The longer routes are not a major part of their network. Their business model requires short turnarounds and short flights. The fact that they have a few long routes doesn't mean that's their key market focus. Their percentage of the total network is still fairly small.Yeah but even if, say, London-Moscow would be one of their longest routes (though not the longest), Frankfurt/Hahn-St Petersburg (Ryanair) or Berlin-St Petersburg (EasyJet) would be comparable or shorter than loads of their existing routes, not just one or two of their longest. And from Ryanair's Stockholm base the two big Russian cities would be amongst their shortest routes. St Petersburg is a beautiful city and would make an attractive and popular city break. They don't serve that route because of the visas and bureaucracy. Indeed if you look at the map Ryanair doesn't fly anywhere outside the EU's single aviation market or countries that have open aviation market deals with the EU (ie Norway, Croatia, Morocco). Ryanair even avoids Switzerland!! EasyJet has always been more adventurous with new routes than Ryanair so I would expect them to move first.

DUBLIN - RYANAIR'S SECOND ROUTE TO PULA STARTED TODAY


08.02.2007

The new Ryanair route from Dublin to Pula , which was officially announced months ago, started today with its first arrival.

A luxurious Boeing 737 800 series aircraft capable of carrying up to 189 passengers , landed at 11,20 from Dublin with 91 passengers on board. This is the beginning of a 3 times per week service and like the London-Stansted route it will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays providing an international route throughout the year and, hopefully, for many years to come.

Istria Region Authorities and Pula Airport Management together with many representatives of the local press witnessed this important event. Pula Airport's courteous staff welcomed the guests with drinks and home-made cakes.
It has been many years since Pula Airport had visitors from Ireland. Ryanair’s management have great expectations for this Dublin route and Pula Airport staff are delighted to welcome these visitors back.

http://www.airport-pula.com/en/home/

A luxurious Boeing 737 800 series aircraft


Luxurious?! :crazy:

It's certainly a great and modern aircraft, but the part of being or not being luxorious is up to the airline(the way in configures it's interiors), and Ryanair's interiors aren't exactly luxurious! :crazy:

Ryanair threatens to sack pilots after series of incidents

LONDON, Feb 7, 2007 (AFP) - Irish budget airline Ryanair has threatened to sack pilots for making dangerous approaches to airports after a series of recent incidents, according to an internal memo made public by a pilot trade union on Wednesday.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary wrote the memorandum to pilots detailing "a new disciplinary procedure" for any further such incidents. The note, dated September 25, 2006, was obtained by The Times newspaper which then gave a copy to the union.

"The board of directors of Ryanair has considered our recent experience in the area of high energy approach incidents over the past two years and has now adopted a new disciplinary procedure which will apply from today's date," O'Leary wrote in the document.

He warned that all pilots would be demoted the first time they make a dangerous approach "at excessive speed," and would be sacked for a second offence.

"I would re-emphasise to each and every one of you that your safety and the safety of our passengers, crew and aircraft will always be our number one priority," O'Leary added.

The Times newspaper had reported Wednesday that in the latest incident, a Ryanair aircraft flew so low over rooftops that it triggered two warnings in the cockpit and sixteen complaints from alarmed residents.

The paper said that had marked the third serious incident in less than one year, and the fourth in two years, which had involved a Ryanair jet approaching an airport too fast or at the wrong height and being forced to abort landing.

Pilot unions said that the memo would force the problem underground, leaving pilots too frightened of losing their jobs to cooperate with efforts to find out why the incidents were happening.

Ryanair to challenge regulator over Dublin airport

DUBLIN, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Irish low-cost airline Ryanair said on Monday it would launch a fresh legal challenge against the country's air regulation authorities for imposing new restrictions on the use of Dublin Airport.

The Commission for Aviation Regulation announced on Monday that due to the likelihood of "significant delays" during the peak summer months, a system of flight slot co-ordination would be required at the airport from March 25 to Oct. 27.

This would temporarily replace the existing voluntary system whereby airlines agree take-off and landing slots between themselves with the assistance of an independent coordinator.

Ryanair, which successfully overturned a similar move through the courts in 2006, said there was no need for a more rigid system of slot allocation at Dublin Airport, the airline's main hub.

"Sadly, Ryanair will again have to challenge this flawed decision by the regulator to ensure that available capacity at the airport is used to its fullest," Jim Callaghan, Ryanair's head of regulatory affairs, said in a statement.

"This decision is bad for competition and we are confident it will again be overturned by the courts," he said.

when i flew from STN to EIN on ryanair, the lady next to me paid 10 pounds. i paid about 50. wtf?

^ She booked further in advance.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to December 2006:
EasyJet = 33,675,905
Ryanair = 40,532,095

Percentage increase in passengers since December 2005:
EasyJet = 11.2%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in December 2006:
EasyJet = 84.6%
Ryanair = 83%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to January 2007:
EasyJet = 33,932,607
Ryanair = 41,128,255

Percentage increase in passengers since January 2006:
EasyJet = 11.1%
Ryanair = 23%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in January 2007:
EasyJet = 84.6%
Ryanair = 83%

easyJet aims to carry 6 million passengers in France this year

PARIS, Feb 23, 2007 (AFP) - British no-frills airline easyJet said Friday it hoped to carry more than six million passengers in France this year and that it was planning to open six new routes from Paris and the French regions.

Chief executive Andy Harrison also told reporters here that the airline, which has been operating in France for a decade, was aiming to develop its business passenger trade from its base in Paris' Orly airport.

In 2006 the airline carried 33.7 million passengers in Europe last year, 5.4 million of them in France.

Group revenue leapt 14.9 percent to 366.2 million pounds (556 million euros, 721 million dollar) in the three months to December 31, 2006, compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year, easyJet said earlier this month.

France's highest administrative court in January rejected an appeal by easyJet over a decree that requires its aircrews based at French airports to abide by French, not British, labour laws.

EasyJet eyes expansion at Brussels airport

BRUSSELS, Feb 27 (Reuters) - British low-cost airline easyJet said on Tuesday it was planning to expand its operations at Brussels airport after starting a service to Geneva at the end of June.

"We still don't have a critical mass in Brussels," Francois Bachetta, easyJet's France and Benelux director, told a news conference, adding that more than one route would be necessary to make Belgian operations profitable.

He declined to say which routes his company would most likely open, saying he did not want to flag that to competitors. He did say that the expansion should take place within the next year or two.

EasyJet earlier this month reported first-quarter revenue up 15 percent on a year ago and predicted another sharp rise in pre-tax profits this year.

Hopefully a Glasgow to Brussels route is on the way with Easyjet.

EasyJet says February passengers up 11.5 percent

LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - British low-cost airline easyJet said on Wednesday passenger numbers in February rose 11.5 percent year-on-year to 2,646,775.

The airline said its load factor -- a measure of how well it filled its planes -- fell 0.9 percentage points to 82.8 percent in February.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to January 2007:
EasyJet = 33,932,607
Ryanair = 41,128,255

Percentage increase in passengers since January 2006:
EasyJet = 11.1%
Ryanair = 23%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in January 2007:
EasyJet = 84.6%
Ryanair = 83%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to February 2007:
EasyJet = 34,205,676
Ryanair = 41,742,265

Percentage increase in passengers since February 2006:
EasyJet = 11.5%
Ryanair = 24%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in February 2007:
EasyJet = 84.5%
Ryanair = 83%

Ryanair mulls new base in Bratislava

BRATISLAVA, April 26 (Reuters) - Europe's largest budget carrier, Ryanair , said on Thursday it was in talks with Bratislava airport about opening a new base in the Slovak capital.

The Irish-based airline now operates five routes from Bratislava to Italy, Germany and Britain. It plans to open a new route to Bremen, Germany, from Sept. 25.

"We are in talks with the airport to establish a base here," said Tomasz Kulakowski, Ryanair's sales executive for central Europe. "Potential here is massive."

He said some 10 million Ryanair passengers might use the Slovak airport over the next five years if its new base is placed here. About 2 million travelers used the airport, a base for rival SkyEurope airline, in 2006.

The carrier plans to establish 10 new bases in the next five years and add 117 planes to its 134-strong fleet, Kulakowski said.

Last year, the leftist government of Robert Fico cancelled the sale of Bratislava airport to Flughafen Wien , which analysts said threatened future expansion plans.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to February 2007:
EasyJet = 34,205,676
Ryanair = 41,742,265

Percentage increase in passengers since February 2006:
EasyJet = 11.5%
Ryanair = 24%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in February 2007:
EasyJet = 84.5%
Ryanair = 83%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to March 2007:
EasyJet = 34,545,559
Ryanair = 42,509,112

Percentage increase in passengers since March 2006:
EasyJet = 11.7%
Ryanair = 26%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in March 2007:
EasyJet = 84.4%
Ryanair = 78%

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to March 2007:
EasyJet = 34,545,559
Ryanair = 42,509,112

Percentage increase in passengers since March 2006:
EasyJet = 11.7%
Ryanair = 26%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in March 2007:
EasyJet = 84.4%
Ryanair = 78%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to April 2007:
EasyJet = 34,831,219
Ryanair = 43,178,403

Percentage increase in passengers since April 2006:
EasyJet = 10%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in April 2007:
EasyJet = 84%
Ryanair = 83%

Ryanair to expand services from new hub in Bremen, northwest Germany
26 April 2007

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - Ryanair Holdings PLC said Thursday it was expanding its route network for its newest hub in Bremen, northwest Germany.

Europe's largest no-frills airline said it planned to open seven new routes in mid-September, taking the total number of routes to 18, just weeks after opening services in Bremen.

New twice-weekly services would link Bremen with Alghero in Sardinia and Trapani in Sicily; three-times weekly with the Slovak capital of Bratislava, Malta and Stockholm; four-times weekly with Italy's financial capital, Milan; and daily with Paris.

It said this would mean basing a third Boeing 737-800 in Bremen.

Sean Coyle, Ryanair's director of scheduled revenue, said the expansion plan would mean "even more choice and even more low fares for German consumers who want to escape from the high fares and fuel surcharges of Lufthansa."

Ryanair = 43,178,403

I had no clue Ryanair was already at 40,000,000+ passengers. Even BA only has about 37 million.

So they are now the third largest airline in Europe when it comes to passenger numbers. (1. Air France-KLM 70+ million, 2. Lufthansa 53+ million)

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to April 2007:
EasyJet = 34,831,219
Ryanair = 43,178,403

Percentage increase in passengers since April 2006:
EasyJet = 10%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in April 2007:
EasyJet = 84%
Ryanair = 83%

Hi Monkey!!
i ask u only,
EasyJet: made in____?? europe or geramny??
Ryanair: made in____?? europe or Spain??

^ EasyJet is a British company (although the founder is Greek). Ryanair is technically an Irish company but its biggest operational base is in Britain - especially London. However both companies are becoming ever more "pan-European" with bases across the EU.

Ryanair boosts Boeing with 1.9-billion-dollar jet deal

LONDON, May 31, 2007 (AFP) - Low-cost Irish airline Ryanair gave a boost to US aircraft maker Boeing on Thursday by ordering an extra 27 Boeing 737-800 jets worth 1.9 billion dollars.

The purchase, which was previously recorded by Boeing as being from an unidentified customer, was worth the equivalent of 1.4 billion euros or 962 million pounds at list prices, the two groups announced.

The order for Boeing came just one day after its European rival Airbus clinched a 16-billion-dollar order with Qatar Airways for 80 of its A350 jets.

Thursday's news will take Ryanair's total firm orders for Boeing B737-800s to 308, of which 137 have already been delivered.

Ryanair, which along with other airlines has faced criticism for adding to carbon emissions with increased numbers of flights, added that the planes will be fitted with so-called "blended winglets" which will reduce emissions.

"The combination of the lowest per seat operating cost and the reliability of these Boeing 737-800s will benefit millions of additional passengers in the coming five years as we extend our route network," said Ryanair deputy chief executive Howard Millar in a statement announcing the news.

The airline added that the order would take Ryanair's total fleet size, including planned disposals, to 262 aircraft by 2012.

"The 737-800 continues to demonstrate its exceptional suitability for the low-fare business model," added Marlin Dailey, Boeing vice president of sales for Europe, Russia and Central Asia.

"It consistently generates more revenue and more profit through industry-leading reliability and higher utilization."

In the current year, Ryanair expects to carry 42 million passengers on 492 routes across 25 European countries.

Meanwhile, the Dublin-based carrier aims to start flying between Europe and the United States within four years' time, according to a recent report.

Ryanair would create a long-haul no-frills carrier, independent of Ryanair, that would mean the purchase of up to 50 widebody Airbus A350s or Boeing 787s, according to reported comments from chief executive Michael O'Leary.

The company's push into the transatlantic market is being made possible after EU transport ministers gave clearance last month for plans to free up the transatlantic aviation market under a long-sought "open skies" accord.

Ryanair currently increases group revenues by charging passengers to take baggage on board. Its ticket prices are advertised excluding taxes.

The price of shares in Ryanair climbed by 1.73 percent to 5.30 euros in Dublin late morning trading. The Irish Overall Index was up 0.31 percent at 9,878.12 points.

How do the 2 North American versions of Easyjet and Ryanair compare? Southwest of the USA and Westjet of Canada are both low cost, no frills airlines that have grown very rapidly for over 10 years now. I'm sure their passenger numbers are much smaller than the 2 European low cost carriers I've cited, but are bound to keep gaining market clout.

Are they destined to become North American versions?

^^

The interesting thing about Southwest is that although it's supposed to be a "low cost" airline, everyone loves Southwest. I've had some of my best flights on Southwest and whenever I come back to the U.S. and see Southwest tails at the airport it makes me smile. The airlines from Texas seem to be the best in the United States, American, Continental and Southwest.

If they become North American versions I guess you'd hear less complaints about them but I wish I could fly from Austin to Dallas for $25 instead of $98 like Southwest and American charge.

How do the 2 North American versions of Easyjet and Ryanair compare? Southwest of the USA and Westjet of Canada are both low cost, no frills airlines that have grown very rapidly for over 10 years now. I'm sure their passenger numbers are much smaller than the 2 European low cost carriers I've cited, but are bound to keep gaining market clout.

Are they destined to become North American versions?Southwest is challenging American with the highest passenger numbers of any airline in the world. It is currently about the size fo Ryanair and Easyjet combined. Southwest also created the low cost business model that Ryanair, EasyJet, and all the others now copy. Jet Blue and WestJet are much smaller than Ryanair or EasyJet but Southwest is an absolute giant.

Ryanair triples annual profits to record level

DUBLIN, June 5, 2007 (AFP) - Ryanair, the Irish no-frills airline, said on Tuesday that net profits tripled in the group's 2006-2007 financial year to a record 401.4 million euros (542.2 million dollars).

Adjusted net profits rocketed 33.1 percent in the twelve months to March 31, 2007, from 301.5 million euros in the previous fiscal year, Ryanair said in its annual earnings release.

The result beat both the company's own forecasts and market expectations of 395 million euros.

"These record profits and the strong growth in traffic, yields and revenues during a period of much higher oil prices and intense competition is a tribute to the strength of Ryanair's lowest fare model," said chief executive Michael O'Leary in comments accompanying the release.

Ryanair added that pre-tax profit climbed by a third to 451.0 million euros in the 2006/2007 year.

Revenue, meanwhile, soared 31 percent to 2.237 billion euros, driven by a 22-percent increase in passenger numbers to 42.5 million.

The company forecast a similar increase in passengers in the current financial year to 52 million travellers.

However, the Dublin-based carrier warned of a sharp slowdown in growth over the coming year despite an expansion of its route network.

Ryanair's full-year fuel bill surged by 50 percent to 693 million euros, but the airline added that it took advantage of oil price weaknesses to hedge its fuel costs until 2008.

In the past year, Ryanair said that other cost increases came from higher airport charges at London Stansted and Dublin airports, combined with the doubling of British airport departure taxes.

Ancillary revenues grew by 40 percent due to higher passenger spending and the rapid growth of excess baggage charges.

Ryanair currently increases group revenues by charging passengers to take baggage on board. Its ticket prices are advertised excluding taxes.

The group, which bought 25.2 percent or Irish rival Aer Lingus last year, flies more than 500 routes to destinations across 25 European countries and wants to start flying to the United States by 2011.

Last week, Ryanair had ordered an extra 27 Boeing 737-800 jets worth 1.9 billion dollars. The order will take the total fleet size, including planned disposals, to 262 aircraft by 2012.

How do the 2 North American versions of Easyjet and Ryanair compare? Southwest of the USA and Westjet of Canada are both low cost, no frills airlines that have grown very rapidly for over 10 years now. I'm sure their passenger numbers are much smaller than the 2 European low cost carriers I've cited, but are bound to keep gaining market clout.

Are they destined to become North American versions?

Ha, destined to become? Southwest is already king....

2006:

Southwest: 96.3 million
EasyJet: 33.9 million
Ryanair: 41.1 million

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (14th June) announced 13 new routes from its Stockholm Skavsta base to Alicante, Basel, Bratislava, Eindhoven, Baden Baden, Liverpool, Malta, Pisa, Porto, Salzburg, Trapani and Valencia. These new routes will start in October, when Ryanair will invest $140m and add two new Boeing 737 800s (total 6) at its Stockholm Skavsta base.

Announcing these 13 new routes, Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO said:

“Ryanair low fares in Sweden have been a tremendous success because Swedish passengers can’t stand SAS’s high fares and frequent strikes. With these new routes Ryanair will carry 2.5m passengers annually to and from Stockholm Skavsta at less than one third of SAS’s high fares. This generates a visitor spend of 5bn SEK in the region and delivers passenger savings of 3bn SEK.

“Only Ryanair guarantees the lowest fares from Sweden. If any passenger finds a lower fare with another airline on the same route, Ryanair will refund double the difference. To celebrate these 13 new routes, we are giving away 100,000 seats from Stockholm for just 220 SEK (just the taxes), and we urge all passengers to log onto www.ryanair.com immediately, as seats this cheap will sell out fast.”

Route
Starts
Frequency

Alicante
Oct
3 x week

Basel
Oct
3 x week

Berlin
Oct
7 x week

Bratislava
Oct
7 x week

Eindhoven
Oct
4 x week

Baden
Oct
4 x week

Liverpool
Oct
4 x week

Malta
Oct
2 x week

Pisa
Oct
3 x week

Porto
Oct
3 x week

Salzburg
Dec
2 x week

Trapani
Oct
2 x week

Valencia
Oct
4 x week



One more route to Porto :D :banana:

Its been said in the media that Porto could possibly be one of the future new hubs of Ryanair!
Hope so..
Ryanair has know 11 routes and a maximum pax capacity of arround 1.300.000 per year at the Porto Airport.

What you think?

Its been said in the media that Porto could possibly be one of the future new hubs of Ryanair!
Hope so..
Ryanair has know 11 routes and a maximum pax capacity of arround 1.300.000 per year at the Porto Airport.

What you think?

What do you think of a Glasgow to Porto route? Ryanair have a large base in Glasgow and have been added a number of new routes recently.

What do you think of a Glasgow to Porto route? Ryanair have a large base in Glasgow and have been added a number of new routes recently.

