Despite a 47% drop in profits, Irish ultra-discounter Ryanair is announcing plans for trans-Atlantic flights starting at £8 plus tax.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said their “Economy class will be very cheap, around 10 euros, but our business class will be very expensive.”
Where would they fly? Launch routes would likely connect London-Stansted or Dublin with New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and unnamed Florida airports. Don’t expect a launch for another 12 or 18 months.
With a substantial network within Europe, Ryanair is likely to find success with its stripped down fares on the economy side. It won’t be pleasurable, and you’ll be nickel-and-dimed for everything, but it’ll still be cheap, and in a recessionary environment, there’s seemingly nothing that economy passengers wouldn’t put up with in order to save money. (And the legacy carriers aren’t doing much to earn your loyalty these days…)
Begin speculating what add-ons they’ll be charging you extra for!
What’s more of a mystery is the business class end of things. Ryanair doesn’t offer anything remotely approximating business class on its intra-European network. They’re the antithesis of premium, with some of the tightest legroom in the sky. So their premium cabin business would rely solely on terminating traffic in London-Stansted or Dublin. Having seen the demise of Maxjet, Eos, and Silverjet, which each serviced outlying London airports without significant premium connecting options, instead of the more networked Heathrow or Gatwick, you have to question whether the Ryanair business class model can work.
Related:
- Disturbing Ryanair safety/training video exposé
- Ryanair to fly to U.S.? Discounter attempts takeover of AerLingus
- Ryanair’s trifecta of customer alienation
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November 3rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Having flown a fair few times on Ryanair I think I can say with confidence that they will charge for every conceivable thing they can. From the top: your method of payment, every possible method of payment they can think of bar one that’s not available to beyond 2% of the population. Check in, bags, seats, reclining seats, boarding number, exit rows, aisle seats, window seats, centre seats, carpets, water, your own water, food, your own food, drinks, trash, magazines, reading your own magazines, in-flight entertainment, your own in flight entertainment, a pilot, a co-pilot, cabin crew, bag handlers, airport security, the road to the airport, your own car, the house you live in, the house you don’t live in, the ability to complain, the ability not to complain, engines, wings, glass in the windows, electric light, using your own candles, seat cushions, life vests, a safety demonstration, not watching the safety demonstration, a smile, a scowl, toilets, toilet paper, soap, lights in the toilet, the toilet door, the lock on the toilet door…. you get the picture? And no, they won’t do business class, that’s just O’Leary pulling your chain.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I like the idea of using your own candles.
With regard to business class, yeah, we’ll see… O’Leary, always keepin’ it classy, did promise “beds and blowjobs” when they floated the idea in June…
November 4th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I’ve flown with Ryanair a few times and not had any problems with them, for the price that you pay they seem reasonable. The only problem i do find is that their airport destinations are always miles from the city, ie Brussels and Paris airports both add on an extra hour journey time..that is a real pain.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Ryanair will be using more Boeing 737-800 aircraft on this rout. Not my idea of a nice flight.