Ryanair has reported a loss of €96m for the final three months of 2021 but said it was hopeful that rivals' cuts to capacity may help push prices up in the key summer season.
The result was in line with a consensus estimate of a €101m loss in a company poll of analysts.
The airline lost €306m in the same quarter of 2020 and made a profit of €88m in the last three months of 2019.
Ryanair, Europe's largest by passenger numbers, reiterated its forecast loss for its full financial year, which ends on March 31, at between €250m and €450m.
Group chief executive Michael O'Leary said that while there had been a "very strong bounce back" in bookings in recent weeks as concerns about the Omicron variant began to fade, the outlook remained hugely uncertain.
"While recent bookings have improved, following easing of travel restrictions, the booking curve remains very late and close-in, so Q4 traffic requires significant price stimulation at lower prices," Michael O'Leary said.
The outlook for its fourth quarter remains "hugely uncertain," he added.
"We would caution all shareholders to expect further Covid disruptions before we here in Europe and the rest of the world can finally declare that the Covid crisis is behind us," he added.
Ryanair also reaffirmed its expectation that it would fly just under 100 million passengers this financial year.
Michael O'Leary last week said he expected to fly 165 million passengers in the 12 months to March 2023.
The airline carried 31.1 million passengers in the three month period, significantly up on the 8.1 million at the end of 2020.
Its load factor - how many seats it fills on each flight - increased to 84% from 70% in the same quarter of the previous year.
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Rivals EasyJet and Wizz have both said they expect strong demand for summer holidays, but Wizz said excess capacity in the coming months could weight on profitability.
Quarter of two halves
Neil Sorahan, Chief Financial Officer with Ryanair, described the three month period as a 'quarter of two halves.'
He said it started strongly with the mid-term break delivering load factors of up to 86%, but then the Omicron variant of Covid struck.
"Omicron had a big impact on Christmas bookings and new year. We lost between 1.5 and 2 million high yielding customers and we cut about one third of January capacity," he explained.
He told Morning Ireland that the airline was eyeing growth opportunities as it came out the other side of the omicron wave with the airline aiming to operate at 114% of summer 2019 capacity in the summer of this year.
Mr Sorahan said there was great value to be found in air travel in the months ahead with the market requiring what he described as 'price stimulation'.
However, he did not rule out fare increases down the tracks as demand returns and airlines operate with reduced capacity.
"Fuel is rising. I think that will put upwards pressure on fares, particularly for our competitors who are not hedged," he said.
Ryanair says it has 80% of its fuel requirements hedged into the summer with another 70% hedged into the winter period.
Hedging is a practice whereby airlines secure their future fuel needs at a fixed or capped cost, thereby protecting them should prices rise.
However, they can end up effectively over-paying if the price of fuel falls in the interim.
Airlines like the certainty that hedging gives them.
Neil Sorahan said Russia-Ukraine tensions had not impacted Ryanair's performance.
"We have a small operating in Ukraine. I think in time to come it will be an interesting growth market but as things stand we won't have any bases. We do have operations in and out and we're keeping it under review," he explained.
Earlier, Mr Sorahan told Reuters that the airline was "nowhere close" to a new deal with Boeing on a new order for 737 jets.
Ryanair in September abruptly ended talks with the US planemaker over an order of 737 MAX 10 jets worth tens of billions of dollars because of differences over price but has said it remains in contact with Boeing, its dominant supplier.
Ryanair shares ended lower in Dublin trade today.
