Ryanair plans to launch 130 new routes over the next six months

Pre-tax profits at the Irish budget airline rose 23% to 459.5m euros (�319.7m; $665m) in the six months to the end of September.

Passenger numbers rose 20% to 26.6 million while Ryanair absorbed a 5% rise in unit costs stemming from higher fuel and airport landing costs.

But boss Michael O'Leary said he was "cautious" about future trading.

Extra services

The airline expects t-hird quarter profits to be "significantly lower" than last year but is still forecasting full-year profits well ahead of previous estimates.

It performed strongly in the second quarter, with profits up 24% at 303m euros.

This was helped by strong growth in sales of "ancillary" services such as car hire, hotel bookings and insurance products.

Overall sales for the six month period rose by 24% to 1.55bn euros.

Mr O'Leary again lashed out at the government's plans to reform air passenger duty (APD), announced in last month's pre-Budget report.

He said the proposed shift from taxing passengers to taxing flights, designed to encourage more efficient use of planes, failed to tackle the tax's "fundamental inequity".