Actually I see it with really good eyes.
And thats obvious that ryanair is investing on routes from UK to Porto. Recently they added one to Bristol but we also have 14flights a week to London and 3 to Liverpool.
It would probably be a "crouded" route!
People are sure that those that probably will be started from Porto are Brussels and Rome... But you never know... RYR always surprises us :D

But are you telling me that Ryanair will soon open new routes from glasgow? Nothing is anounced yet at their Site.

Actually I see it with really good eyes.
And thats obvious that ryanair is investing on routes from UK to Porto. Recently they added one to Bristol but we also have 14flights a week to London and 3 to Liverpool.
It would probably be a "crouded" route!
People are sure that those that probably will be started from Porto are Brussels and Rome... But you never know... RYR always surprises us :D

But are you telling me that Ryanair will soon open new routes from glasgow? Nothing is anounced yet at their Site.

If Liverpool to Porto is operating at 3x per week, I think Glasgow to Porto could operate anywhere from 4x weekly to a daily service.

I’m not saying anything is confirmed, just Glasgow is a Ryanair base and they are always adding new routes from Glasgow.

Also Ryanair did say “Glasgow will be connected to all our other bases” so if Porto does become a Ryanair base I would expect a Glasgow route to come with that.

If Liverpool to Porto is operating at 3x per week, I think Glasgow to Porto could operate anywhere from 4x weekly to a daily service.

I’m not saying anything is confirmed, just Glasgow is a Ryanair base and they are always adding new routes from Glasgow.

Also Ryanair did say “Glasgow will be connected to all our other bases” so if Porto does become a Ryanair base I would expect a Glasgow route to come with that.

Porto a base... is still a dream... But somehow with the opening of Porto-Stockholm this dream became a possible reality. It was said (at least they wrote so) by the President of Porto's Airport that with this new route and the fast growing of ryanair at Porto's Airp a Hub is more than ever a possibility.
This dream started a couple of years ago when they first started negociations but with the time going by the Hub never came... but now they are talking about that again and I know that until the end of this year they have to open a new Base, so why not Porto!?

They will probably add some planes to your base and possibly the two cities will be conected before Porto becoming a Base as well!

Is anyone else surprised by the number of 2500+ km routes Ryanair is adding lately? Because those distances are really pushing the limits of LCC's if they want to continue to offer their flights for such low prices.

Dusseldorf-Weeze(NRN) - Fuerteventura(FUE) - 3064 km
Dublin (DUB) - Tenerife(TFN) - 2890 km
Dublin (DUB) - Fuerteventura(FUE) - 2842 km
Shannon (SNN) - Tenerife(TFN) - 2758 km
Shannon (SNN) - Fuerteventura(FUE) - 2724 km
Stockholm-Skavsta(NYO) - Porto(OPO) - 2646 km
Stockholm-Skavsta(NYO) - Alicante(ALC) - 2602 km
Stockholm-Skavsta(NYO) - Malta(MLA) - 2556 km
Dublin (DUB) - Malta(MLA) - 2534 km
Dusseldorf-Weeze(NRN) - Marrakech(RAK) - 2506 km

Is anyone else surprised by the number of 2500+ km routes Ryanair is adding lately? Because those distances are really pushing the limits of LCC's if they want to continue to offer their flights for such low prices.

Well other low cost airlines, such as FlyGlobespan have shown that they can operate 2500+ and make a profit, so Ryanair have followed.

I know FlyGlobespan make alot of extra money on selling food/drink etc on the longer flights such as Tenerife, Cyprus, Egypt etc so for Ryanair it will be the same.

^^ They can also be exploring the Longhaul flights and its possibility of profit...

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to April 2007:
EasyJet = 34,831,219
Ryanair = 43,178,403

Percentage increase in passengers since April 2006:
EasyJet = 10%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in April 2007:
EasyJet = 84%
Ryanair = 83%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to May 2007:
EasyJet = 35,237,323
Ryanair = 43,767,864

Percentage increase in passengers since May 2006:
EasyJet = 13.8%
Ryanair = 17%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in May 2007:
EasyJet = 83.6%
Ryanair = 82%

IATA Confirms Ryanair is World's Favourite Airline
http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/news.php?yr=07&month=jun&story=gen-en-130607

Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares airline today (12th June 2007) welcomed IATA's 2006 world airline passenger statistics which confirm that Ryanair carries more international passengers than any other airline.

Ryanair has become the world's favourite airline, carrying more international passengers than Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways and American Airlines by offering the lowest fares and the best customer service.

Welcoming this World No. 1 ranking, Ryanair’s Peter Sherrard said

"Ryanair’s No. 1 world ranking confirms that passengers can't get enough of our guaranteed lowest fares. Just 10 years ago most of the other airlines on this IATA ranking carried ten times more passengers than Ryanair. Today Ryanair carries more international passengers than anyone else in the world. This growth has been delivered by giving passengers exactly what they want; the lowest fares, the best punctuality, the youngest aircraft and no fuel surcharges guaranteed".

Ryanair threatens to sue EU if it blocks Aer Lingus takeover
26 June 2007

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Low-fare airline Ryanair vowed Tuesday to sue EU regulators if they blocked its hostile takeover bid for fellow Irish airline Aer Lingus, claiming it was the victim of political bias.

The European Commission has until July 4 to block or clear the deal and has pointed to "serious competition concerns" with the proposed combination of Ireland's two major airlines because it could reduce customer choice and raise fares.

But Ryanair Holdings PLC Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said he expected the EU's executive arm to refuse him permission to buy the former state-owned carrier, a "politically motivated" decision that he said aimed to please the Irish government, Aer Lingus PLC's biggest shareholder.

"This is a nakedly political decision ... It's all to do with looking after the narrow, vested interests of the Irish government," he told reporters in Brussels.

EU spokesman Jonathan Todd refused to confirm that the EU would block the deal, saying only that consumer interests were "at the foremost in the Commission mind" during its antitrust probe.

Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion said O'Leary was just a sore loser whose attempt to eliminate his nearest rival had failed. "He is now lashing out in a vain attempt to disguise that failure," Mannion said.

O'Leary said only Dublin and Aer Lingus oppose the deal, claiming that the 1.48 billion euros ($1.9 billion) deal would neither create an EU monopoly nor harm customers because he planned to reduce Aer Lingus fares by 10 percent in the first year and scrap fuel surcharges.

"It would be a remarkable decision, a historical unprecedented decision for the Commission to turn down a merger of two airlines with less than 5 percent of the EU market and to turn down a merger that for the first time in the history of EU airline consolidation guarantees a 100 million euros ($135 million) per annum in fare cuts," O'Leary said.

"It also sends a message that it's going to be much more difficult for EU airline consolidation to proceed," he said, pointing to a possible takeover of Alitalia by its Italian rival Air One and British Airways PLC's potential bid for Iberia.

But regulators are more worried about customer choice because the two airlines overlap on a number of European routes and are each other's closest competitors for services out of Ireland. The country has few passenger ferry links to Britain and Continental Europe.

Together, the two would control more than 60 percent of all flights in and out of Dublin's only commercial airport.

The European Commission rarely blocks deals -- stopping only one since 2001 -- and usually seeks selloffs or changes to business behavior to remove antitrust concerns.

O'Leary said Ryanair had tried to soothe antitrust worries of shrinking competition by offering Aer Lingus' coveted slots at London Heathrow to British Airways and Air France in return for those airlines and one other starting new routes out of Dublin.

The Commission had previously cleared Air France and KLM to combine even though both had more than a 60 percent share at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol airports, O'Leary said.

"It's not a principle we expect will stand up in the European court and if it was ... then Air France would not have been allowed to buy KLM," he said.

Growing rapidly from its Irish base into Europe's largest low-cost carrier, Ryanair has revolutionized travel in Europe, spearheading no-frills cheap flights that forced others to do the same.

O'Leary claimed his bid for Aer Lingus -- opposed by nearly half of the shareholders -- was good news for the share price, as word of a possible EU regulatory refusal had sent shares slipping from 3 euros ($4.04) to a new low of 2.39 euros ($3.22) on Tuesday morning.

"There's nobody else out there who wants to acquire a small loss-making European airline," he said.

Ranking airports or airlines by international passengers is rather pointless. European airports and airlines will always top those lists because almost every flight is an international one due to the puny land areas of countries in Europe.

London-Paris is international, but Toronto-Vancouver or New York-LA are domestic. Total passengers is what counts, not if you crossed an international boundary rather than a provincial or state boundary. Ryanair: world's favourite airline? I don't think so.

^ British Airways famously marketted itself as the "world's favourite airline" in the '90s based on the fact that more foreign passengers flew BA than any other airline in the world. Ryanair are always attacking their rivals and now that this superlative belongs to them they take this opportunity to take a pop at BA.

You are right that international traffic is boosted by the numerous borders in Europe. However European airlines also have far more extensive long-haul and intercontinental services than their American counterparts.

And may I remind you that Europe with its "puny countries" includes Russia: by far the world's largest country. ;)

EU blocks Ryanair bid for Aer Lingus, saying it would reduce consumer choice
27 June 2007

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - EU regulators blocked low-fare airline Ryanair Holdings PLC's hostile bid for Aer Lingus Group PLC on Wednesday, saying the deal would limit consumer choice and likely lead to higher prices.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said the EU veto meant his bid, suspended since December, was now "officially dead." He has said he would appeal.

The European Commission refused to clear the deal because the two Irish airlines would control more than 80 percent of all European flights to and from Dublin.

New airlines were unlikely to try to muscle in because of Ryanair's reputation for "aggressive retaliation" and its ability to temporarily slash fares and launch new routes to protect its powerful market position, the EU said.

"What we are doing is preventing a monopoly from emerging," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said. "Ireland, being an island, depends heavily on air transport."

This is only the second time since 2001 that the EU has blocked a deal.

The euro1.48 billion (US$1.9 billion) takeover already seemed doomed after nearly half of Aer Lingus shareholders vowed to block it and Ryanair's share offer found few takers.

But Ryanair vowed to take regulators to court, claiming they were wrong to block the deal when they had cleared others between Air France and KLM and between Lufthansa and Swissair.

O'Leary said Ryanair could not make any new bid now until the European Court of First Instance rules on his appeal -- which could take 18 to 24 months.

Ryanair's only options were to sell its 25.2 percent stake in Aer Lingus -- something O'Leary said would crash its share price -- or hold on "and nurse our losses," he said.

Ryanair has complained that the EU decision was politically motivated and aimed at pleasing the Irish government, which owns a quarter of Aer Lingus.

Kroes said the decision was legally sound and would stand up in the EU courts.

Her officials said Ryanair's proposed deal was unprecedented because both airlines had such a large share of routes at one airport, Dublin, while other airlines like Air France and KLM had their main hubs in different cities.

Aer Lingus and Ryanair compete directly on 35 routes to and from Ireland, the EU said, and the combination would give them a monopoly on 22.

"This would have reduced choice and, most likely, led to higher prices for more than 14 million EU passengers using these routes to and from Ireland each year," the European Commission said.

Ryanair's offer to make changes to soothe these concerns were inadequate, it said, criticizing the limited number of airport landing slots the airline offered to give away to new rivals. This would not replace the competitive pressure in the market that would disappear if Ryanair swallowed Aer Lingus, it said.

A plan by Ryanair to reduce Aer Lingus short-haul fares by 10 percent in the first year was "almost impossible to monitor" and gave no assurances that prices wouldn't rise afterward or that Ryanair would not raise its own prices in the meantime, the EU said.

"What is certain is that Ryanair proposed to end the intense competition between Ryanair and Aer Lingus at Dublin airport that has pushed prices down and brought Irish consumers an increasing choice of direct flight connections from Dublin," it said.

"It is highly unlikely that Irish consumers would be better off with a near monopoly, even if it were sweetened by a temporary, hard-to-monitor price rebate."

Aer Lingus Chairman John Sharman said the decision was good news for the company and its customers: "The creation of one dominant player out of Ireland -- despite the protestations of Ryanair -- just cannot be in the interests of consumers," he said.

But Aer Lingus shares fell to euro2.55 (US$3.43) -- well below Ryanair's bid price of euro2.80 (US$3.76). Ryanair's massive purchases of Aer Lingus shares and its surprise offer drove Aer Lingus over euro3 (US$4.03) at one point as investors wrongly gambled that O'Leary would raise his bid.

O'Leary warned Wednesday that Aer Lingus shares would plummet to euro1.50 (US$2.02) if Ryanair opted to dump its holding. Ryanair was euro0.04 (US$0.05) lower Wednesday at euro4.96 (US$6.67).

Growing rapidly from its Irish base into Europe's largest low-cost carrier, Ryanair has spearheaded the drive toward no-frills cheap flights that forced Aer Lingus -- a former state-owned airline -- to do the same.

------

Associated Press Writer Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin contributed to this report.

FACTBOX-Key points on EU merger rejections

BRUSSELS, June 27 (Reuters) - The European Commission's decision to bar budget airline Ryanair from buying rival Irish carrier Aer Lingus marks the 20th such ban since 1990. Here are some key facts about EU merger prohibitions:

TOTAL CASES

Between 1990 and May 31 this year, 3,418 cases had been notified to the EU's regulatory arm for review. Twenty of those were rejected, including Ryanair's attempt to buy Aer Lingus.

PREVIOUS PROHIBITION

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, backed by the full Commission, on Dec. 9, 2004 blocked plans by Electricidade de Portugal and Italy's ENI to buy Gas de Portugal. European Union courts upheld her decision.

HIGH WATER MARK

No mergers were blocked during seven of the past 17 years, but in 2001 the Commission prohibited a record five mergers including a high-profile all-U.S. deal in which General Electric tried to purchase Honeywell International .

COURT REVERSES PROHIBITIONS

In 2002, the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg for the first time nullified Commission prohibitions, overturning three: Airtours' proposed acquisition of smaller British package-holiday rival First Choice, Schneider Electric's proposed purchase of French rival Legrand , and package machine maker Tetra Pak's buy of France's Sidel.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to May 2007:
EasyJet = 35,237,323
Ryanair = 43,767,864

Percentage increase in passengers since May 2006:
EasyJet = 13.8%
Ryanair = 17%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in May 2007:
EasyJet = 83.6%
Ryanair = 82%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to June 2007:
EasyJet = 35,687,793
Ryanair = 44,442,908

Percentage increase in passengers since June 2006:
EasyJet = 15.1%
Ryanair = 18%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in June 2007:
EasyJet = 84%
Ryanair = 85%

There are rumors that Easyjet might start routes from Rotterdam airport as there is now new slot capacity at this airport. The position of the airport is ideal.
Ryanair also wanted to fly out of Rotterdam a few years ago, but at that moment there was no slot capacity available, so Ryanair went to Eindhoven instead.

Ryanair told to move flights from Rome's Ciampino Airport

Italian authorities have told Ryanair to transfer flights to Rome's Fiumicino Airport (the cities main airport), from its existing Ciampino Airport base. Italian Transport Minister Alessandro Bianchi confirmed the move, estimating that one million passengers a year will be affected by the decision.

Mr Bianchi, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, Lazio region president Piero Marrazzo, and air regulator ENAC president Enrico Gasbarra have agreed to cut daily flights out of Ciampino Airport to 100, from 138, effective from the introduction of winter schedules in late October, the transport ministry said.

Mr Bianchi said Ciampino's annual passengers has risen from 800,0000 to 5 million in the last 5 years, causing noise and other pollution problems for local residents.

Recognising the value of tourism brought to Rome by Ryanair, the minister said he is examining 3 neighbouring, mainly military, airports at Latina, Viterbo and Frosinone to see if one of these can be used by low-cost airlines. However, a decision will only be made in October, which is a bit late for this winter's flights.

In the past, Ryanair has said that if had to close its operations at Ciampino it would leave Rome rather than use Fiumicino, which is Rome's larger airport and used by international carriers. The three alternative options for a low-cost airport in Rome do not have suitable runways for its aircraft, it has said.

Since launching at Ciampino, Ryanair has built up annual passenger numbers to 3.3 million a year. A spokesman for the Irish budget airline declined to comment, saying it had not been notified of the decision.

^^

That sucks. When I was in Rome a couple months ago it was very easy to pick up my best friend that arrived at CIA. It would have taken much longer and been more of a hassle if he flew in to FCO. Plus the girl I was staying with lives close to CIA but FCO seems pretty far from the city.

To have Ryanair leave Ciampino is a very stupid idea by the Italian authorities if you ask me.


It's like asking Southwest to leave love field (DAL) and transfer all flights to Dallas Ft. Worth International (DFW). Actually not really on that scale but DAL and CIA are easy airports to fly in and out of for people traveling light.

Ryanair told to move flights from Rome's Ciampino Airport

Italian authorities have told Ryanair to transfer flights to Rome's Fiumicino Airport (the cities main airport), from its existing Ciampino Airport base. Italian Transport Minister Alessandro Bianchi confirmed the move, estimating that one million passengers a year will be affected by the decision.

Mr Bianchi, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, Lazio region president Piero Marrazzo, and air regulator ENAC president Enrico Gasbarra have agreed to cut daily flights out of Ciampino Airport to 100, from 138, effective from the introduction of winter schedules in late October, the transport ministry said.

Mr Bianchi said Ciampino's annual passengers has risen from 800,0000 to 5 million in the last 5 years, causing noise and other pollution problems for local residents.

Recognising the value of tourism brought to Rome by Ryanair, the minister said he is examining 3 neighbouring, mainly military, airports at Latina, Viterbo and Frosinone to see if one of these can be used by low-cost airlines. However, a decision will only be made in October, which is a bit late for this winter's flights.

In the past, Ryanair has said that if had to close its operations at Ciampino it would leave Rome rather than use Fiumicino, which is Rome's larger airport and used by international carriers. The three alternative options for a low-cost airport in Rome do not have suitable runways for its aircraft, it has said.

Since launching at Ciampino, Ryanair has built up annual passenger numbers to 3.3 million a year. A spokesman for the Irish budget airline declined to comment, saying it had not been notified of the decision.The Italian government doesn't know how to run aviation. I wouldn't be surprised if the unmentioned motive behind this is some dumb attempt by the authorities to shore up the doomed Alitalia.

Glasgow set for take off with new easyJet route to Paris

easyJet Press Release 01/08/07

easyJet, Europe's leading low-fares airline, today announced it would introduce
flights from Glasgow International Airport to Paris Charles De Gaulle. The new
daily service which will commence on 29 October will offer fares from just
£21.99 one way (£45.01 return) including tax.


The airline, which carried close to 2 million passengers from its Glasgow base
in the last year, expects to carry almost 100,000 passengers on this new route
in the first 12 months of operation. This is the eighth new route easyJet has
announced from Scotland this year and now offers a total of 28 routes, 108
daily departures from four Scottish Airports making easyJet the largest low-
fares airline in Scotland.


This autumn easyJet will also commence services from Edinburgh to Paris (CDG)
on 10 September, Krakow on 29 October and Gdansk on 30 October.


