Ryanair's third quarter results show profit after tax fell 12% to €149 million, although passenger traffic was up 9%.

It comes on top of an 18% fall in profits in the previous quarter.

On Breakfast Business, Ryanair’s chief financial officer Neil Sorahan said despite being down again in year-to-date, they had a “relatively good quarter”.

"Relatively good quarter"

“Down again year-to-date but in the quarter, we had a relatively good quarter,” he said.

“We saw profit increase of €15 million last year in Q3 to €149 million in the current quarter.

“So, I think we've turned the corner on the fares, where they were down in the first half of the year quite significantly, we saw fares up 1% in the third quarter.

“We're guiding now relatively strong profits for the full year in a range of about €1.55 billion to €1.61 billion which would be a good performance in the year.”

Passengers wait in the terminal at Dublin Aiport with a Ryanair flight outside. Image: Alamy

Mr Sorahan is “pleased” with the company’s costs rising by 8%.

“It lagged behind the 9% increase in traffic, so on a per passenger basis, we saw our cost per passenger down 1% in line with expectations,” he said .

“On a full year basis, we would expect our total cost per passenger to be relatively flat.

“This has been helped hugely by the fuel hedging that we have in the business, where we've locked in at savings this year and that's helped offset some labour inflation in the business, but also ongoing Boeing delivery delays.”

"Drop the traffic target"

Boeing delivery delays mean that Ryanair have had to drop their traffic target.

“[I’m] disappointed that we've had to drop the traffic target again,” Mr Sorahan said.

“We're now looking at about 206 million passengers in the coming financial year, which starts for us on the first of April.

“That said, myself and Michael were in Seattle a couple of weeks ago [and] we've seen notable improvements in the production line in Seattle.

“So I'd have a strong level of confidence that the additional nine aircrafts that we need to get to 181 Game Changers ahead of this summer and to deliver those extra passengers - I'd be relatively confident we'll get there.

“Equally, I have a high level of confidence that the remaining 29 aircrafts in our 210 Game Changer aircraft order book will come in ahead of the summer of next year, which will enable us then to catch up lost traffic from this year and grow to about 215 million passengers.”

A Ryanair plane takes off from Stansted Airport, © PA Wire/PA Images

Mr Sorahan said it’s “disappointing” that Boeing didn't ramp up faster after their workers’ strike but they are “moving in the right direction”.

He is hopeful that the new Government review of the passenger cap at Dublin Airport will be “high on the list” of things to do.

A Ryanair plane comes into land at Stansted Airport. Essex, © PA Archive/PA Images