BSS/AFP) - Irish no-frills airline Ryanair on Monday announced a rise in net profit for its second quarter on increased ticket prices.

Profit after tax jumped to 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion) compared with 1.4 billion euros one year earlier, the Dublin-based carrier said in a statement.

The group expects full-year traffic to increase more than three percent to 207 million passengers due to earlier-than-expected Boeing plane deliveries and strong first-half demand.

Delays to Boeing aircraft delivery had caused Ryanair to cut its passenger growth target in the past year.

Revenue jumped eight percent to around 5.5 billion euros.

Fares increased 13 percent in the first half of its fiscal year, thanks in part to a favourable timing of Easter holidays in its first quarter.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O`Leary said the company expects to "recover all of last year`s seven-percent full-year fare decline".

He added that Ryanair forecasts "reasonable net profit growth" in its 2026 fiscal year.

The company said it has switched more capacity this winter to regions "cutting aviation taxes and incentivising traffic growth", such as Sweden, Slovakia, Italy, Albania and Morocco.

It added that it has switched flights away from "high cost, uncompetitive markets", including Germany, Austria and Spain.