David Osborne, easyJet UK General Manager, commented:


"There is great demand in Scotland for direct low-fares flights to main city
airports and following the success of the airline's new routes launched from
Glasgow last year and Edinburgh this year, this new route from Glasgow to Paris
reflects easyJet's commitment to Scotland."


"easyJet's new Paris flight will be the only direct link between Glasgow
International Airport and Paris' main city airport, Charles de Gaulle, and the
route is expected to be popular for business travellers as well as those
looking for a few days of culture or a shopping trip away"


Managing Director of Glasgow Airport, Gordon Dewar, said:


"This is excellent news from easyJet and a real boost for our passengers who
will now be able to fly direct to the French capital from Glasgow.


"Paris is an exciting city, well known for its cafe culture and architecture,
and these new daily flights make it an ideal short break destination. This
route is also an important new commercial link, and we are confident it will
prove popular with holidaymakers and business travellers alike.


"We welcome easyJet's commitment to Glasgow and look forward to working with
the airline to ensure the success of this new route."


VisitScotland is the organisation responsible for attracting leisure tourism to
Glasgow and Scotland. Tom McWilliam, VisitScotland Area Director for Glasgow,
said:


"easyJet's new Glasgow-Paris service is one of the most exciting developments
in recent years for leisure tourism to Glasgow and Scotland. It comes at a time
when international visitors to Scotland are rising-up 17% in 2006-so a new
service to Glasgow from one of our largest European markets presents a real
opportunity for marked progress towards 50% growth in tourism revenues by
2015."


Paris - the most romantic city in the world, is an ideal break for couples and
singles alike. The architects amongst us will be awe-inspired by the Eiffel
Tower, which is a sight to behold, although not for the faint-hearted if you're
thinking of travelling to the very top! The city has museums aplenty, not
forgetting Le Louvre, which has renewed attention since The Da Vinci Code
graced the big screen, where the Mona Lisa draws crowds from across the world.
The cafe culture of the Parisians is renowned and is a fantastic distraction
from sightseeing where you can sip fantastic French wine and watch the world go
by.


Seats will be on sale tomorrow at www.easyJet.com

^ And may I remind you that Europe with its "puny countries" includes Russia: by far the world's largest country. ;)

Which is'nt very significant in terms of passenger numbers

London needs 3 new runways in 5 years - Ryanair

LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Europe's largest budget airline, Ryanair , said on Friday that London needed a minimum of three new runways in the next five years.

"A minimum of three in the next five years...at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted," Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said at a news conference.

Ryanair has opposed a new runway at Stansted, but this is because it feels the 4-billion-pound ($8.1 billion) project is too expensive.

Ryanair said earlier it was releasing 2.7 million seats for travel through September, October and November for 10 pounds one way.

Ryanair complains over lack of EU action on state aid for rivals

BRUSSELS, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair has made a formal complaint to the European Commission accusing it of failing to act on what Ryanair claims is illegal state aid to rival airlines, an EU spokesman said Friday.

The Irish group has sent complaints to the EU's executive arm, received this week, concerning alleged state aid to French and German carriers Air France and Lufthansa, Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr told AFP.

Last month Ryanair said it was unsatisfied with the Commission's lack of action in the cases of Air France and Lufthansa, as well as Italian group Alitalia and Greece's Olympic Airways.

It submitted the cases to the EU competition watchdog over a year ago for action.

"These complaints involved hundreds of millions of euros in illegal state aids being granted by the French, German, Italian and Greek governments to subsidise their flag carrier airlines," Ryanair had said at the time.

Selmayr said that no notification of formal complaint had yet been received in the cases of the Italian and Greek airlines and stressed that the Commission was confident it was right in not intervening in these cases.

"We have indeed received notification of the formal complaints by Ryanair and we are now looking into these," the Commission spokesman said. "However we are very confident that the Commission has taken the right decisions.

"The Commission is well-known for tackling state aid with determination whenever there is a real case."

The Commission has two months to respond to the Irish airlines complaints and if Ryanair is still not satisfied the matter could end up in the European courts.

Ryanair's head of regulatory affairs, Jim Callaghan, has accused the Commission of a twin-track approach to state aid.

"On one hand, they refuse to take action against serious violations of the state aid rules by national governments to protect their flag carrier airlines ... while at the same time they launch bogus investigations against small regional and secondary airports like Charleroi," he said last month.

Ryanair has been found guilty of breaching competition rules over subsidies to land at the Belgian airport.

The European Commission and Ryanair are already headed for a dogfight in an EU court as regulators last month blocked the low-cost carrier's takeover of Irish rival Aer Lingus.

The Commission vetoed the takeover on the grounds that the merger of Ireland's two biggest airlines would have given the combined carrier a crushing grip on 35 routes.

Easyjet and Ryanair Expanding from Glasgow


Ryanair Announce Three New European Routes from Glasgow Prestwick
Irish budget airline, Ryanair have today confirmed three new routes direct from there Glasgow Prestwick base. A new twice weekly service to Kaunas in Lithuania will commence on the 28th of October, followed by a daily flight to Belfast City starting on the 30th of October and a new three times weekly flight to Budapest in Hungary commencing on the 1st of November.

This announcement brings the number of Ryanair routes on offer from Glasgow up to 27.


Daily Flights from Glasgow to Paris Cleared for Take-off
Budget airline, Easyjet have today announced another new route from there base at Glasgow International, this time to Charles de Gaul airport in Paris.

The new daily service to Paris will commence on the 29th of October with fares starting from just £21.99 one-way or £45.01 return including taxes.

Easyjet are the largest operator at Glasgow International Airport, with almost 2 million passengers per year. Easyjet are expecting to carry over 100.000 passengers on this route within the first 12 months of operating.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to June 2007:
EasyJet = 35,687,793
Ryanair = 44,442,908

Percentage increase in passengers since June 2006:
EasyJet = 15.1%
Ryanair = 18%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in June 2007:
EasyJet = 84%
Ryanair = 85%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to July 2007:
EasyJet = 36,242,785
Ryanair = 45,262,576

Percentage increase in passengers since July 2006:
EasyJet = 17.5%
Ryanair = 21%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in July 2007:
EasyJet = 88.6%
Ryanair = 90%

Watchdog targets hidden costs of budget airline tickets.
11 August 2007
Financial Times

Budget airlines face acrackdown in the UK over potentially misleading ticket pricing, in an attempt bycompetition watchdogs to stop them advertisingflights for pennies whenthe true cost is many pounds.

The Office of Fair Trading has ordered 13 airlines - including Ryanair, AerLingus and easyJet -to change their adver-tisement and websiteprices to include fixed,non-optional costs, such as taxes.

The action by the OFT is the latest stage of a six-month campaign to make airlines reveal the true cost of tickets.

The Air Transport Users Council, a passenger watchdog group, welcomed the clampdown, but said it should have come much sooner.

"We actually tried to get the OFT to do some work on this three years ago," James Fremantle, AUC industry affairs manager, said. "At the time they said they couldn't do anything - it was perfectly legal."

The OFT said on Thursday that 11 of the 13 airlines it targeted had already changed their websites, while Aer Lingus and Ryan-air had altered their homepages and pledged to update website booking processes later.

In the interim period, Ryanair had agreed to place a clear statement on its website to inform consumers how much the taxes and charges would add to the final price.

Sean Williams, OFT executive director, said the organisation was committed to ensure travellers were not misled by advertised prices that bore little relation to actual charges.

"Misleading pricing not only undermines consumer confidence but also distorts competition and we will enforce the law enthusiastically where we find that consumers have been misled," he said.

The OFT first announced its clampdown in February, when it quoted theexample of a flightfrom Britain to Barcelona that was advertised at Pounds 19.99 but cost more than double that once all fixed -non-optional costs were included.

Passenger groups say many travellers assume fees and charges are the same on all airlines.

Many even think all except government-imposed taxes are variable.

EasyJet welcomed the OFT's action, and claimed it had long called for industry-wide all-inclusive pricing.

"We didn't move independently as it would have disadvantaged us," a spokesperson said. "We're glad everyone is on a level playing field now."

But it seems that someairline industry habits die hard even in the era of transparency heralded by the OFT.

Aer Lingus said it would complete an overhaul of its website by the end of September - but a would apply the OFT ruling only to bookings in the UK.

Ryanair sees more hubs in Spain, doubling flyers

MADRID, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ryanair sees room to open two more bases in Spain by around 2010 and will double passengers there, the airline said on Thursday, a week after announcing its presence in the country would double to four hubs.

"We now have four bases and there is space for one or two more ... in the next three or four years," Ryanair's director of marketing and sales in Spain, Maribel Rodriguez, told a news conference. "There's still a lot of space to grow."

Rodriguez later told Reuters the airline planned to double profits from Spain as well as the number of passengers to and from Spanish airports by around 2012.

"We want to double profits and passengers ... by around 2012," Rodriguez said. Next year it plans to fly 11 million passengers to and from Spanish airports on domestic and European flights, compared to fewer than 5 million just three years ago.

Rodriguez told journalists Ryanair would fly six new routes from Madrid in October, travelling to Santander and Girona in northern Spain, Alguero and Cagliari in Italy, as well as Frankfurt and Liverpool.

She added that Ryanair saw plenty of space to expand passengers numbers and routes further from the Spanish capital, after it opened a hub there in November last year.

It now flies 17 routes from Madrid's Barajas airport, which up to now has been dominated by national flag carrier Iberia .

In the last two years, Madrid has become a target for low-cost carriers after airport authorities doubled its number of runways to four and raised terminal capacity by two thirds to 70 million people a year.

Rodriguez said its Madrid base was aiming to carry 1.5 million a year from October, 500,000 more than last year.

On Thursday, Ryanair said it would set up new hubs in Valencia and Alicante on Spain's east coast, in addition to Madrid and Girona.

Ryanair ads banned for claiming 'faster, cheaper than Eurostar'

LONDON, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's advertising watchdog on Wednesday banned Ryanair from claiming that the Irish no-frills airline was cheaper, faster and more punctual than high-speed Eurostar trains to Brussels.

Ryanair had claimed in a press advert that its 70-minute flight between London's Stansted airport and Charleroi, southern Belgium, was a faster journey than a 131-minute Eurostar rail link between Waterloo train station and Brussels.

The advert, which was headlined "Brussels faster and cheaper," claimed Ryanair's flight cost 15 pounds (22 euros, 29 dollars), compared with 27 pounds on the Eurostar train. It also claimed that 89 percent of Ryanair flights were on time, against 83 percent of Eurostar trains.

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that Ryanair's claims were "misleading" because they ignored the time and cost of travelling to and from airports and the longer check-in times for flights.

The watchdog also said the punctuality claim was based on a two-year-old report on the BBC news website, when more Eurostar had failed to run on time due to bad weather.

The ASA, which responded to complaints from Eurostar and members of the public, said it has now asked the Dublin-based carrier to remove the claims from similar advertisements.

The ASA said Stansted and Charleroi airports were about 40 kilometres (25 miles) and 46 kilometres (28.5 miles) from the centres of London and Brussels respectively and that readers of the adverts would not necessarily know this.

"We considered that people would see the headline 'Brussels faster' as referring to the overall journey time from London to the centre of Brussels," the ASA said in its ruling.

"We concluded that the claim was likely to mislead."

For its part, Ryanair told the ASA that the time and costs of getting to and from airports and railway stations were "irrelevant" as they applied to both modes of transport.

Ryanair to introduce check-in charge that hits people with luggage, non-EU passports
24 August 2007

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - Ryanair, the no-frills airline infamous for adding myriad charges for "free" flights, unveiled a new front Friday in its war on luggage -- a check-in charge.

The €3 (US$4) charge each way will be added to the cost of a one-way ticket for anybody using a check-in desk. This means anybody who has to check in luggage or, indeed, any passenger who holds a passport from outside the European Economic Area: the 27 nations of the European Union plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Ryanair said it was simultaneously dropping a €3 charge for people who had no check-in luggage and wanted first-priority boarding. It billed the change as designed to encourage people to check in via the airline's Web site and avoid the check-in line at the airport.

Ryanair said the changes would come into effect on all bookings made from Sept. 24 onward.

"Passengers who wish to travel with checked baggage will be subject to a small fee to reflect the cost of airport check-in desk facilities," Ryanair spokesman Peter Sherrard said.

The Ryanair statement twice claimed that the free option would be available to all passengers who do not have check-in luggage, but in a footnote referred readers to its Web site for a list of restrictions.

The Web site's list of people obliged to use check-in desks includes people with infants or baby buggies, teenagers traveling without adults, and passengers traveling from Italy to Britain.

The airline also later confirmed to The Associated Press that holders of passports from non-EEA nations would suffer the new €3 charge even if they have no luggage to check, because they also are barred from checking in on the Web.

The new charges regime means that, for a typical passenger checking a single piece of luggage, the round-trip cost will be €18 (US$24.60) for the just the bag. Ryanair's weight limit on the bag is 15 kilograms (33 pounds), above which passengers are charged an extra €8 (US$11) per kilogram.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to July 2007:
EasyJet = 36,242,785
Ryanair = 45,262,576

Percentage increase in passengers since July 2006:
EasyJet = 17.5%
Ryanair = 21%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in July 2007:
EasyJet = 88.6%
Ryanair = 90%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to August 2007:
EasyJet = 36,802,923
Ryanair = 46,104,000

Percentage increase in passengers since August 2006:
EasyJet = 17.8%
Ryanair = 21%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in August 2007:
EasyJet = 87.4%
Ryanair = 91%

Ryanair keeps goals, eyes expansion beyond Europe

DUBLIN, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Ryanair stuck to its full-year profit guidance on Thursday and said its plans to expand in Italy were on track, as the airline develops a longer-term strategy to enlarge its network beyond Europe.

"Current trading continues to perform as expected, and advance bookings for the autumn are in line with our targets," Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told shareholders, repeating the company expected net profit growth this year of 10 percent.

Europe's biggest budget carrier, which has warned repeatedly that business during the winter will be tough, said it continued to believe ticket prices in the period would drop with average fare yields down by 5 to 10 percent.

Ryanair Holdings Plc , which has also said it will have to contend with rising fuel costs and higher passenger charges in Britain, said however it still expected passenger numbers to grow 18 percent to 50 million in the year to the end of March 2008.

The airline said it would give away 1 million seats for flights in October, with passengers expected to pay only taxes, fees and charges.

In terms of fuel, O'Leary said the airline had yet to insure itself against high oil prices for the first and second quarters of its business year starting in March 2008 but had hedged about 10 percent of its third-quarter fuel needs.

Ryanair is fully hedged for the current fiscal year at an average price of $63 a barrel and O'Leary told reporters after the meeting the airline would take out extra insurance for 2008 if it can do so at or below this year's price.

Ryanair shares were down 1.6 percent at 5.04 euros by 1043 GMT, outperforming a 2.9 percent weaker Irish market <.ISEQ>.

ITALY, AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST

On the airline's plans to expand in Italy, where ailing flag carrier Alitalia is cutting routes, O'Leary said he hoped a deal with Milan's Malpensa airport to base an initial 10 aircraft there would be reached in the next few weeks.

In the longer term, O'Leary said he expected Ryanair to begin flights to North Africa, the Middle East and former Russian Republics over the next five to 10 years thanks to anticipated market liberalisation under open skies deals.

Ryanair, which is the biggest shareholder in Irish rival Aer Lingus after a failed takeover bid, was "considering legal remedies" after Aer Lingus management refused its demands for an exceptional shareholder meeting, O'Leary said.

O'Leary is seeking a shareholder vote on Aer Lingus' plans to shift one of its valuable Heathrow slots from Shannon in the west of Ireland to Belfast.

Ryanair said it would expand its own operations out of Shannon, increasing daily flights to London's Gatwick, Luton and Stansted airports to seven from four and doubling routes to Paris to two a day from next summer.

The airline is also in negotiations with Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport over a new route from Shannon.

EasyJet backs Malpensa airport as Alitalia retreats

MILAN, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Europe's second-biggest budget airline, easyJet , voiced commitment to Milan's Malpensa airport on Tuesday, reiterating plans to more than double its planes there as struggling Alitalia retreats from its hub.

In a statement on Tuesday, easyJet said it would raise the number of its planes based at Malpensa to 15 from 7 as it adds routes to Marrakech, Sardinia's Olbia and domestic destinations Bari and Cagliari -- as announced in August.

It said that would mean an investment of 600 million euros ($831.6 million) in 3 years.

Malpensa has been one of two hubs for Alitalia, Italy's flag carrier airline, which is now struggling for survival after it failed to secure a buyer when the government offered it for sale.

Rome's Fiumicino is Alitalia's other hub.

Alitalia now plans to cut back on its flights from Malpensa -- which serves Italy's rich business heartland. A union source has said Alitalia could cut 150 flights a day -- about half its passenger services at Malpensa.

And although easyJet said its expansion plan "is not a result of Alitalia's recent decision to move a fair number of flights to Rome," it comes less than a week after rival Ryanair announced plans to launch its first routes there.

Alitalia's chairman Maurizio Prato took the reins of Alitalia in August after an auction for the government's 49.9 percent stake flopped and has drawn up a plan to keep the airline going while management looks for a buyer.

Proposed cuts in traffic at Malpensa have triggered a barrage of objections from politicians on all sides in Italy's north, many of whom see it as further attempts by Rome to swing more power southwards while profiting from northern wealth.

The centre-right opposition was due to raise its criticism of Alitalia's plans in parliament later on Tuesday.

Deputy Prime Minister Francesco Rutelli called on Tuesday for Italian companies to save Alitalia -- which loses over a million euros a day -- just as long-time partner Air France-KLM said it might take a look after Prato's restructuring.

Air France-KLM snubbed the government's auction, saying the conditions were not right.

Roberto Formigoni, the outspoken head of the Lombardy region where Malpensa is sited, said the airport could go it alone without Alitalia if the airline retreated.

"Either Alitalia has to review its decisions in order to relaunch Malpensa as a hub, or Malpensa must take off and become a hub in reality without Alitalia," Formigoni, who is a member of centre-right opposition party Forza Italia, said at a local debate.

He meets Prato on Wednesday for talks.

Strong “rumours” of two new easyjet bases to be announced in October, one in Italy and one in France.

I do know the exact airports in question, but cant post the information on a public forum.

Strong “rumours” of two new easyjet bases to be announced in October, one in Italy and one in France.

I do know the exact airports in question, but cant post the information on a public forum.


I heard rumours about LYS in france, MUC and LIS...

