DUBLIN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Ryanair reported

after-tax profit for the three months to the end of December

ahead of analyst forecasts on Monday, but Europe's largest

low-cost carrier again trimmed its forecast for passenger

numbers on Boeing ( BA ) delivery delays.

After tax-profit for the third quarter of Ryanair's

financial year was 149 million euros ($156 million), well ahead

of the 60 million euro profit forecast in a company poll of

analysts.

That was mainly due to a better-than-expected 1% increase in

average fares in the quarter, compared to a fall of 7% during

the previous quarter, Chief Financial Officer Neil Sorahan said.

($1 = 0.9564 euros)

(Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)