Irish airline Ryanair has reported a six per cent increase in full year net profit to €1.316billion.

It said the combination of a 13 per cent cut in average fares, coupled with Year 3 of its "Always Getting Better" programme delivered 13 per cent traffic growth to 120million customers.

Ryanair's chief executive officer Michael O'Leary said: "We are pleased to report a six per cent increase in profit after tax to €1.316billion, despite difficult trading conditions in FY17 caused by a series of security events at European cities, a switch of charter capacity from North Africa, Turkey and Egypt to mainland Europe, and a sharp decline in Sterling following the June 2016 Brexit vote.

"During FY17 we took delivery of 52 new B737's, launched 206 new routes, and opened 10 new bases at primary airports in Bucharest, Corfu, Frankfurt Main, Hamburg, Ibiza, Nuremburg, Prague, Sofia, Timisoara and Vilnius.

"Our fleet will grow to 427 aircraft by March '18 as we increase traffic to 130million customers."

The airline said: "Ryanair actively campaigned for a remain vote in the UK Referendum. We were disappointed by the result, and are concerned at the significant uncertainty over the terms of the UK's departure from the EU in March 2019. For our customers, we hope the UK will remain in Open Skies which will mean no change for UK consumers and visitors.

"However, the UK has indicated that it does not wish to do so, and until we get clarity over the final terms of the UK's future trading relationship with the EU, there must be significant uncertainty over flights between the UK and the EU for a period of time from March 2019 onwards.

A "hard" Brexit could cause significant disruption to UK/EU flights for a period of months after March 2019, which is why we must remain flexible. In the absence of such certainty, or direction, we will continue to pivot our growth away from the UK in 2017 and 2018 to capitalise on the many growth opportunities elsewhere in Europe.

"We have contingency plans and will adapt to changed circumstances in the best interests of our customers."

Picture: Ryanair