Record: this is how many passengers boarded a Ryanair plane last year

Irish airline Ryanair carried a record number of just over 200 million passengers in the past financial year, an increase of 9 percent compared to the previous year.

According to Ryanair, the growth comes despite delays in deliveries of new Boeing aircraft. For this year, the budget airline expects growth to 206 million passengers.

In the previous financial year , Europe's largest airline transported 183.7 million passengers. According to Ryanair, the increase is mainly due to lower ticket prices. These prices fell by 7 percent.

Ryanair says bookings for the key summer season are strong, but it is too early to give a profit forecast for the whole of this year. Ryanair points to uncertainties due to import duties imposed by US President Donald Trump. But macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties also play a role, the company says.

The airline had previously twice lowered its expectations for passenger growth this year due to delayed deliveries of Boeing aircraft. Originally, it had expected 215 million passengers. Boeing has been faced with delivery delays due to, among other things, a major factory strike last year, which disrupted production.

Ryanair earlier this month also threatened to stop ordering Boeing planes if they become more expensive due to Trump's trade war. The European Union has said it could impose tariffs on Boeing aircraft in retaliation for U.S. tariffs. Ryanair is Boeing's largest customer in Europe.

Net profit fell by 16 percent to over 1.6 billion euros in the financial year that ended in March. Ryanair also announced that it would buy back 750 million euros worth of its own shares in the next six to twelve months.

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ANP