*

Fares seen down less than 5% in current quarter

*

Sees Boeing ( BA ) delivering 15 of 30 MAX aircraft by next

summer

*

Trims FY26 traffic forecast from 215 million to 210

million

(Adds CFO commentary in paragraphs 5, 8-9; Adds expects to take

delivery of 15 or 30 Boeing ( BA ) jets by next summer, paragraph 6)

By Conor Humphries

DUBLIN, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Budget airline Ryanair

said on Monday that average fares fell 10% in the six months

ended September, leading to an 18% year-on-year fall in

first-half profit, but its current quarter bookings looked

strong and ticket price weakness was moderating.

After-tax profit for the first half of Ryanair's financial

year was 1.79 billion euros ($1.95 billion), just short of the

1.8 billion euro profit forecast in a company poll of analysts.

But the Irish airline, Europe's largest low-cost carrier,

said average fares in the current quarter would be only

"modestly lower" than the same period last year.

Chief Financial Officer Neil Sorahan told Reuters that fare

declines in the current quarter ending in December would likely

be below 5%. "Things appear to be strong" in the quarter, he

said.

Ryanair said it would trim its passenger growth target for

its next financial year, which ends on March 31, 2026, to 210

million passengers from 215 million to reflect delivery delays

from Boeing ( BA ).

That is based on the assumption that Boeing ( BA ) delivers 15

of 30 737 MAX aircraft that were due to arrive by next summer,

but "there is a high risk around that number" due to the Boeing ( BA )

strike, Sorahan said.

Boeing ( BA ) shares gained 3.5% on Friday on bets that the

planemaker's U.S. West Coast factory workers will approve a new

wage offer and end a seven-week strike that has halted jet

production and hammered the company's finances.

Ryanair on Monday declined to provide a forecast for its

profit for the current year, but Sorahan said it was safe to

assume that profits would be down on last year.

He also declined to give a forecast for profits next year,

but said he was hopeful that constrained market capacity and

lower interest rates would lead to a better environment for

ticket prices.

Shares in the airline, Europe's largest by passenger

numbers, ended Friday at 18.02 euros, down 5.5% year to date.

The share price dropped as low as 13.41 euros in July after

it reported profits had almost halved in the three months to the

end of June, but recovered on more positive commentary about

late summer fares.