Irish airline Ryanair on Monday increased its profit forecast for the year after posting a narrower-than-expected third-quarter loss as fares fell less than earlier projected.

Europe's biggest low-cost airline said market conditions remained difficult and it was still gaining market share from the three leading flag carrier groups Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways.

Ryanair, which in December broke off talks with Boeing on a potential order of up to 200 aircraft, reiterated that it was planning to scale back investments from 2013 and it could start returning cash to shareholders instead.

Ryanair's net loss of EUR€10.9 million euros (USD$15.3 million) in the three months to the end of December compared with a EUR€118.8 million net loss a year earlier.

"We have now increased our full-year net profit guidance to EUR€275 million from the lower end of the range of EUR€200 million to EUR€300 million previously guided," chief executive Michael O'Leary said in a statement.

Revenue increased by 1 percent in the third quarter to EUR€612 million and fares fell less than expected, allowing it to forecast that the fall in full-year yields would be closer to 15 percent than the 20 percent earlier guided.