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No-frills airline Ryanair celebrates 20 years of flying today with latest figures showing a 19% increase in passenger figures and post-tax profit.

The Irish carrier, launched in 1985, carried 27.6 million passengers and made a net profit of 268.9 million euros in the year ending March 31 2005.

This represents a 19% increase on 2003/04’s results when it carried 23.1 million passengers and profits were 226.6 million euros.

Revenue leapt by 24% to 1.33 billion euros in the past financial year.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary confirmed Ryanair would push ahead with plans to buy up to 147 Boeing 737-800s by 2012, despite the fact high fuel prices are financially squeezing airline budgets.

"Clearly fuel costs remain high and the market is volatile. Higher oil prices will continue to impact our cost base over the coming 12 months," O'Leary said.

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