LYS

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to August 2007:
EasyJet = 36,802,923
Ryanair = 46,104,000

Percentage increase in passengers since August 2006:
EasyJet = 17.8%
Ryanair = 21%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in August 2007:
EasyJet = 87.4%
Ryanair = 91%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to September 2007:
EasyJet = 37,230,079
Ryanair = 46,920,000

Percentage increase in passengers since September 2006:
EasyJet = 14.2%
Ryanair = 23%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in September 2007:
EasyJet = 85.2%
Ryanair = 85%

Watch Your back Ryanair and Easyjet! Wizzair is on Your tails! :lol:

Wizz Air orders additional 50 A320 aircraft and 25 options

10/10/07

Wizz Air, the largest low fare-low cost airline based in Central and Eastern Europe announced today that it had signed a contract with Airbus for an additional order of 50 firm A320 aircraft and 25 options increasing its total orders up to 107 aircraft. The new order follows Wizz Air's existing A320 order, addresses its capacity requirements until 2014 and is the largest Airbus fleet order recorded in the CEE region. The firm aircraft deliveries will position Wizz Air to become one of the preeminent airlines in the region over the next decade.
In line with Wizz Air’s existing fleet, the new A320 aircraft come with enhanced cabin features and single-class configuration seating 180 passengers in comfortable leather seats.
The delivery stream of existing and new orders will result in the Wizz Air fleet having an average age of less than 3 years for the next 10 years promoting high operational efficiency and technical reliability, increased passenger comfort, environmental efficiency and one the lowest seat mile cost in the region.
"Wizz Air has demonstrated its ability for sustainable growth in a competitive environment, where low cost leadership is fundamental to market share growth and to remaining competitive. The A320 is a proven contributor to our low cost base and continues to deliver low seat mile costs, high operational reliability and customer satisfaction using an environmentally friendly platform. The new aircraft order will put Wizz Air in the league of the largest fleet operators in the region. By 2016 Wizz Air would operate a fleet of over 100 A320 aircraft." said József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air.
"We are very proud to take part in the tremendous growth of Wizz Air in the Central and Eastern Europe region" said Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers, John Leahy. "The new order strongly underpins Wizz Air's aspirations to expand. The A320 Family is clearly the leading aircraft in its category, and this milestone order really endorses the superiority of our product" he added.

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/2765/aircraft3eu4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Watch Your back Ryanair and Easyjet! Wizzair is on Your tails! :lol:

Not really. Ryan Air and Easyjet are way ahead of any other competitors. Third is most liekly either Germanwings or Vueling.

Not really. Ryan Air and Easyjet are way ahead of any other competitors. Third is most liekly either Germanwings or Vueling.

Time will tell... Sooner or later time will tell... :lol:

Air Berlin are Europe's third largest low cost airline.

^ Yeah but's it's only semi lowcost. Germanwings, Vueling, Wizzair, Sky Europe, Jet2 etc are all 100% lowcost airlines.

Ryanair and easyJet's traffic volumes are quite ahead of the other competitors, although there are a number of upstart carriers such as Wizzair getting on the radar these days.

^ But they're not so new. I've been aware of Sky Europe, Wizzair, and Germanwings for years already. Wizzair and Sky Europe had an advantage because the existing national carriers in central European countries had dated fleets and relatively little experience of competing in the modern aviation industry. Those markets were ripe for takeover by dynamic young airlines with newer planes and a successful business model in tune with new market trends. It also doesn't hurt that so many young Europeans from those countries are working abroad in other parts of Europe. This gives them a reliable and steady flow of traffic from exactly the kind of cost conscious consumers that are inclined towards LCCs in the first place.

I heard rumours about LYS in france, MUC and LIS...


It's definitely Lyon. They updated their site a couple of days ago.

So far they are only flying to London, Madrid and Rome from Lyon. The next couple of months will see additions of routes to 9 new cities.

France: Bordeaux, Toulouse
Portugal: Lisbon, Porto
Morocco: Marrakech, Casablanca
Spain: Barcelona
Germany: Berlin
Italy: Venice


Does anybody know if Easyjet has any plans for future routes out of Amsterdam. I would like to see them add new routes that aren't served by LCCs yet such as AMS-LIS, AMS-WAW, AMS-IST or AMS-RIX.

^ Yeah but's it's only semi lowcost. Germanwings, Vueling, Wizzair, Sky Europe, Jet2 etc are all 100% lowcost airlines.
Vueling does not consider itself a low cost airline.
;)

Vueling does not consider itself a low cost airline.
;)Bullshit. Look at their meta tag:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=vueling&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

"Vueling Airlines is one of the fastest growing low cost airlines in Europe. Offers cheap flights among european capitals."

It's definitely Lyon. They updated their site a couple of days ago.

So far they are only flying to London, Madrid and Rome from Lyon. The next couple of months will see additions of routes to 9 new cities.

France: Bordeaux, Toulouse
Portugal: Lisbon, Porto
Morocco: Marrakech, Casablanca
Spain: Barcelona
Germany: Berlin
Italy: Venice


Does anybody know if Easyjet has any plans for future routes out of Amsterdam. I would like to see them add new routes that aren't served by LCCs yet such as AMS-LIS, AMS-WAW, AMS-IST or AMS-RIX.They publish the start dates of their new routes on their website. There don't appear to be any planned expansions from Amsterdam in the immediate future but they add to the list all the time:
http://www.easyjet.com/EN/About/Information/infopack_routeinfo.html

Bullshit. Look at their meta tag:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=vueling&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

"Vueling Airlines is one of the fastest growing low cost airlines in Europe. Offers cheap flights among european capitals."
They call themselves: new generation airline, never low cost airline in Spanish.
:yes:

EasyJet buys GB Airways
26 October 2007
The Guardian

Low cost carrier, easyJet, yesterday strengthened its position at London's Gatwick airport by buying GB Airways for pounds 103.5m.

The deal will see the end of GB's 10 year franchise agreement with British Airways and will give easyJet 24% of Gatwick's slots at a time when airport capacity in the south east is tightly constrained.

"One of the analysts has described this as an infill acquisition," easyJet chief executive, Andy Harrison, said. "That's quite a good way of looking at it. London is pretty much at capacity. This gives us lots of slots at a good price."

The deal, with the privately owned Bland Group, does not include GB's slots at Heathrow. Mr Harrison said easyJet could have bought them, but had decided against doing so because of the time taken to turn round aircraft there. GB's 15-strong Airbus fleet serves 31 destinations in southern Europe and North Africa. It flew 2.8 million passengers and made a profit of pounds 2.6m in the year to the end of March.

Some analysts have suggested easyJet could switch the aircraft to more profitable routes, but Mr Harrison saidit would not decide how to deploy its new slots and fleet until well into the new year.

"We expect the acquisition to be earnings positive in our current financial year and in the longer term we will transition GB Airways operation to easyJet's cost base and operating margin levels."

British Airways chief executive, Willie Walsh, said the company's UK franchises had served their purpose. "Franchising in your home base does create confusion in the mind of the customer and this allows us to concentrate on our core activities."

:)Vueling Airlines is one of the fastest growing low cost airlines in Europe. Offers cheap flights among european capitals."[/i]

I didnt realise Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Bologna, Granada, Ibiza, Jerez, Malaga, Milan, Naples, Nice, Pisa, Santiago, Seville, Valencia and Venice were capital cities lol

Boeing Delivers 150th Next-generation 737-800 To Ryanair
October 31, 2007 10:14 AM


http://web3.bernama.com/bernama/newspic/bu/bbb.jpg

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, took delivery on October 26 of its
150th Boeing Next-Generation 737-800. Shown here, the 146th, 147th,
148th, 149th and 150th 737s for Ryanair are parked in formation at Boeing
Field in Seattle, where they underwent flight testing prior to delivery to
Ryanair. The successful European carrier operates a fleet of 737-800s
around Europe and northwest Africa. Pic courtesy of Boeing Commercial
Airplanes

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, took delivery on October 26 of its 150th Boeing Next-Generation 737-800.

The 146th, 147th, 148th, 149th and 150th 737s for Ryanair underwent flight-testing prior to delivery to Ryanair.

The successful European carrier operates a fleet of 737-800s around Europe and northwest Africa.

From its inception, Ryanair has relied on the 737 - first the 737 Classic and now the Next-Generation 737 - to help it meet strenuous efficiency, environmental, cost and reliability targets that are critical to the success of its business model.

Ryanair has replaced all of its older 737 Classics with the newer Next-Generation 737 and has achieved a 50 percent reduction in CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer since 1998. An additional 121 737s remain to be delivered to Ryanair.

The last 737 Classic was phased out in January 2006. Ryanair operates the second largest 737 fleet in the world, after Southwest Airlines in the United States.

-- BERNAMA

Ryanair profit soars, but outlook turbulent

DUBLIN, Nov 5, 2007 (AFP) - Ryanair said Tuesday that net profit surged by almost 26 percent during its second quarter, as the Irish budget airline flew millions of additional passengers across Europe.

However the group warned that net profit would be "significantly lower" during the third quarter compared with the same three-month period in 2006 owing to cheaper ticket prices.

Net profit jumped by 25.9 percent to 268.7 million euros (388.6 million dollars) in the three months to September 30, compared with the same period last year, Ryanair said in an earnings release.

The Dublin-based carrier added that passenger numbers grew 20 percent to 26.6 million people, while revenue climbed 25 percent to 861 million euros during the third quarter.

EasyJet Signs Deals To Boost Business Passenger Nos
5 November 2007

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. budget airline easyJet PLC (EZJ.LN) said Monday it has signed distribution deals with two corporate travel booking specialists to boost its business passenger numbers.

The company said it's targeting the $90 billion European corporate travel market through deals with Amadeus IT Group SA and Galileo, which is part of Travelport GDS.

Corporate travel agencies will be able to view and book easyJet flights within a booking network known as the Global Distribution System alongside other carriers. The GDS system currently mainly includes services operated by full-service network airlines.

EasyJet said it aims to expand its proportion of business passengers, which is currently around 20%. The airline will retain its direct selling strategy over its Web site and the telephone.

"This is a major step forward in our strategy to attract more business passengers," said easyJet Chief Executive Andrew Harrison.

At 1028 GMT, EasyJet shares were down 24.5 pence, or 3.7%, at 634.5p in a broadly lower London market.

EasyJet, Ryanair see more pain for European rivals

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Heavy fuel costs will heap further pressure on some European shorthaul airlines that are already suffering from low ticket prices, the bosses of easyJet and Ryanair said on Monday.

Oil has climbed about 40 percent since the summer and reached a record high above $96 a barrel last week, adding to the costs of struggling airlines like Spain's Vueling, which has issued two surprise profit warnings this summer and slashed back expansion plans.

"It's a tough business, and easyJet and Ryanair are the only people making any money on a worthwhile scale," easyJet Chief Executive Andy Harrison told Reuters in an interview.

"I think oil prices will put more pressure on weaker airlines," he added. "Time will tell. I'm not going to try to predict the body count. Airlines tend to hang on for a long time on life support."

While their European rivals are suffering, both Ryanair and easyJet have recently upgraded their full-year profit forecasts. Both companies have very low cost bases, allowing them to ride out tough markets.

Harrison said the weakening yields that started in February this year, ending a short period of growth, should be seen as a longterm reality rather than a cyclical downturn.

Yields are average revenues per passenger and roughly equate to ticket prices.

"Our business has been about reducing fares... so we live in a world where yields are flat or declining. The thing that was unusual was that yields went up in 2006."

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary earlier told reporters that a combination of higher oil prices and his own airline's expansion was making life difficult for rivals operating in Spain.

"Our expansion in Spain this winter, in Valencia and Alicante, has put significant pressure on Vueling, Air Berlin and Clickair," he said.

"These airlines are of no interest to us," he added when asked whether Ryanair would look at buying troubled rivals.

EasyJet, which last month agreed to buy rival GB Airways, is also unlikely to buy any other European budget airlines, said Harrison.

"Acquisition is not a priority for us," he said. "We have 120 Airbuses due between now and 2012. Any acquisition would have to be for very good reasons."

EasyJet announced two new partnerships in the corporate travel market on Monday with Amadeus and Galileo, and Harrison said the group aimed to increase its proportion of business travellers to 25 percent from 20 percent.

"They produce 30 percent better yields because they book later," he added. "We don't anticipate a big change in load factor, but there will be a small uplift in overall yields.

"We're in a busines where an extra 50 pence on 40 million passengers is well worth having." (Editing by Rory Channing)

Ryanair suing European Commission over Lufthansa

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Irish budget airline Ryanair said on Wednesday it was suing the European Commission for failing to investigate an arrangement between Munich Airport and Germany's Lufthansa .

"Lufthansa is... receiving substantial state aid at Munich airport, which distorts competition," said Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary. "Ryanair has been left with no alternative but to challenge the Commission's inaction."

Europe's biggest low-cost carrier said in July it planned to sue the Commission for not taking action against governments it believes are giving illegal state aid to national flag carriers such as Air France, Lufthansa, Alitalia and Olympic Airways.

Last week, Ryanair said it would sue the European Commission for not tackling the French government over reduced domestic airport charges which the airline believes favour Air France .

The group also lodged a complaint last month with European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes accusing rivals Deutsche Lufthansa and Air France of price fixing of fuel surcharges, an accusation both companies deny.

Air France Files Suit Against Ryanair
15 November 2007

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Air France, one of the two partner airlines of Air France KLM (3112.FR), said Thursday it is filing a lawsuit against low-cost airline Ryanair Holding PLC (RYAAY), citing "slanderous accusations" by the Dublin-based carrier.

Ryanair has said recently it plans to engage proceedings with the European Commission over what it alleges was collusion between Air France and two other European airlines to fix prices.

Air France said in a press release that Ryanair "is basing its complaint on the mere fact that Air France and the two airlines concerned increased their fares on the same day, a few hours apart, following implementation of a fuel surcharge."

Air France described Ryanair's allegations as "pure fabrication" and said they are slanderous because they were deliberately leaked to the media.

Air France said it intends to seek damages from Ryanair.

Ryanair has had a long-standing feud with Air France over what it considers unfair protection of Air France by the French state. Earlier this month, it filed a lawsuit against the European Commission, saying it has failed to act on what it estimates is about EUR1 billion of state aid to Air France.

Why are easyjet so slow at releasing there summer 2008 flights? The amount of advanced bookings they must lose to Ryanair and other airlines because of this must be prety high.

easyJet full-year profit up 62 percent with double-digit gain in passenger numbers
20 November 2007

LONDON (AP) - Budget airline easyJet reported Tuesday that full-year profit was up 62 percent as passenger numbers grew by 13 percent.

The company reported a net profit of 152.3 million pounds ($313 million) in the year ending Sept. 30, compared with 94.1 million pounds in the previous 12 months.

Revenue rose 22 percent to 1.8 billion pounds ($3.7 billion). Passenger numbers were up 13 percent to 37.2 million, but the load factor was down from 84.8 percent in the previous year to 83.7 percent, reflecting expansion of the company's network.

Shares in easyJet were up 0.9 percent at 585 pence ($12.00) in London.

Andrew Fitchie, analyst at Collins Stewart, said the airline's profit growth was not sustainable.

"easyJet's profit growth was entirely driven by the fleet financing switch from off-balance sheet to on-balance sheet," Fitchie said.

"Alongside this, tangible fixed assets grew 24 percent. Whilst this will continue to benefit the group as it moves more assets on balance sheet, this is not sustainable profits growth."

EasyJet issues warning
Full-year net rose, but growth to slow; airport prices cited
21 November 2007
The Wall Street Journal Europe

LONDON -- EasyJet PLC warned of slower earnings growth this financial year after posting a sharp jump in full-year profit, thanks to cost controls and strong demand.

The U.K.-based airline, Europe's second-largest low-cost carrier after Ryanair Holdings PLC, said underlying pretax profit in the year ending Sept. 30, 2008, is likely to rise 20%, after jumping 48% the previous fiscal year. Underlying profit strips out items such as gains or losses on investments or disposals.

Net profit rose 62% in the year ended Sept. 30 to GBP 152.3 million ($312.2 million) from GBP 94.1 million, boosted by a lower tax rate and a GBP 10.6 million gain from the reinstatement of easyJet's investment in air-traffic-services provider Airline Group.

Pretax profit jumped 56% to GBP 201.9 million from GBP 129.2 million. Analysts had predicted a rise of about 51% in pretax profit after easyJet said last month that it expected to improve its forecast, which called for a 40% to 50% jump.

Sales rose 11% to GBP 1.8 billion from GBP 1.62 billion as passenger numbers rose 13% to 37.2 million.

Load factor -- a measure of how full the company's planes are -- was 84%. Unit operating costs excluding fuel were down 6.4% to GBP 26.55 a seat. But fuel costs rose to GBP 425.5 million from GBP 387.8 million.

EasyJet said it expects total revenue per seat this winter to be broadly in line with last year's levels and to be higher in the summer. The fuel remains challenging, and higher costs are expected, it said.

The carrier's profit was helped by a fleet financing switch from off-balance to on-balance sheet, said brokerage Collins Stewart, adding that it recommends investors take profits.

Chief Executive Andrew Harrison said the carrier is seeing pressure on its cost base because of rising airport prices, but will look to drive efficiencies elsewhere. It has benefited from the retirement of older, less efficient planes, he said.

In a move that will make it the largest carrier at London's Gatwick Airport, easyJet last month said it agreed to buy U.K. carrier GB Airways Ltd. for GBP 103.5 million. The acquisition will boost easyJet's share of runway slots at Gatwick to about 24% from 17% and is expected to be positive for earnings per share in the current financial year. The outlook excludes this acquisition, which hasn't been completed.

EasyJet shares were unchanged yesterday, closing at 580 pence each in London. The stock has fallen nearly 9% since the start of the year, hit by fears that rising oil prices and intense competition will hurt the company's results.

Separately, German budget carrier Air Berlin PLC posted a 19% increase in third-quarter net profit, driven by a rise in passengers and fuller planes. The company said net rose to 60.8 million euros ($89.2 million), its highest quarterly profit, from 50.9 million euros a year earlier. Sales climbed 7.2% to 858 million euros. The number of passengers rose 12% to 8.08 million, while load factor improved to 83.7% from 81.5%.

But management said it wasn't entirely satisfied with that. It said the cost savings from the acquisition of charter airline LTU didn't reach their full potential, owing to a delay by German regulators in approving the purchase, and the company had to take a charge of 13.2 million euros.

Jan Hromadko in Frankfurt contributed to this article.

Winds boost record flight times
Tail winds are contributing to the fastest ever flight times between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Passengers on the Glasgow Prestwick to Belfast air route have made the distance in as little as 18 minutes.

It is understood that a Ryanair plane bound for George Best Belfast City Airport recently did just that.

In the past week, the airline clocked up 20-minute flights three times on its Glasgow to Belfast route.

The speed was partly due to a following wind. But the normal flight time block is up to 45 minutes.

Peter Sherrard, Ryanair's head of communications, said: "We've had three flights that arrived in 20 minutes in the last week.

"Last month, 98% of our flights to the Belfast base arrived on time. This is an extremely high figure.

"We are using a modern fleet which is under two years old."

The airline launched new services to four UK airports from George Best Belfast City Airport on 30 October.

The airline flies to London Stansted, Liverpool and East Midlands, as well as Glasgow Prestwick.

It expects to carry up to 200,000 passengers to and from its Belfast base every year.

It has based a new Boeing 737-800 aircraft at the airport and has said it is committed to widening its route portfolio from Belfast.

Ryanair says suing EU Commission over Volare

DUBLIN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Ryanair said on Thursday it was suing the European Commission for failing to act on the Irish budget airline's complaint about state aid to Italian carrier Volare, a subsidiary of Alitalia .

"The Italian government's recurring attempts to protect Italian aviation include the bailout of Volare and its subsequent transfer to Alitalia," Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said in a statement.

