Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has projected that the airline will carry 300 million passengers, not 216 million as originally planned, by the time average fares hit the €45 to €50 range in 10 years.
The airline expects to scale up radically to 300 million annual passengers, building on its current rolling base of roughly 211.8 million travelers.
Mr O’Leary expects average ticket prices to steadily adjust to €45–€50, below current levels. He notes that this rise is primarily driven by external macroeconomic realities, including rising environmental taxes, oil price volatility, and structural airport fee hikes across Europe.
If these scale milestones are met, the airline projects annual net profits to climb towards €4 billion. The mid-200 million passenger metric reflects Ryanair’s immediate, near-term goals rather than its 10-year target. The airline originally targeted roughly 215 million passengers for the upcoming financial year.
He says ongoing supply chain constraints and delivery delays from aircraft manufacturer Boeing have forced Ryanair to temper its short-term expectation closer to 206 million to 210 million passengers.
O’Leary famously summarised this grand vision by joking that by the time the airline hits these massive targets, he will likely be “in a home for the bewildered.”
