BUDGET airline Ryanair last night threatened to cut some under-performing routes at the same time as announcing record profit growth.

The Irish airline suggested some of its little-known French destinations and routes to Holland and Belgium were under threat, although it did not say which ones.

Ryanair, which flies to Dublin from Teesside and Newcastle airports, said traffic in the six months to September 30 rose by 45 per cent to 11.3 million and revenues were up 28 per cent to £407.6m Profits rose 16 per cent to £120m.

The group added that operating costs rose 32 per cent and after-tax margins were down, as expected, to 29 per cent from 32 per cent.

But it said it continued to grow profitably in the face of adverse market conditions across Europe.

Anthony Platts, assistant director at stockbroker Wise Speke's Teesside office, said the figures showed that Ryanair was continuing to put other airlines to shame.

He said: "Importantly, Ryanair has not used the Iraq situation, Sars, general economic malaise and any other possible excuse for not being profitable.

"Indeed, during the time these adverse effects were taking place, Ryanair took delivery of 18 new Boeings, restructured and relaunched Buzz and launched over 50 new routes."

Mr Platts said that constant demand for weekends in Dublin was a major factor in its success story, and also suggested that at some stage it could seek to further expand from Teesside.

Ryanair said it would replace a small number of under-performing routes with alternative services and destinations if passenger numbers did not pick up significantly in the winter.

It flies to 19 destinations in France, two in Belgium and three in Holland.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said: ''The strength of our traffic and profit growth, as well as the exceptional margins, once again prove our doubters wrong.''

Ryanair has 136 low-fare routes across 16 countries, operating 68 aircraft and employing 2,200 people.

It is launching 13 routes this winter, including two from Birmingham, one from Bournemouth, three from Glasgow, four from London, two from Frankfurt and one from Stockholm.