"The write-off of some 20 million euros ($29.62 million) of airport debts is a blatant abuse of EU state aid rules, yet the Commission has refused to do anything about this since 2005."

Europe's biggest low cost carrier said it was left with no alternative but to challenge the Commission's inaction by lodging a case with the European Court of First Instance. The move is the fourth legal action by Ryanair against the Commission for not taking action against governments it believes are giving illegal state aid to airlines, such as Lufthansa and Air France.

City breaks are now extremely popular in the UK, a trend that can be attributed to the growth of low-cost airlines, it has been claimed.

City breaks have become "extremely popular" in the UK and owe part of their success to low-cost airline growth, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.

Spokesperson Sean Tipton said that, before the emergence of no-frills airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair, a flight to Madrid cost up to £400.

This meant that most visitors would stay in a destination for a longer period to make the most of the money they have spent, but the current affordability of flights has led to a boom in demand for short breaks across Europe.

"The UK figure for foreign city breaks is 13 million. One of the main reasons for the increase in the popularity of short city breaks is the low cost carriers," Mr Tipton said.

"As soon as they started offering flights, prices dropped substantially, and that's not just their own fares; all the other airlines realised that if they were going to compete they had to lower their fares as well."

Ryanair claims to be Europe's largest low-fares airline and in the 12 months to October 31st this year carried 47.7 million passengers.

Airport Hotels - Stay the night before your flight and relax in one of our 140 Airport Hotels. Pre-book with Holiday Extras and save up to 45 per cent.
:banana:

Can you provide the source and date for your articles?

Holiday Extras, UK :banana:

easyJet passenger figures rise in November
7 December 2007

LONDON (AP) - Discount airline easyJet PLC said Friday that passenger numbers rose 13 percent in November.

The airline carried nearly 2.9 million passengers in November, up from 2.5 million passengers a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Load factor -- or the amount of capacity taken up -- rose to 80.8 percent in November, from 80.5 percent in the same month a year earlier.

The airline carried almost 38 million passengers in the 12 months through November, up about 14 percent from a year earlier, it said.

Shares in easyJet rose 2.6 percent to 558 pence (US$11.31; euro7.74) on the London Stock Exchange.

Easyjet Announce New Portuguese Link from Glasgow Airport
Glasgow's largest airline, Easyjet, has announced a new thrice weekly service from Glasgow to Faro, the gateway to the Algarve.

Flights from Glasgow to Faro will commence on the 20th of April 2008 and will operate every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with a 156 seated Airbus A319 type aircraft.

FlyGlasgow.net is hopeful of more new Easyjet routes being announced in the months ahead for summer 2008, mainly to European cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Milan and others. The announcement of Glasgow to Faro is seen as an attack on troubled airline FlyGlobespan.

Flights from Glasgow to Faro can be booked online now at www.easyjet.com from as little as £59 return.

Ryanair says Brussels acts against it, spares peers

BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The president of Ryanair lashed out at the European Commission on Tuesday, saying it had moved speedily against the low-cost airline on state aid cases but dragged its feet when Ryanair complained about others.

Government aid is prohibited to private firms except under special conditions, for example to help develop poor regions.

Irish-based Ryanair has made six complaints but the European Union executive has yet to launch formal charges in any of them, company president Michael O'Leary told a news conference.

"We still have no action on any of our state aid complaints despite the fact that they're more than two years old," he said. By contrast, O'Leary said the Commission had launched formal complaints in three cases involving Ryanair.

"The European Commission is running around investigating spurious complaints against Ryanair airports like Luebeck and Pau," he said.

A Commission spokesman said the EU's executive arm was acting properly.

"We know what we're doing. We are following all the cases with the same attention and naturally cases can take different times for the exchange of information and analysis," Michele Cercone said.

"When we consider that there is a need for a formal investigation to be opened, we will do it."

In the meantime there were exchanges of letters and other action, he added.

Ryanair has sought to spur action by filing five lawsuits at the EU's second-highest court, the Court of First Instance.

The intent is to "embarrass the European Commission and to force the European Commission into acting on these state aid complaints against the flag carrier airlines", O'Leary said.

Ryanair's allegations of illegal aid are:

- One billion euros ($1.47 billion) to Air France-KLM in the form of reduced domestic airport charges. No action after 21 months.

- One hundred million euros to German carrier Lufthansa through its sole use of terminal 2 at Munich airport. No action after 26 months.

- Five hundred million euros to loss-making Olympic Airways [OLY.UL] in Greece. No action after 12 months.

- Twenty million euros to Alitalia subsidiary Volare through airport debt write-offs. No action after 25 months.

- A total 1.7 billion euros to Alitalia through recapitalisation and a debt write-off. No action after 25 months.

O'Leary said the Commission had acted against Ryanair on allegations concerning the Pau, France airport after 12 months; in Luebeck, Germany after 18 months and in Tempere, Finland after 30 months.

Ryanair has two other suits pending. One is an appeal against a Commission decision that it had received illegal state aid for Charleroi airport in Belgium.

The other is an appeal against the Commission's rejection of its proposed acquisition of Irish carrier Aer Lingus.

Ryanair CEO plans to raise baggage charges in 2008

DUBLIN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Ryanair has not changed its forecast for a decline in ticket prices over the winter period but plans to increase charges for passengers checking in luggage, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said on Thursday.

"They will go up again next year, when I don't know, probably some time in advance of the summer," O'Leary said, adding that prices would continue to rise until only about 50 percent of passengers were checking in luggage.

"The fair yield environment is unchanged from previous guidance," O'Leary told reporters following a news conference in Dublin.

"During the winter we are continuing to see strong traffic growth, downward pressure on yields. Our guidance to the market for winter yields from October to December will be a yield decline in the order of minus 5 (percent) rather than minus 10."

Italy airport rejects Ryanair, role in doubt

MILAN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Malpensa has rejected Ryanair's offer to operate out of the international airport, describing as "unacceptable" a plan made by the airline at time when the future role of Italy's northern hub has come under doubt.

Ryanair , Europe's largest discount airline, had presented a plan in September after Alitalia's latest reorganisation envisioned halving the number of flights out of the airport near Milan, Italy's financial and fashion capital.

Alitalia's plan raised the ire of unions and regional politicians for fear of seeing Malpensa become less important to Alitalia than its other hub in Rome, Fiumicino.

And those fears were revived this weekend after the board of the money-loosing flagship carrier came out in favour of a bid from Air France-KLM to take it over. Politicians were joined by union leaders in criticising the decision, saying Air France-KLM would treat Alitalia as a regional airline and transfer major routes to Paris to the detriment of Malpensa and Fiumicino.

After months of talks, the head of the management company behind Malpensa airport told the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday that he had turned down Ryanair's offer.

"The project was unacceptable," he said.

"Nothing will be done, at least in 2008," SEA Chairman Giuseppe Bonomi said. "You should never say never, but they (Ryanair) have to soften their position."

Bonomi said Ryanair would have obliged SEA to change its strategy completely, and the tariffs it wanted to charge passengers were too low for the airport.

Malpensa was still attracting the interest of other discount and regular airlines, he said, adding that it was going ahead with a 150 million euro plan to add more counters and open more gates.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to September 2007:
EasyJet = 37,230,079
Ryanair = 46,920,000

Percentage increase in passengers since September 2006:
EasyJet = 14.2%
Ryanair = 23%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in September 2007:
EasyJet = 85.2%
Ryanair = 85%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to October 2007:
EasyJet = 37,639,640
Ryanair = 47,710,000

Percentage increase in passengers since October 2006:
EasyJet = 13.5%
Ryanair = 21%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in October 2007:
EasyJet = 83.7%
Ryanair = 82%




Rolling 12 month passenger totals to November 2007:
EasyJet = 37,973,630
Ryanair = 48,440,000

Percentage increase in passengers since November 2006:
EasyJet = 13.7%
Ryanair = 23%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in November 2007:
EasyJet = 82%
Ryanair = 83.7%




Meanwhile Easyjet has just announced its biggest ever route expansion - especially in the eastern Mediterranean. Egypt appears for the first time, as do several Greek Islands, Cyprus, Dalaman in Turkey, Gibralter, the Canaries, and the Portuguese Atlantic Island of Madeira. This follows hard on the heels of other recent expansions. EasyJet has always led Ryanair in terms of opening exciting new countries and routes:
http://www.easyjet.com/EN/routemap/

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/Budget%20Airlines/EasyJet2008.jpg

Ryanair still interested in Italy's Malpensa

MILAN, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Ryanair is still interested in flying out of Malpensa in northern Italy, but it will not revise its offer after it was rejected by the international airport, a senior manager for the Irish discount airline said on Tuesday.

"If they want to talk to us, our door is always open," South Europe Marketing and Sales Manager Bridget Dowling told a news conference held to announce promotional fares.

"For the moment there are no new developments," she said. "We will not make a new offer."

In the meantime, Ryanair will focus on developing its operations at Orio al Serio airport in Bergamo, east of Milan, the country's financial and fashion capital, she said. The airport is one of three bases from which it flies in Italy.

Ryanair carried 12 million passengers on its Italian routes last year and aims to raise that number to about 14 million in 2008, Dowling said.

Ryanair might open new bases and routes in Italy this year but it had yet to reach any agreements, she added.

Ryanair presented its plan to Malpensa in September following news of a reorganisation plan that would have halved the number of Alitalia's flights out of the airport.

Ryanair's plan would base 12 planes at Malpensa to fly 50 European and 10 Italian routes.

Alitalia's reorganisation plan angered union leaders and regional politicians because they feared Malpensa would lose its importance to Rome's Fiumicino airport.

Those fears were heightened after Alitalia's board and the Italian government -- owner of 49.9 percent of the flagship carrier -- came out in favour of a bid by Air France-KLM to take over Alitalia.

Regional politicians were meeting Prime Minister Romano Prodi in Rome on Tuesday to discuss the airport's future.

A newspaper report on Tuesday saying rival bidders AirOne and bank Intesa Sanpaolo might make a renewed offer for Alitalia boosted the airline's shares by nearly 4 percent.

Ryanair's plan was rejected in December by Malpensa's operator, SEA, which described it as "unacceptable" because the operator would have to change its strategy.

Discount carrier easyJet has eight planes at the airport, serving 21 routes.

Dowling declined to elaborate on the reasons for the rejection, but she said Malpensa would have to keep Ryanair in mind if it wanted to increase traffic at its terminals.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to November 2007:
EasyJet = 37,973,630
Ryanair = 48,440,000

Percentage increase in passengers since November 2006:
EasyJet = 13.7%
Ryanair = 23%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in November 2007:
EasyJet = 82%
Ryanair = 83.7%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to December 2007:
EasyJet = 38,234,700
Ryanair = 49,030,000

Percentage increase in passengers since December 2006:
EasyJet = 13.5%
Ryanair = 18%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in December 2007:
EasyJet = 83.5%
Ryanair = 82%

LGW-SSH and LGW-HRG are 5.5 hour flights each, somehow that doesn't make a lot of sense for low-fare airlines that depend on short routes to make profits.

Also I noticed that they will launch 27! new routes from Gatwick. Does this airport even has that much capacity left, especially considering the fact that it is already that busiest one runway airport in the world?



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/Budget%20Airlines/EasyJet2008.jpg

^ EasyJet just bought GB Airways. That's why there's such a sudden expansion in routes. There will not, however, be such a sudden expansion in flights. Nonetheless airlines find there is plenty room for expansion at Gatwick despite the runway being full. That's because charter flights are declining fast and growing scheduled airlines, such as EasyJet, simply snap up the slots vacated by the charters.

Ryanair rises after analyst says Irish airline will be stronger than rivals in a recession
10 January 2008

NEW YORK (AP) - Shares of Europe-based airlines trading on U.S. exchanges rose Thursday, with Ryanair Holdings PLC climbing after a Citi Investment Research analyst said the company is poised to beat out its competitors in a recession.

Andrew Light said Ryanair would come out of a recession stronger than its rivals because passengers will "trade down" to Ryanair's less expensive flights. Charter airlines, national airlines and low-cost carriers would probably reduce their number of flights, he added.

"Ryanair is still a winner in recession," Light said. He lowered his price target to $40 per share from $51, but said lower fuel prices, cutbacks or financial problems for a rival or an increase in Ryanair's profit forecast.

American Depositary Receipts of Ryanair, which is based in Ireland, gained $2.14, or 6.7 percent, to $34.14. ADRs are securities that allow U.S. investors to trade shares of companies based overseas.

Shares of rival airline Air France-KLM, which combines the airlines of France and the Netherlands, rose 68 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $30.78.

The Bank of New York Europe ADR index edged up 0.44 points, to 187.75 in Thursday trading as the U.S. market finished higher.

Belgian region to sell 27 pct stake in Ryanair hub

BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Belgium's French-speaking Walloon region wants to sell 27 per cent of its stake in Charleroi airport, a major hub for Europe's biggest low-cost airline Ryanair , Belgian media reported on Saturday.

The regional authority wants to sell to a "private partner", but wants to remain the largest shareholder in the airport with 49 percent, transport minister Andre Antoine was quoted by newspapers as saying.

He also reiterated the airport's plan to reduce Ryanair's dominance at the airport.

The Irish budget airline contributed to 86 percent of revenues at Charleroi in 2007, but a series of wildcat strikes which paralysed the airport last year caused friction.

A new terminal is due to open at the airport -- situated around 50 kilometres outside Brussels -- on Jan. 29.

Bournemouth Wins Ryanair's 24th European Base

$70M INVESTMENT, 1,000 JOBS AND 12 ROUTES

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline today (9th Jan) announced its 24th European base in Bournemouth on England’s South Coast. From April, Ryanair will base one $70m Boeing 737-800 aircraft which will serve 5 new routes to Malaga, Murcia, Nantes, Palma and Wroclaw operating alongside Ryanair’s 7 existing routes from Bournemouth to Alicante, Barcelona, Dublin, Glasgow, Marseille, Milan and Pisa. Capacity on the Glasgow route will be doubled to allow for day return traffic, providing a significantly cheaper option for passengers than the high fares charged by Flybe from neighbouring Southampton

This investment will deliver 1m passengers p.a. for the South Coast resulting in a visitor spend of £60m which will sustain 1,000 jobs in the local economy. Only Ryanair guarantees the lowest fares for passengers on the South Coast and today’s new route announcements will generate annual passenger savings of £40m compared to the high fares charged by Flybe from Southampton. The lowest fares to / from the South Coast are only available with Ryanair from Bournemouth. That’s guaranteed.

Announcing the new base in Bournemouth, Ryanair’s Director of Scheduled Revenue, Sean Coyle said:

“Bournemouth Airport has competed successfully against airports across Europe to win our 24th European base. We look forward to delivering even more passenger savings on even more routes from the South Coast thanks to Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares. With this new base, Ryanair will deliver significant economic benefits throughout the region, capitalising on its huge tourism potential by making it cheaper and easier than ever before to get here”.

“To celebrate the launch of our new Bournemouth base, passengers who book a return flight any routes to / from Bournemouth before midnight Thursday will receive a free bonus return flight, no taxes, no fees, and no charges on a choice of over 200 routes. We advise passengers to snap up their free bonus flights today by booking now on www.ryanair.com”.

French court orders Ryanair to pay presidential couple over ad
5 February 2008

PARIS (AP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, won a lawsuit against Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, which was ordered to pay a total of $88,975 for an advertisement featuring a photo of the couple.

Sarkozy and Bruni filed separate lawsuits that were heard together in a court session in Paris, seeking damages for Ryanair's use of the image for commercial purposes without permission.

Sarkozy asked for a symbolic one euro - the equivalent of $1.47 -- in damages, which the court granted. The court ordered Ryanair to pay Bruni $88,974, less than the $741,450 she had sought.

Ryanair's lawyer, Francis Teitgein, said it was too early to say whether the company would appeal the decision. If the company does not appeal, it will pay Bruni the damages.

The advertisement, which appeared in Le Parisien newspaper on Jan. 28, shows Sarkozy and Bruni gazing skyward, with a think bubble over Bruni's head reading, "With Ryanair, my whole family will be able to attend my wedding."

Sarkozy and Bruni, a longtime model, were married on Saturday.

EasyJet maintains robust outlook
8 February 2008
Financial Times

EasyJet, the UK's leading low-cost airline, has maintained its forecast for a 20 per cent increase in underlying pre-tax profits in its financial year to the end of September, in stark contrast to the profit warning issued this week by rival Ryanair.

The Irish carrier, the largest no-frills airline in Europe measured by passenger numbers, had warned that higher oil prices, weakening consumer sentiment and the strong risk of recession could lead to a sharp decline in its profits in the year to March 2009 - possibly by as much as 50 per cent.

However, EasyJet said its total revenues per seat had risen "ahead of expectations" by 0.5 per cent in its first quarter from October to December, helped by the strength of the euro and the introduction of charges for checked-in baggage.

Revenues for the current second quarter were also expected "to continue to perform ahead of our original expectations", it said.

Forward bookings were "in line with expectations in spite of the uncertain macroeconomic environment".

The carrier derives a significant proportion of its revenues in euros and the group said that most of its growth in passenger numbers in the first three months was achieved through its development of markets in continental Europe, in particular Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

As a result of the investment in these new operating bases total non-UK originating passengers increased 22 per cent in the period. UK-originating passenger numbers rose just 5 per cent.

The airline flew with slightly more empty seats in the first quarter from October to December, with a deterioration in the load factor year-on-year from 81.7 to 80.8 per cent.

The trend accelerated in January with a decline of 2.9 percentage points from 74.9 to 72 per cent.

However, EasyJet said its forward bookings for February and March showed "an improving trend" and it expected only a slight decline in loads for the second quarter, similar to the fall in the first three months. It has cut its lead-in fares to stimulate more traffic.

Rising ancillary revenues, including the baggage charges and commission earnings from areas such as hotel bookings, car hire and travel insurance, are driving the revenue performance.

While total revenues per seat rose 0.5 per cent in the first quarter, passenger revenues per seat fell 4 per cent due to weaker fare levels, but ancillary revenues per seat including bag charges jumped 42.6 per cent.

Overall in the first quarter turnover increased 14.1 per cent to Pounds 418m (Dollars 812m), passenger numbers rose 12.4 per cent to 9.1m, while capacity measured by the number of seats rose 13.6 per cent.

EasyJet shares closed 4.91 per cent lower at 426 1/4p.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to December 2007:
EasyJet = 38,234,700
Ryanair = 49,030,000

Percentage increase in passengers since December 2006:
EasyJet = 13.5%
Ryanair = 18%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in December 2007:
EasyJet = 83.5%
Ryanair = 82%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to January 2008:
EasyJet = 38,422,844
Ryanair = 49,580,000

Percentage increase in passengers since January 2007:
EasyJet = 13.2%
Ryanair = 17%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in January 2008:
EasyJet = 83.1%
Ryanair = 82%

Ryanair warns Cyprus: You need us to come here… we don’t need to be here
By Jean Christou

HIGH airport charges are stopping low-cost carrier Ryanair from flying to Cyprus and under current conditions the airline will not take the plunge, it said yesterday.

