Ryanair has increased its profit forecast for its full financial year to the end of March to €275m. That compares to its previous guidance at the lower end of the €200-€300m range.
The airline reported a smaller than expected loss of €10.9m for the three months to the end of December, compared to a loss of €101.5m the same time the previous year.
Revenues over the three months rose by 1% to €612m as 14% growth in its traffic numbers was offset by a 12% fall in average fares.
Ryanair's ancillary revenues grew by 6%, which the airline noted was slower than the growth of passenger volumes due to changes in consumer behaviour and euro/sterling exchange rate.
The airline's fuel costs fell by 37% to €207m, reflecting the benefit of lower oil prices and it said it has recently extended its hedging for the fiscal year 2011 with 90% of the first three quarters and 25% of the fourth quarter now hedged at $720 per tonne.
Ryanair said market conditions remained difficult, but it was still gaining market share from the three leading flag carrier groups Deutsche Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways.
'Our third quarter results were marginally ahead of expectations as a better mix of new routes and bases meant that yields fell by 12% rather that the up to 20% fall we previously guided,' commented Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary.
'Ryanair remains uniquely positioned to benefit from the accelerating pace of airline consolidation and closures in Europe, which has led to significant capacity reductions,' he added.
Ryanair shares had gained 6.7% to end at €3.57 in Dublin this afternoon - up 22 cent.
