exceptional net loss for the year to 31 March of between €350 million to €400 million.

This compares to previous guidance placing the loss at between €250 million and €450 million.

Ryanair said group traffic over a rolling 12 month period to the end of March had so far recovered to more than 97 million passengers – up from 27.5 million in its previous full year, which was heavily impacted by Covid-19, but still well behind pre-pandemic levels (149 million).

It operated more than 67,800 flights in March, carrying 11.2 million passengers on a load factor of 87% – its highest passenger count since October.

"December, January and February traffic was badly affected by Omicron restrictions," said Ryanair in a note accompanying its latest traffic figures. "March traffic was impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine which caused 2,000 flights to/from Ukraine to be cancelled in March due to airspace closures."

Net debt to 31 March 2022 fell to €1.5 billion, down from €2.3 billion at the end of its previous financial year.

Ryanair has also increased its fuel hedging for the next 12 months to provide 80% coverage of its needs. The airline will issue its full-year results on 16 May.