“We’re potentially interested in Cyprus but we have to be able to make money. We are a business,” Ryanair’s Director of Route Development Bernard Berger told the Cyprus Mail on the sidelines of an hoteliers` conference.

“You need us to come here. We don’t need to come to Cyprus, we are doing very well thank you.”

Berger said the way things stand at the moment, it would not be entering the Cyprus market any time soon, at least until the government changed its stance on airport passenger fees.

With an average ticket price of €44 compared to closest competitor easyJet’s €64, Ryanair is baulking at the current €30 fee per departing passenger from Cyprus.

“This doesn’t work for us. Why on an average price of €44 would you want to pay that? No one will,” said Berger.

He said ten or twenty euros less on airport fees could make a difference, especially for a family.

In his address titled ‘Europe soars, Cyprus slumps’ to the conference, organised by the Cyprus Hotel Association (PASYXE), Berger accused the government of ‘bean counting’.

He said the state should sacrifice its 33 per cent share of the airport revenue pie for the greater good of the island’s ailing tourism industry.

Berger said he had not done the math but was sure the short-term loss in revenue from the airport would be compensated for by the increase in tourism income over the medium to long term.

“The airport is not a cash cow. It’s completely the wrong approach and leads to future loss in market share,” he said.

“The cost of not doing it in the medium to long term is catastrophic.”

Berger said Latvia had taken the decision to lower it rates, and since then Ryanair had brought in between one and four million passengers through Riga airport.

“You guys have been sitting around for 20 years. Take the bull by the horns and run with it instead of sitting in a glass box and wondering what’s going on elsewhere,” he added.

Malta, like Cyprus, had also been struggling in recent years, Berger said. But since the advent of Ryanair, their tourist arrivals had jumped almost 11 per cent in just a year.

If a deal can be struck with Cyprus, Berger said Ryanair could initially bring in 60,000 to 70,000 new tourists a year and after a few years this could increase to as much as 750,000 a year.

The beauty of Ryanair, he said was its operation from airports other than country capitals.

“Ryanair delves into routes no other airlines go near,” Berger said, adding that the airline also had the brand name to ensure success.

A possible plan for Larnaca would include flights to and from Stockholm, Milan, Pisa, Marseille, Barcelona and Dusseldorf.

If that went well, Berger said Cyprus could become a Ryanair base and carry out low-cost flights to Israel and the Middle East.

“Unfortunately you are losing out on the moment. We do not believe airports should charge what they like,” Berger said.

“Do they want to suffer a slow death? The country has to look at itself and needs to do so urgently.”

Commenting on the distance, since low-cost carriers usually aim for routes three hours or less, Berger acknowledged it was a problem because Cyprus was a four-hour flight.

“Four hours is a long way. Short and long haul flights are doing well. You are medium haul and falling into the cracks,” he said.
The current cost of flights didn’t help, he said, citing €268 as the average cost of a British Airways return flight to Cyprus. Berger said he had paid €500 from Amsterdam to Larnaca.

“That’s a lot of money for a four-hour flight and it was nowhere near full,” he said. “A lot of people don’t care where they go. They just want a holiday. It’s four hours but if the price is right, people will come. We can bring in the missing tourists,” he added.

Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) Director General Phoebe Katsouri was however optimistic that Ryanair would be flying to Cyprus under the new plan the organisation has that will offer EU-approved incentives to low-cost carriers.

“Ryanair’s presence here (today) is attesting to the fact they are interested,” Katrousi told the Mail.

“There are a lot of constraints and we are trying to find a workable solution,” she added referring mainly to the airport charges.

“I’m sure we will find a way to make the most of this interest. We are fully aware of the potential and uniqueness of the company,” she said.

Katsouri urged the airports to cooperate. “It has to be a partnership,” she said.

Commenting, PASYXE chairman Haris Loizides said Ryanair’s potentiality had the possibility to “contribute decisively to the recovery of our tourism”.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to January 2008:
EasyJet = 38,422,844
Ryanair = 49,580,000

Percentage increase in passengers since January 2007:
EasyJet = 13.2%
Ryanair = 17%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in January 2008:
EasyJet = 83.1%
Ryanair = 82%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to February 2008:
EasyJet = 39,016,836
Ryanair = 50,210,000

Percentage increase in passengers since February 2007:
EasyJet = 14.1%
Ryanair = 20%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in February 2008:
EasyJet = 83.3%
Ryanair = 81%


Ryanair sails through the 50 million mark as EasyJet approaches 40 million. Once past 100 million their combined total will close on Southwest.

is it possible to change the title? they're not the worlds fastest growing airlines

^ Which airline is growing faster in terms of absolute (ie not percentage) growth? In March 2003 Ryanair had carried just 15.74 million over the previous 12 month period. Less than five years later and it has added an additional 35 million pax pa. EasyJet has grown from 11.4 million paz pa in 2002 to almost 40 million now. That's growth of nearly 30 million too.

EU to investigate Slovak airport discounts to Ryanair
11 March 2008

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Commission said Tuesday they are investigating if Ryanair Holdings PLC gets a cut-price deal on airport charges from Slovakia's Bratislava airport that is unfair to other airlines.

It said its investigation into a possible illegal state subsidy was triggered by a complaint alleging the airport gives Ryanair huge discounts on airport charges for opening new routes and maintaining existing ones.

The EU warned that the rebates would not be legal if Ryanair was profiting from them in the long-term -- and that it could demand Ryanair pay the full cost of the charges.

Ryanair said it believed the "spurious" complaint had come from either Austrian Airlines or a Vienna airport trying to block rival services from Bratislava -- which is 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Austrian capital.

Bratislava airport has so far refused to give EU regulators a copy of its agreement with Ryanair.

The EU executive said its information shows the airport struck a deal in December 2005, offering Ryanair a discount of up to 48 percent for new routes and up to 31 percent for others.

Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, has helped revolutionize travel across Europe by pioneering cheap flights to regional airports that have sent record numbers of European passengers to the skies on the way to a wider range of destinations.

Eager to pull in new tourist traffic, small airports offer sweeteners to these airlines that have, in some cases, already fallen foul of EU authorities. In 2004, Ryanair was ordered to pay back €4.5 million it got from Belgium's Charleroi airport and change a contract that would allow it recoup up to 90 percent of its costs over 15 years.

Ryanair to Further Cut-Costs
Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline today confirmed that it was
freezing the pay of its senior management for 2008 as part of a series of cost cutting measures over the coming weeks as the price of oil rises to over $100 a barrel.

From 1st April next Ryanair’s current $68 per barrel fuel hedges, expire.

Ryanair confirmed that it is reviewing all of its major costs including
airports, staffing, fuel and currency exposures and this cost reduction
programme will continue over the coming weeks.

Since Ryanair is the only airline in Europe to guarantee the lowest fares and no fuel surcharges, Ryanair must pay for higher oil by reducing costs elsewhere.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said today:

“Given the enormous increase in our fuel costs, and the likelihood that profits over the coming year may fall, it is appropriate that Ryanair’s senior management lead this cost reduction programme by example, with a pay freeze in 2008.

None of Ryanair’s senior management team (comprising over 30 individuals) will receive any pay increase this year unless the current high oil prices fall, and until we can see some prospect of profits being increased.

We are working intensively on other cost reductions, including focusing on airport costs and handling costs, staff costs and other operating expenses, as we expand Ryanair while lowering fares but absorbing much higher oil costs.


Ryanair will continue to guarantee the lowest fares and no fuel surcharges on every route we operate, This can only be achieved in a period of higher oil prices by reducing costs in every other area.

These cost reductions will mean that Ryanair’s passengers can continue to enjoy Europe’s guaranteed lowest fares, and a guarantee of no fuel surcharges whenever they travel with Ryanair”.

EasyJet exec predicts cull of budget airlines

TOULOUSE, France, April 23 (Reuters) - Oil prices well above $100 a barrel will drive most of Europe's low-cost airlines out of business, the head of EasyJet's French subsidiary said on Wednesday.

The stark warning of a cull of low-cost airlines came as the British budget airline's shares fell more than 4 percent after another spike higher in oil prices towards $120 a barrel.

"There are currently about 50 low-cost carriers on the European market -- that's absurd," Francois Bacchetta, managing director of EasyJet France, told a news conference.

In a few years' time there will be no more than about three or four of us left in Europe," he said.

He was speaking at a briefing about a new EasyJet service between Toulouse and Lyon.

Traditional network carriers like Air France KLM have slapped extra fuel surcharges on ticket prices in recent months to help compensate for soaring crude oil prices.

"If we ourselves passed on these increases completely we would have to raise ticket prices by 10 percent in one go and our payload factor (the proportion of seats sold) would fall from 85 percent to 60 percent. Our whole low-cost business model would be thrown into question," Bacchetta said.

"The most competitive companies like Ryanair or ourselves will survive, along with one in Germany and perhaps one more in Europe. The others will die or merge as cripples. This phenomenon will even touch so-called normal carriers."

EasyJet issued a profit warning last month, citing higher fuel costs.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to February 2008:
EasyJet = 39,016,836
Ryanair = 50,210,000

Percentage increase in passengers since February 2007:
EasyJet = 14.1%
Ryanair = 20%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in February 2008:
EasyJet = 83.3%
Ryanair = 81%


Ryanair sails through the 50 million mark as EasyJet approaches 40 million. Once past 100 million their combined total will close on Southwest.Rolling 12 month passenger totals to March 2008:
EasyJet = 39,652,382
Ryanair = 50,930,000

Percentage increase in passengers since March 2007:
EasyJet = 20.5%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in March 2008:
EasyJet = 83.5%
Ryanair = 82%


Their combined total now exceeds 90 million. Next stop 100 million pax pa and surpassing Southwest (US low cost airline Southwest carries more passengers than any other airline in the world).

Ryanair says to cut flights, guidance unchanged

DUBLIN, July 15 (Reuters) - Irish airline Ryanair said on Tuesday it would cut flights at its Dublin base due to high fuel prices and airport costs, but it was not changing its profit guidance for this year.

Ryanair, Europe's biggest budget airline, said it would cut weekly flights at Dublin by 12 percent this winter and it would also cut some at Stansted in the UK, which it will detail later this week.

All in all, it expects to ground just over 10 percent of its fleet for the winter, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said, adding that he expects Ryanair to carry about 58 million passengers in the year, 1 million fewer than an earlier forecast.

"No change in full-year guidance at the moment," O'Leary told a news conference when asked about his profit outlook.

"This year we are going to make very little or no money if oil stays around $130-$140 a barrel," O'Leary said.

Ryanair said earlier this year it hoped to break even in the current year through March 2009 based on average fares rising some 5 percent and an average oil price of $130 a barrel.

"Compared to winter 2007, when Ryanair operated 22 aircraft, and over 1,350 weekly flights, Ryanair's schedule at Dublin this winter will be reduced to 18 based aircraft and less than 1,200 weekly flights," Ryanair said in a statement.

Ryanair, however, is adding four new lines to Stockholm Skavsta as well as adding more departures on current lines. Was announced this week. :)

And EasyJet recently announced it will be coming to Stockholm. They will fly from the main airport, Arlanda, to Milan. Milan-Stockholm has a lot of airlines and a lot of daily flights now, I wonder if this will be sustainable...

Ryanair to cut Stansted flights

Ryanair is not alone in having to deal with higher operational costs
Ryanair, the budget Irish airline, has said it will cut about 250 flights from Stansted this winter as it tries to offset higher fuel and airport costs.

It also will suspend flights to seven other European airports in nations including Hungary, Poland, and Austria. Ryanair said flights from Stansted will drop to less than 1,600 in the winter of 2008-2009, a reduction of about 14%.

The cuts would see it carry about 900,000 fewer passengers and trim its Stansted fleet to 28 planes from 36.

On Wednesday, Ryanair said that it was also cutting flights from Dublin.

The airline said it was cutting the number of aircraft it had in the Irish capital by almost a fifth and the number of flights by 12%.

Ryanair's shares climbed by 3.6% to 3.03 euros in Dublin.

The company's winter season runs from October to March.

Between 4 November and 19 December it will suspend flights to airports at Basel in Switzerland, Budapest in Hungary, Krakow and Rzeszow in Poland, Palma and Valencia in Spain, and Salzburg in Austria


...

900,000 pax less in stansted? we knew it would happen but I was expecting much less than that.

EasyJet profit fears over rise in fuel costs sparks sector slide
25 July 2008
Financial Times

EasyJet profits could fall by more than 40 per cent this year because of the surge in fuel costs, the airline said yesterday, triggering a steep fall in share prices across the aviation sector.

EasyJet shares fell 37½p or 10 per cent to 332½p. British Airways fell 8 per cent, Ryanair by about 3 per cent and Air France-KLM by 5.3 per cent, largely wiping out the previous day's gains, which had come in response to this week's fall in the crude oil price.

In recent days, however, jet kerosene prices have fallen far less than the price of crude oil.

EasyJet forecast pre-tax profits, before one-off items, would fall to £110m-£120m in the current financial year to the end of September, from £191m a year ago, based on an average jet fuel price of $1,280 (£643) per tonne in the six months from April to September.

Jet fuel is trading at just under $1,300 a tonne. Easy Jet has hedged 28 per cent of its fuel requirements for the next financial year to September 2009 at $1,265 a tonne. It expected fuel costs for the year to September 2008 to rise by £185m but said it had managed to offset about half of the increase by cutting other costs and raising revenues per passenger.

EasyJet, the UK's leading budget airline, also plans to sharply cut its rate of capacity growth during the winter and to cut capacity at its London Stansted base. The company will also close its Dortmund base in Germany.

It said the winter season would be "challenging" for the entire airline sector.

The EasyJet statement followed recent announcements by Ryanair, its Irish rival, of capacity reductions during the winter at its main Stansted and Dublin bases. British Airways is expected to announce plans next week to cut capacity in the winter by 3-5 per cent, mainly in short-haul European flights.

EasyJet said that its underlying business continued to "perform well and in line with expectations". Non-fuel costs in the second half were also hit, however, by higher airport charges, in particular at London Gatwick, owned by BAA.

The airline is seeking a judicial review of the sharp rise in Gatwick charges, approved earlier this year by the Civil Aviation Authority, the economic regulator for the three main London airports. EasyJet is reducing its capacity growth this winter to between 4 and 6 per cent from a previous level of about 15 per cent. At Stansted, winter capacity will be cut by about 12 per cent as the airline reduces unprofitable flying.

It plans to re-allocate some capacity from poorer-performing bases, such as Dortmund, to stronger airports such as Milan Malpensa, Gatwick and Paris Charles de Gaulle. Ryanair said last week it was cutting the number of weekly flights to and from Stansted by 14 per cent this winter.

EasyJet said flexibility was vital in a volatile environment.

Ryanair has no need of mergers-CEO

BOLOGNA, Italy, July 31 (Reuters) - Low-cost airline Ryanair has no need to merge with another airline, its chief executive Michael O'Leary said on Thursday, adding his company will be one of five main flyers left after the industry consolidates.

"Ryanair does not need mergers with other companies," O'Leary said at a press conference in the central Italian city of Bologna.

"After consolidation among flag carriers because of expensive fuel, five main companies will remain and Ryanair will certainly be among them," O'Leary said.

High fuel costs and crimped consumer spending are hurting airlines and earlier this week two major European players, British Airways and Spain's Iberia announced they were in discussions about a possible merger.

O'Leary's company, which is Europe's biggest low-cost carrier, said earlier this week it might make its first loss since 1989 because it will respond to high fuel costs and the threat of recession by cutting fares.

O'Leary said rival low-cost carrier EasyJet could be another company to survive the consoldation intact.

Ryanair reported an 85 percent slide in its first-quarter net profit on Monday.

BAA sues Ryanair over refusal to pay higher charge

DUBLIN, Aug 5 (Reuters) - British airport operator BAA is taking Irish airline Ryanair to court over its refusal to pay a 15 percent increase in charges at Stansted airport, Ryanair said on Tuesday.

Ryanair said in April it would not pay the higher charges imposed by BAA, owned by Spanish firm Ferrovial.

"It's most likely (the matter will result in) a High Court action," a Ryanair spokesman said, adding that the court had not formally notified the carrier yet.

"We are going to fight the action," he said. "We don't think the fees are warranted."

A BAA spokesman said Stansted charges remained within the limits allowed by the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority.

"This matter is in the hands of the lawyers so it is inappropriate to make any comment at this stage," the BAA spokesman said.

Rival low-cost airline easyJet also said in April it wanted to withhold part-payment of price rises by BAA at Gatwick airport.

Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost carrier, said last month it would cut winter capacity at Stansted, its busiest hub, due to high fuel prices and because the cost of using Stansted was too high.

The Dublin-based airline warned last week that it may make its first loss since 1989 because it will respond to the rise in fuel costs and the threat of recession by cutting fares.

On Tuesday Ryanair reported a 19 percent year-on-year rise in the number of passengers it carried in July to 5.66 million, but it added that the average flight was slightly less full.

Ryanair said its load factor -- a measure of how well a carrier is filling available seats -- was 89 percent in the month, down from 90 percent in July 2007.

Shares in Ryanair rose more than 15 percent after benchmark oil prices fell to a three-month low below $119 a barrel at one point, down $28 from July's record highs. The company's shares closed 0.9 percent lower in Dublin at 2.58 euros.

Wow I thought this thread had disappeared without trace! I couldn't retrieve it even using the search function! An update on the figures is now long overdue. It's good to see EasyJet sailing past the 40 million mark and the combined total of both airlines closing on the 100 million mark:


Rolling 12 month passenger totals to April 2008:
EasyJet = 40,071,680
Ryanair = 51,550,000

Percentage increase in passengers since April 2007:
EasyJet = 15%
Ryanair = 15%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in April 2008:
EasyJet = 83.2%
Ryanair = 81%



Rolling 12 month passenger totals to May 2008:
EasyJet = 40,604,175
Ryanair = 52,460,000

Percentage increase in passengers since May 2007:
EasyJet = 15.9%
Ryanair = 22%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in May 2008:
EasyJet = 83.2%
Ryanair = 81%



Rolling 12 month passenger totals to June 2008:
EasyJet = 41,276,487
Ryanair = 53,290,000

Percentage increase in passengers since June 2007:
EasyJet = 19.5%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in June 2008:
EasyJet = 83.3%
Ryanair = 84%

There is a rumour going around today that Ryanair might be about to order 400 planes!!




FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Ryanair is in talks with EADS unit Airbus and Boeing Co. to buy up to 400 aircraft to secure mid-term growth following its recent earnings slump, chief executive Michael O'Leary told Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview.
Planes are "about half as expensive as they were a few years ago", he said, because of the currently weak U.S. dollar.
Europe's largest low-cost carrier last month said first-quarter net profit slumped 85 percent as its fuel costs soared, and warned it may post a full-year loss of up to 60 million euros if oil prices remain high.
"But the price will fall below $100 again because demand is declining," O'Leary told Sueddeutsche. "There is no oil shortage." However, if prices remain high, only between three and five European airlines will stay afloat in the longer term, among them "Ryanair and maybe Easyjet", he said.
Airlines around the world have been merging with peers and buying shares in smaller rivals to boost their income in the face of surging fuel prices. Oil prices have risen 63 percent in the past 12 months and last month reached record levels above $145 per barrel.


