The Irish budget airline Ryanair said recently that their third-quarter profit had soared 50 per cent from the year before, fuelled by a 46-per cent rise in passenger numbers.
The no-frills carrier, which said earlier it was to buy smaller rival Buzz from KLM, said net profit rose to 43.2m euros ($46.7m) in the three months ended December 31 2002, from 28.2m euros in the same period a year earlier. Passenger traffic for the quarter grew 46 per cent to 3.9 million, buoyed by an eight-percent cut in average fares, while the average load factor - the number of seats actually filled - jumped to 86 per cent from 79 per cent the year before. The company also lifted its forecast for full-year profit to 235m euros from 230 million previously.