The budget carrier said strong pent-up travel demand over Christmas and new year, "with no adverse impact from Covid or war in Ukraine", drove up holiday season traffic and fares.
It now expects to record a third-quarter (three months to 31 December 2022) profit – after tax – of around €200 million.
Ryanair does, though, anticipate its winter fourth-quarter (three months to 31 March 2023) to be loss-making owing to a "recent softening" in UK and Irish traffic and pricing, and with Easter falling in April.
Nonetheless, Ryanair expects its 2022/23 full-year (year to 31 March 2023) passenger guidance of 168 million to materialise as forecast.
It has raised its 2022/23 full-year post-tax profit guidance from a current range of €1 billion to €1.2 billion to a new range of €1.325 billion to €1.425 billion.
However, Ryanair warned: "This guidance remains heavily dependent on avoiding adverse events in Q4 such as Covid or the war in Ukraine."
On Wednesday (4 January), Ryanair reported a 21% year-on-year increase in its December passenger carryings from 9.5 million in December 2021 to 11.5 million in December 2022, while its full 2022 calendar year carryings came in at 160.4 million, up 121% year-on-year.
Ryanair will issue its next formal market update on Monday 30 January detailing its third-quarter results.