I expect Ryanair shares will rocket on the Dublin stock market if this is true.........of course Ryanair did something similar after 9/11 and pulled off a bit of a coup. With the weakness of the dollar this could be advantagous.


If this is true Ryanair is basically looking to triple its fleet in the medium term!

ANALYSIS-Will Ryanair's O'Leary win his low cost gamble?

DUBLIN/LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - The prospect of losses at Irish budget airline Ryanair has sent many an investor fleeing, but those with faith in its strategy of lower fares in the face of high costs may be richly rewarded.

Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said last month that a failure to hedge against high fuel prices and a consumer downturn could plunge the Dublin-based airline into the red for the first time in almost two decades.

The market reacted in horror, sending the shares down 25 percent on the day. O'Leary's forecast that average fares will drop by 5 percent was a U-turn from two months previously, when he saw robust demand boosting prices 5 percent during the year.

But while full service airlines such as British Airways and AirFrance-KLM are currently adding fuel surcharges to prices in order to claw back margins this winter, possibly at the expense of passenger numbers, O'Leary said he was confident the company's business model could cope.

He has launched one of his winter promotions -- 1 million flights for five pounds each -- on top of an ordering policy that will see 49 new aircraft delivered in the current financial year, an increase in capacity that more then offsets the grounding of some planes at London's Stansted and elsewhere.

"This increase in capacity is a grave concern for the industry and is likely to exacerbate the collapse in Ryanair's returns," said Collins Stewart analyst Andrew Fitchie.

Winter promotions could trigger a "price war" with rival airlines such as easyJet , which has yet to forecast an impact on winter fares, Fitchie added.

But faced with criticism and investor jitters about the group's aircraft ordering policy and lack of hedging, O'Leary is unrepentant.

"I think we'll be right and all the other airlines who are desperately hoping that ticket prices will go up this winter will be wrong," he told reporters in Frankfurt this month.

He also insists that ambitious plans to double Ryanair's fleet to 300 planes by 2012 and preliminary talks to buy up to 400 new ones over the longer term were a sensible strategy.

"Why is it unsustainable?," O'Leary told the BBC on Wednesday. "Demand for Ryanair's fares has never been higher, I think partly because ... people are getting a bit more price sensitive."

CHARGE NOTHING

Ryanair and arch rival easyJet operate a model where prices rise the busier a plane gets, meaning fewer travellers dictate a lower average price.

This compares sharply with the BA model, which sacrifices load factor -- a measure of filling planes -- by raising fares in order to bolster revenues. "We could charge nothing, and fill up our aeroplanes (but) it's a balance between price and volume," BA head of investor relations George Stinnes has said.

Ryanair's confidence it can keep fares low regardless of the hit is based on a number of factors. Firstly, it is gambling that passengers trade down to the low cost airlines rather than stop flying completely -- a trend that appears accurate so far based on passenger numbers.

Ryanair and easyJet passenger volumes rose 19 and 20 percent respectively in July, while AIR France-KLM was up 1.8 percent and BA traffic down 3.5 percent in the same month.

"Just look at Ryanair and easyJet, both of them show that passengers are in fact trading down," said John Goode, analyst at Goodbody stockbrokers in Dublin.

"Their strategy is a long-term one. I think it will work in the long run in the sense that they will win passenger volumes from competitors, but in the meantime earnings are likely to suffer," he added.

Similar gambles have paid off for O'Leary in the past: his order for 100 new Boeing aircraft and options on 50 more after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States at rock bottom prices underpinned years of subsequent expansion for Ryanair.

Further advantages for Ryanair are a strong balance sheet, laden with a cash-pile of some 2.2 billion euros to swallow any losses, and the fact that Michael O'Leary is a significant shareholder with over 4 percent of the company.

"Ryanair with its very, very strong balance sheet and with its cost base continues to be exceptionally well placed in the industry and they will remain a very strong player," said Gert Zonneveld at Panmure Gordon in London.

"What would be the alternative? To charge a higher price and fill 50 percent of the aircraft and not make money, is that the alternative?" he added.

Much still depends on the price of oil.

Ryanair has held up its hands that its tactic of not hedging against the oil price in the belief that it would fall was a bad one. It then changed tack, taking advantage of a recent oil correction to hedge fuel for the last four months of the calendar year at between $124 and $129 a barrel -- just to see oil fall as far as $112.

"Oil really still is the key factor. If oil comes off they'll return to profitability and substantial profitability very quickly," Goodbody's Goode said.

Wow I thought this thread had disappeared without trace! I couldn't retrieve it even using the search function! An update on the figures is now long overdue. It's good to see EasyJet sailing past the 40 million mark and the combined total of both airlines closing on the 100 million mark:


Rolling 12 month passenger totals to April 2008:
EasyJet = 40,071,680
Ryanair = 51,550,000

Percentage increase in passengers since April 2007:
EasyJet = 15%
Ryanair = 15%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in April 2008:
EasyJet = 83.2%
Ryanair = 81%



Rolling 12 month passenger totals to May 2008:
EasyJet = 40,604,175
Ryanair = 52,460,000

Percentage increase in passengers since May 2007:
EasyJet = 15.9%
Ryanair = 22%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in May 2008:
EasyJet = 83.2%
Ryanair = 81%



Rolling 12 month passenger totals to June 2008:
EasyJet = 41,276,487
Ryanair = 53,290,000

Percentage increase in passengers since June 2007:
EasyJet = 19.5%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in June 2008:
EasyJet = 83.3%
Ryanair = 84%

Hmm, how do they campare with Asian LCCs like Air Asia & Tiger Airways ?
Do you have any stats ? I think in terms of pax European LCCs win hands down but when it comes to annual growth ...

Hmm, how do they campare with Asian LCCs like Air Asia & Tiger Airways ?
Do you have any stats ? I think in terms of pax European LCCs win hands down but when it comes to annual growth ...

I don't think most Asian LCCs even come close to reaching those traffic numbers.

Except AirAsia : http://www.airasia.com/site/ch/en/pressRelease.jsp?id=be9a82e6-7f000010-1c9ce700-11685678

^^ As far as I know Air Asia carried around 18 million pax in 2007, up from around 13 million in 2006. This is a rise of more than 40%. This year it's expected to breach 20 million mark.

What is surprising is that when oil price is shooting up Air Asia seems to get much stronger and its expanding like crazy . In the past 3 months alone AK has added Perth, Manado, Makassar & Guilin to its network, introducing many new lines within its existing destinations and increasing frequencies very sharply. This week it raised KL-Hanoi and KL-Hong Kong to double daily service.

^ I'm not claiming that Ryanair and EasyJet have the fastest growth in percentage terms. After all any tiny startup airline going from a fleet of 1 to 5 planes can enjoy 500% growth or more over a year or two. However I am claiming they have the fastest growth in terms of new passengers added per year. On that score they easily outshine AirAsia. I've just posted the figures for July 2008 but if you compare that to the figure from the same month two years ago (ie July 2006) you can see the following:

July 2006
EasyJet = 32,442,551
Ryanair = 37,626,423

July 2008
EasyJet = 42,020,751
Ryanair = 54,190,000

So in two years AirAsia added 5 million new passengers but EasyJet added almost 10 million new passengers (30% growth) and Ryanair added 16.6 million new passengers (44% growth). Their combined growth over those two years (26 million) is therefore more than AirAsia's entire traffic (18 million). Indeed Ryanair's new growth alone is close to AirAsia's entire traffic. If you go back to the oldest figures on this thread then the change is even more dramatic.

Wow I thought this thread had disappeared without trace! I couldn't retrieve it even using the search function! An update on the figures is now long overdue. It's good to see EasyJet sailing past the 40 million mark and the combined total of both airlines closing on the 100 million mark:


Rolling 12 month passenger totals to April 2008:
EasyJet = 40,071,680
Ryanair = 51,550,000

Percentage increase in passengers since April 2007:
EasyJet = 15%
Ryanair = 15%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in April 2008:
EasyJet = 83.2%
Ryanair = 81%



Rolling 12 month passenger totals to May 2008:
EasyJet = 40,604,175
Ryanair = 52,460,000

Percentage increase in passengers since May 2007:
EasyJet = 15.9%
Ryanair = 22%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in May 2008:
EasyJet = 83.2%
Ryanair = 81%



Rolling 12 month passenger totals to June 2008:
EasyJet = 41,276,487
Ryanair = 53,290,000

Percentage increase in passengers since June 2007:
EasyJet = 19.5%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in June 2008:
EasyJet = 83.3%
Ryanair = 84%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to July 2008:
EasyJet = 42,020,751
Ryanair = 54,190,000

Percentage increase in passengers since July 2007:
EasyJet = 20%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in July 2008:
EasyJet = 89.3%
Ryanair = 89%

July 2006
EasyJet = 32,442,551
Ryanair = 37,626,423

July 2008
EasyJet = 42,020,751
Ryanair = 54,190,000

.

In terms of number ( and not percentage ) growth Ryanair & Easyjet win hands down for sure ! :cheers:

Why don't both airlines start their own long-haul operations ?　I think they can compete well with Emirates, Qatar, Singapore, Cathay etc if realized

^ Seems like Ryanair may be ahead by percentage too. They do have plans for longhaul, Ryanair has talked of Trans-Atlantic services not so long ago, however it would be a departure from their core business model and in the meantime there is still much potential for further expansion in Europe and the Mediterranean.

The successful LCC model so far is short-haul flights of less than 3 hours.

RyanAir announced a bunch of new routes from Stockholm not too long ago but now they have also announced that a bunch of routes from Stockholm will be cancelled during wintertime due to low loads.

The successful LCC model so far is short-haul flights of less than 3 hours.

Zoom Airlines do well with long haul low cost, FlyGlobespan also have succesful long haul routes.

Zoom Airlines do well with long haul low cost, FlyGlobespan also have succesful long haul routes.

I don't think Zoom is a truly low-cost carrier though. They offer full meal service and allow free checked baggage.

Zoom Airlines do well with long haul low cost, FlyGlobespan also have succesful long haul routes.

I understand that two of FlyGlobespan aircraft were grounded for violation of safty regulations - is it taking risks to keep costs down?

Ryanair sees drop in ticket touts, EU ends probe
By Pete Harrison

BRUSSELS, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Europe's biggest budget airline Ryanair said it was winning its battle against ticket touts, and the European Commission said it had ended a probe into the carrier over the conflict.

At the start of this month, the Irish airline began cancelling and reimbursing around 450 bookings a day made by online ticket agents known as screen scrapers who were selling the tickets to passengers at inflated prices.

The company also said screen scrapers were slowing its website, preventing its usual customers from making bookings, and violating its terms and conditions, price guarantees and copyright.

Media reports said many passengers were angry after missing holidays as a result, and the European Commission wrote to Ryanair seeking information on whether the airline was breaking laws on passenger rights.

But Tuesday, the Commission said it had ended its probe.

"Yes, that is the end of the matter for now," a Commission spokesman said. "The Commission has received no actual complaints from passengers ... but of course we have reiterated our warning to Ryanair."

"If a passenger is denied boarding, the regulation on passenger rights would apply -- passengers would be entitled to reimbursement and assistance."

A Ryanair spokesman also said he had heard no reports of passengers being denied boarding at any airports and it seemed the message was getting through to screen-scraping websites.

"At the start of August we were cancelling around 450 tickets a day booked by screen scrapers," he added. "Last week, it was down to 60 to 70 a day."

Last week, Ryanair said a German court had upheld an injunction against ticketing website Vtours.de, which was previously selling Ryanair tickets.

The airline said in August that Irish screen scraper BravoFly Ltd had agreed to stop using Ryanair's website after the airline took legal action.

Ryanair said it had also provided the European Commission with evidence of four websites, Bravofly.com, Edreams.com, Volgratis.com and Wegelo.com, on which the airline's ticket prices had been inflated by 200-300 percent.

Ryanair Aug passenger traffic rises, loadings dip

DUBLIN, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Ryanair Holdings Plc said on Thursday it carried 5.78 million passengers in August, 19 percent more than a year earlier, though the average flight was slightly less full.

Europe's biggest low-cost airline said its load factor, a measure of how well a carrier is filling available seats, was 90 percent in the month, down from 91 percent in August 2007.

"Ryanair are confident that passenger numbers will continue to remain strong," it said in a statement.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to July 2008:
EasyJet = 42,020,751
Ryanair = 54,190,000

Percentage increase in passengers since July 2007:
EasyJet = 20%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in July 2008:
EasyJet = 89.3%
Ryanair = 89%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to August 2008:
EasyJet = 42,900,136
Ryanair = 55,120,000

Percentage increase in passengers since August 2007:
EasyJet = 23.7%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in August 2008:
EasyJet = 91.3%
Ryanair = 90%


A combined total of 98 million pax pa now. Well on track.... :)

New Ryanair route announced from Glasgow Prestwick to Turin, Italy.

Ryanair delays new routes due to Boeing strike

LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Irish low-cost airline Ryanair has delayed 11 new routes blaming a machinist strike at planemaker Boeing which has caused the indefinite delay of two new aircraft.

The company said on Tuesday the launch of new routes between Scottish capital Edinburgh and a range of destinations from Bournemouth in the UK to Lodz in Poland would be delayed by six weeks to November 5.

Deputy Chief Executive Michael Cawley said two new 737-800 planes had been ordered to fly on these routes, but would not arrive on time due to the Boeing strike.

"Passengers who were booked to travel on our new routes during this initial six week period will be refunded over the next seven days," he said in a statement.

The strike by 27,000 Boeing machinists threatens to cost the world's top-selling planemaker $100 million a day and affect suppliers around the globe. Ryanair is among the first to announce disruption, but more may follow depending on the length of the strike, which is into its fourth day.

A Ryanair spokesman said the airline was currently reviewing how the strike would affect other deliveries. New routes set to be launched later this year include Liverpool in the UK to Paris, and London Stansted to Agadir, in Morocco.

He added the group could launch the Edinburgh routes in November regardless of how the strike develops because the firm was freeing up aircraft by closing routes for the winter.

Ryanair looks cheap after fall in oil price
14 September 2008
The Sunday Independent

Despite the collapse in oil prices to under $97 a barrel the Ryanair share price has barely budged.

With the long-awaited shakeout among the financially weaker airlines finally under way investors may be missing a trick here.

Remember the doom and gloom when Ryanair reported its first quarter results at the end of June. With oil prices at over $130 a barrel the budget airline revealed to shocked shareholders that it was expecting to, at best, break even and could possibly lose up to €60m this year.

If the most pessimistic forecasts had been accurate it would have represented a massive €511m turnaround from the €451m pre-tax profits recorded by Ryanair in the 12 months to the end of March.

But of course the most pessimistic forecasts proved to be way wide of the mark. After peaking at over $145 in mid-July oil prices ended the week at just under $97 a barrel. Even when the impact of the fall of the euro against the dollar is taken into account oil prices have still fallen by about a quarter in euro terms.

This is good, good news for Ryanair.

Every $1 fall in the price of oil adds about €12.5m to Ryanair's annual profits. If the current fall in oil prices is sustained then Ryanair is capable of earning pre-tax profits of up to €500m a year more than had previously been estimated.

Someone obviously forgot to tell the markets where the Ryanair share price is languishing at just €2.74.

At that price the whole company is valued at a mere €4bn. For a company that has the potential to churn out annual profits of close to €500m at the current oil price that's a steal.

If investors don't snap up the shares at the current price then they shouldn't complain if Michael O'Leary ends up taking the company private on the cheap.

EasyJet holds guidance but sees less winter travel

LONDON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - British budget airline easyJet said it still expected full-year pretax profit to fall to 110 million pounds ($197 million) to 120 million, and predicted a 2 to 4 percent fall in airline travel this winter.

"The outlook for the financial year ending Sept. 30, 2008 remains unchanged," easyJet said in a statement on Wednesday ahead of a meeting with analysts and investors .

EasyJet said it expected strong growth in total revenue per seat seen over the summer to moderate in the winter months due in part to the weakening consumer environment in Britain.

"Whilst we expect industry capacity reductions over the winter to be in the region of 2 percent to 4 percent, it remains a volatile market and too early to anticipate the impact on yield of the capacity changes," it said.

Analysts at Numis Securities said they feared capacity reductions of 2 to 4 percent would not be enough to offset the likely downturn in demand.

"We remain concerned about the trading outlook over the winter as pressures on the consumer accumulate and the outlook for employment in the UK deteriorates," they wrote in a research note.

EasyJet stock, which has lost over 40 percent of its value so far this year, was up 4.4 percent at 0855 GMT, having been 6.6 percent lower earlier during a volatile session.

To minimise the impact on profitability of high fuel prices, easyJet said it had reined in its growth plans for the winter and expected the increase in seats flown to be in low single digits versus a year earlier.

Deutsche Bank analysts said they also saw risks from the worsening economic environment and that investors did not appear to have priced in their forecast that the airline would not make a profit next year.

"Although easyJet is in our view doing the right thing by reining back growth this winter and also giving more certainty by raising the level of hedging, we maintain our 'Sell' rating," they said.

EasyJet said it had hedged 48 percent of its fuel requirements for 2008/09 at $1,225 per tonne. EasyJet has hedged 70 percent of its dollar requirement at a rate of $1.96 to the pound.

The airline said it expected to have cash reserves of about 900 million pounds at the end of September.

Ryanair says will break even at $100 a barrel oil

DUBLIN, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Irish low-cost airline Ryanair said on Thursday it would break even in the current year if oil stays at $100 a barrel, and would return to "substantial profitability" next year if the price continues to fall.

Europe's biggest budget carrier said in late July it expected a full-year result between breakeven and a loss of 60 million euros ($87.03 million).

Ryanair's shares rose over 7 percent on Thursday following the improved guidance.

However, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary warned shareholders that savings on cheaper fuel this year may be offset by declining passenger numbers as "economies go into recession and consumer confidence plummets".

"While ... profitability declines steeply in the current fiscal year, our cost-reduction programme and significantly lower oil prices -- if they persist at under $100 per barrel -- should lead to a return to substantial profitability in the next fiscal year," he said on Thursday as oil traded around $100.

O'Leary said while he had "screwed up" by not hedging the airline's fuel needs at under $100 barrel, he hoped the lower fuel prices would help and added the carrier was still unhedged for the fourth quarter.

"We are unhedged beyond the end of December -- that is the right place to be," he told reporters after the company's annual shareholder meeting.

"We are looking at whether we should hedge at $100 a barrel but our view is frankly that oil is going to fall further because the economic downturn this winter is going be extremely severe."

O'Leary said at $100 a barrel that "could add anything to reduce our costs by 300 million euros next year".

"The question is how much of that will we have to give away in lower fares," he said.

Ryanair's shares were up 5.2 percent at 2.69 euros by 1350 GMT, outperforming a 0.1 percent drop on the Irish market. It shares in London were 3.8 percent higher.

O'Leary echoed the industry view that a run of airline bankruptcies was set to continue.

"We believe there will be further airline bankruptcies in Europe over the coming weeks, as more of Europe's non-viable, loss making airlines run out of cash or their credit facilities are withdrawn," he said.

O'Leary said Ryanair had no plans at the moment to make another bid for rival airline Aer Lingus after his move last year was blocked by the European Commission on competition grounds.

He added the strike by machinists at U.S. plane maker Boeing could cause some opening delays for new bases planned for spring 2009.

"We may have to delay some of the base launches by a month or two maybe from April to May," he said. "But we think the aircraft deliveries won't be hugely affected by even a 6 or 8 week stoppage."

EasyJet says can step in to fly Alitalia routes

LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - British airline easyJet could add new Italian routes at short notice in the event of the total collapse of Alitalia -- although it would expect to be awarded airport slots in return.

A spokesman for the low-cost carrier told Reuters on Tuesday that it could commit around ten aircraft on routes such as Milan-Rome, Milan-Naples and Milan-Palermo.

"EasyJet is prepared, at very short notice, to move into routes the Italian government cares about most ... We could commit in the region of ten aircraft," the spokesman said.

Italy's loss-making national airline Alitalia has been sticking to its flight schedules despite the prospect of losing its operating licence in just a few days, unless the special administrator comes up with a credible new offer or cost-cutting plan by Thursday.

However, easyJet said it would not wish to buy Alitalia's vacant slots in the event of its collapse, but would expect to be awarded them by the Italian government in return for a swift resumption of service.

"To operate on that route (Milan-Rome) easyJet would need to be given slots. If so, we would operate a number of routes per day," the spokesman said.

EasyJet's arch rival Ryanair, which also has a significant presence on domestic Italian routes, declined to comment on its plans.

Alitalia also operates ten flights a day from London's Heathrow, but easyJet said it had no plans to start operations from the UK's busiest airport.

British Airways, which has by far the most slots at Heathrow, with over 40 percent of the airport's total availability, would not comment specifically on Alitalia but said it would look at opportunities to expand its portfolio.

"We are always looking for opportunities to increase our slot portfolio at Heathrow," a spokesman told Reuters.

Ryanair plots transatlantic price war
Ryanair is preparing to trigger a transatlantic fares war as it seeks to cash in on the crisis engulfing the aviation industry.

Low cost flights could be run from London Stansted, Glasgow Prestwick and Birmingham to New York under the airline's plans.

They would be operated by a new company, which Ryanair would set up purely to take on the established airlines on the route.

Senior executives at Ryanair first floated the idea of entering the transatlantic market more than a year ago. But at the time it appeared to be little more than a pipe dream.

But soaring fuel prices over the past 12 months and more than two dozen airline failures have dramatically changed the landscape making it far easier for Ryanair to enter the market.

With the industry bracing itself for a number of airline mergers, Ryanair now believes it will be harder for the European Union to block its bid for Aer Lingus, the Irish national flag carrier.

"I think the whole European agenda has changed," said Howard Millar, Ryanair's deputy chief executive.

He added that should the bid be approved the new carrier would use some of the 15 long-haul planes Aer Lingus has on order for the new service.

In addition the Ryanair offshoot is ready to hold talks with leasing companies over the possibility of acquiring some new Boeing 787 dreamliners.

This has become possible because of the slump in the airline industry, which is expected to bring down the cost of leasing aircraft.

Even though it could take a few years before the new carrier begins operating, it is now clear that the strategy is at an advanced stage, with Ryanair talking about the type of fuel-efficient aircraft it would need.

Underpinning the company's plans is the belief that other weak carriers will go to the wall over the next few months.

"This industry is in a rapid period of change. Smaller carriers will not survive as Europe moves towards recession," Mr Millar said, adding that Ryanair planned fare cuts this winter to "help a few carriers on their way" to failure.

In the short term, Ryanair expects to offer passengers the chance to make mobile phones on some of its aircraft from next month.

The company also plans axeing some of its 15 French routes during the winter, but Mr Millar declined to say which services were at risk.

Gosh .. surviving a transatlantic trip on no frills is going to be quite tough!

Ryanair plots transatlantic price war
Ryanair is preparing to trigger a transatlantic fares war as it seeks to cash in on the crisis engulfing the aviation industry.

Low cost flights could be run from London Stansted, Glasgow Prestwick and Birmingham to New York under the airline's plans.

They would be operated by a new company, which Ryanair would set up purely to take on the established airlines on the route.

Senior executives at Ryanair first floated the idea of entering the transatlantic market more than a year ago. But at the time it appeared to be little more than a pipe dream.

But soaring fuel prices over the past 12 months and more than two dozen airline failures have dramatically changed the landscape making it far easier for Ryanair to enter the market.

With the industry bracing itself for a number of airline mergers, Ryanair now believes it will be harder for the European Union to block its bid for Aer Lingus, the Irish national flag carrier.

"I think the whole European agenda has changed," said Howard Millar, Ryanair's deputy chief executive.

He added that should the bid be approved the new carrier would use some of the 15 long-haul planes Aer Lingus has on order for the new service.

In addition the Ryanair offshoot is ready to hold talks with leasing companies over the possibility of acquiring some new Boeing 787 dreamliners.

This has become possible because of the slump in the airline industry, which is expected to bring down the cost of leasing aircraft.

Even though it could take a few years before the new carrier begins operating, it is now clear that the strategy is at an advanced stage, with Ryanair talking about the type of fuel-efficient aircraft it would need.

Underpinning the company's plans is the belief that other weak carriers will go to the wall over the next few months.

"This industry is in a rapid period of change. Smaller carriers will not survive as Europe moves towards recession," Mr Millar said, adding that Ryanair planned fare cuts this winter to "help a few carriers on their way" to failure.

In the short term, Ryanair expects to offer passengers the chance to make mobile phones on some of its aircraft from next month.

The company also plans axeing some of its 15 French routes during the winter, but Mr Millar declined to say which services were at risk.

I wonder if they are trying to push too far on this. If they succeed they would be the first significant player to make a go of long-haul low-cost operations. They do have the advantage of access to reduced cost assets, especially if they are allowed to take over Aer Lingus or another old-school airline. However they would be dealing with a different kind of passenger, possibly ones that have moved down from premium operators but still expecting teh same level of service. They have a lot of research and planning to do before they should consider taking teh risk.

European low-cost carrier Ryanair to end Expedia contract over alleged nonpayment
15 October 2008

NEW YORK (AP) - European low-cost carrier Ryanair said it plans to end its contract with online travel agency Expedia Inc. next month, saying Expedia has failed to make payments according to the pair's contract terms.

Ryanair said it had entered into a deal with Expedia unit Travelscape LLC in late March of last year, which gave Expedia exclusive rights to sell hotel accommodations on Ryanair.com.

But the carrier said late Tuesday that Expedia has failed to meet its payment obligations in recent months, and has failed to meet other contractual requirements.

Expedia disputed the claims, saying it has complied "in every respect" with the terms of its deal with Ryanair. In a statement, it countered that Ryanair has not held up its end of the deal.

Expedia added it doesn't believe Ryanair has the right to terminate its deal.

The online travel site said the contended issues are in front of the Commercial Court in London, where they have been pending since May. Expedia said the court has set a trial date for November 2009 if the dispute is not settled by then.

Expedia said it will continue to "vigorously assert its position in legal proceedings and pursue its claims against Ryanair."

Ryanair said it intends to end the contract on Nov. 8, but said it would continue the partnership if Bellevue, Wash.-based Expedia remedies the situation before that date.

Ryanair said if the contract ends, it expects to have another hotel provider partner on its Web site by the end of the year.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to August 2008:
EasyJet = 42,900,136
Ryanair = 55,120,000

Percentage increase in passengers since August 2007:
EasyJet = 23.7%
Ryanair = 19%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in August 2008:
EasyJet = 91.3%
Ryanair = 90%


A combined total of 98 million pax pa now. Well on track.... :)Rolling 12 month passenger totals to September 2008:
EasyJet = 43,659,478
Ryanair = 56,000,000

Percentage increase in passengers since September 2007:
EasyJet = 22.1%
Ryanair = 20%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in September 2008:
EasyJet = 84.1%
Ryanair = 84%


They seem to have a combined total of about 100m now. Unfortunately Ryanair's quoted passenger figures have become slightly less precise than before. They now round to the nearest million. I'm not sure what Southwest's figures are right now (though for 2007 they were just shy of 102 million - the largest airline in the world by total pax) but the combination of Ryanair and EasyJet must be closing in on Southwest's total and could overtake that of the US lowcost giant in the coming months.

Ryanair boss sets sights on no-frills transatlantic flights with new airline
O'Leary expects to pick up cheap jets as rivals go bust Service could be running within three years
8 October 2008
The Guardian

The Ryanair-backed airline would be a 'distinctly separate' entity, and chief executive Michael O'Leary ruled himself out of running it Photograph: David Pearson/Alamy

Passengers could be taking budget flights between the US and Europe on a Ryanair-backed airline in less than three years, the low-cost carrier's chief executive claimed yesterday.

Michael O'Leary said plans to launch a no-frills transatlantic service had been bolstered by an industry downturn that could slash the cost of long-haul aircraft as rivals go bust or orders are cancelled.

The carrier would operate from up to nine bases on each side of the Atlantic, with Stansted, Frankfurt-Hahn and Rome-Fiumicino among the candidates for European hubs. Islip airport on Long Island is mooted as a New York base.

O'Leary said the airline could be launched 18 months after acquiring a new fleet next year. "There may be an oppor tunity to pick up cheap long-haul aircraft next year, in which case we might launch a low-cost, long-haul programme in two-and-a-half years," O'Leary said.

He added Ryanair would be "distinctly separate" from the new carrier, which will attempt to make a better fist of the low-cost transatlantic market than Zoom, the Canadian-British carrier that fell into administration in August. O'Leary also ruled himself out of running the new business, but said he might join other Ryanair investors such as Prudential and private equity firm TPG in backing the venture.

"We want to bring people on board who have done well out of Ryanair," he said.

The airline would expect to operate a fleet of new aircraft because it would pick up orders from Boeing and Airbus that had been cancelled by bankrupt or financially struggling carriers, he added.

One banking source said: "Airlines are constantly moving around delivery positions at the moment. O'Leary could get a long-haul airplane within six months."

O'Leary squeezed significant discounts from Boeing in the last industry downturn, when he placed a significant order to expand his fleet.

However, analysts warned that he would struggle to elbow his way into the order book for the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the most advanced long-haul jets on the market, because delivery delays have created a significant backlog.

Nonetheless, O'Leary expects the industry downturn to reduce the cost of long-haul aircraft that retail at between $170m (pounds 97.1m) and $280m.

Andrew Lobbenberg, analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland, warned that cheap fares between Europe and the US were available on traditional carriers such as British Airways and Air France-KLM, part-subsidised by the steep ticket prices levied on business customers.

"Long-haul fares are often quite cheap in economy - in part because they are subsidised by people in the front [of the aircraft]. It's not going to get consumers anything like as excited as low-cost short-haul," said Lobbenberg.

O'Leary is also expected to offer a business-class cabin with flat beds at a lower cost than BA or Virgin Atlantic. The Ryanair boss added that he expected at least one British airline and two continental carriers to go bust within weeks as any benefit from falling fuel costs will come too late to save the least profitable businesses.

He said 400 staff at Ryanair's Stansted airport base would have to take one week of unpaid leave over the winter to conserve costs, while senior management would take a pay cut of at least 10% this year. Ryanair expects to break even in this financial year - wiping out last year's profits of euros 439m (pounds 341m) - if oil remains at $100 a barrel or less.

BA confirmed yesterday that 135 jobs were under threat in Glasgow. The airline is planning to scrap its cabin crew base in the city and has given staff the option of voluntary redundancy or relocation to Heathrow.

Its chief executive, Willie Walsh, and the Scottish first minister, Alex Salmond, discussed the plan yesterday, which follows the offer of voluntary redundancy terms to 1,400 BA managers last month. Those senior staff, who work in all parts of the business, were set a deadline of today to respond to the redundancy offer.

Michael O'Leary expects the slump to reduce the cost of jets but analysts said he would find it hard to get A380s or Boeing 787s

Ryanair's Italy base plan trades on Alitalia woes

ROME, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Irish low-cost airline Ryanair will open two new bases in Italy in March next year, it said on Tuesday, expanding further in its second-largest market and capitalising on the woes of bankrupt national airline Alitalia.

Europe's biggest low-cost carrier said it would open bases in the Sardinian cities of Alghero and Cagliari to ply eight domestic and 11 international routes. It also plans to increase daily flights on the lucrative Rome-Milan route to five.

That comes as a government-backed Italian investor group tries to relaunch Italy's flagship carrier Alitalia by merging its best assets with those of smaller rival Air One.

"Ryanair is continuing to grow in Italy even as Alitalia and Air One merge and offer fewer flights and higher fares," Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told a news conference.

He confirmed Ryanair -- which filed a complaint with the European Commission to block Alitalia's investor bailout -- had submitted its interest in any Rome or Milan slots that could be shed by Alitalia as part of its restructuring.

O'Leary, who has repeatedly criticised Alitalia for high fares and inefficient service, said he did not expect Alitalia's latest rescue to be successful without mass layoffs.

Ryanair will have a total of seven bases in Italy after the latest additions.

O'Leary said he expected Ryanair to carry more passengers than those carried by Alitalia domestically within two years.

Mocking the "I love Italy, I fly Alitalia" slogan coined by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi while campaigning for national elections in April, Ryanair unveiled its own version of the phrase: "Love Italy, Fly Ryanair".

Budget carrier Ryanair closes base in Valencia
24 October 2008

LONDON (AP) - Budget airline Ryanair Holdings PLC announced Friday it was closing its base in Valencia, southern Spain.

The closure will affect 70 weekly flights carrying about 750,000 passengers annually, the airline said. It expects about 750 jobs in the region to be affected.

Ryanair has had a base in Valencia for a little more than a year, flying from there to 10 destinations.

Flights on all the routes will be canceled as of Nov. 4, the airline said. Passengers on the canceled flights will be rerouted or get refunds, it added.

Ryanair said local tourism officials in Valencia weren't doing enough to promote the hub.

Valencia's regional government denied the claims and said it had attempted to negotiate with the airline over promoting the route.

"This company's ways of negotiating and acting are very peculiar," said regional government spokesman Vicente Rambla. "Here we found there was no negotiation but rather imposition."

Rambla said Ryanair had wanted Valencia tourism officials to invest in a joint project to promote the region -- a plan the city considered unnecessary.

He said that the regional government is in talks with Iberia-owned low-cost airline Clickair to cover some of the vacant routes.

So they cancelled all of them? Ouch.

Welcome easyjet to Stockholm (Arlanda Airport, the main one). They had their first flight a few days ago (Milan), and soon they will start their second (Geneva). I hope they do well and continue to expand here!

Oil price transforms Ryanair prospects
26 October 2008
The Sunday Independent

THE fall in the price of oil transforms the outlook for budget airline Ryanair. With crude oil prices nowunder $62 a barrel, the annual fuel bill of Michael O'Leary's company will fall by something like €650m in a full year.

It was all so different last July when Ryanair published its first-quarter results. Oil prices had hit a peak of $145 a barrel and things looked grim for the airline.

Chief executive Mr O'Leary did nothing to calm shareholders' nerves when he warned that if oil prices stayed at over $130 a barrel Ryanair could lose up to €60m and, at best, break even in the year to March 2009. This would have represented a massive €500m turn around on the €438m pre-tax profit recorded by Ryanair in the year to March 2008.

On Friday crude oil prices dropped under $62 a barrel. Even when the fall in the value of the euro against the dollar is taken into account that still represents a 45 per cent price fall in euro terms.

As every $1 movement in the oil price is worth about $11m to Ryanair at the curent exchange rate, the collapse in oil prices from their mid-July peak would boost Ryanair's bottom line by almost €650m if sustain- ed for a full year.

So why hasn't the share price responded? While Ryanair shares haven't experienced a bank-like wipeout they are still down by more than 60 per cent -- to just €2.34 on Friday -- over the past 18 months.

The problem for Ryanair is that while the fall in the oil price is extremely welcome it almost certainly heralds a nasty recession. If this proves to be the case there will be far fewer lads and lassies flying to stag parties in Bratislava or hen nights in Riga.

Even with lower demand for flights, lower oil prices are good news for Ryanair, making its shares one of the few "buys" on the Dublin market at the moment.

HOW EASYJET BROUGHT A MOTHER-TO-BE DOWN TO EARTH WITH A BUMP
27 October 2008
Daily Mail

A WOMAN holidaying in Italy was marched off her flight home to Britain minutes before take-off - for being 31 weeks pregnant.

Katharina Bishop was left standing on the runway with her husband and sobbing six-year-old son as airport staff removed their luggage from the hold.

An easyJet stewardess checking passengers' seatbelts moments before takeoff told Mrs Bishop that she had to produce a note written by a doctor in the past five days confirming her fitness to fly or get off the flight.

Despite having been through check-in and security with no problem, the family had no choice but to leave.

Mrs Bishop, 31, who runs a graphic design business with her husband Charles, had flown to Rome from Bristol with the airline six days earlier with no questions asked.

Last night she vowed never to fly with easyJet again, adding: 'We had flown to Rome for a family holiday. I'm a frequent flyer and flew when I was pregnant with my son.

'I was healthy and it didn't cross my mind there would be a problem. I told my midwife I was flying to Italy and she just said, " Have a good holiday".

'We were just about to take off when a stewardess asked me for a doctor's certificate which couldn't be older than five days.

This meant that I would have had to see a gynaecologist in Italy, which isn't even possible as in Italy you have to be a registered patient with a clinic to receive gynaecological care, unless it is an emergency.

'Nevertheless, I was marched off the plane at the last minute. It was humiliating with everyinsteadone staring at us. My son Keiran was sobbing hysterically.'

After being left on the runway for 15 minutes with their bags, the family was told by a member of easyJet staff that they could see the airport doctor.

But he said he was not a qualified gynaecologist and Mrs Bishop, who does not speak Italian, was told she must find a 'fit to fly' certificate somewhere in Rome.

It took a further two hours to find a doctor at a hospital who would perform the examination.

Mrs Bishop, of Evershot, Dorset, said of the incident on September 5: 'I felt very uncomfortable and violated at being forced to have an intimate examination by an unknown doctor that was unable to communicate with me.

'The doctor finally gave me the handwritten "certificate" but made it clear - via the translator - that it was not legally valid as I was not a registered patient. Completely useless, in other words.'

The family had to stay in Rome for the night - spending an extra 300 euros on hotel, food and transport - before easyJet let them fly the next day. This time they were not even asked for the certificate.

Now almost due to give birth, Mrs Bishop said: 'What makes it ludicrous is that it appears to be totally random.'

An easyJet spokesman said: 'EasyJet would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to Mrs Bishop.

'However, easyJet's terms and conditions, which all passengers agree to at the time of booking, state, "Between 28-35 (inclusive) weeks, a medical certificate confirming the number of weeks of pregnancy is required confirming that the passenger is fit to fly. This needs to be issued within the five days prior to departure".

'As a gesture of goodwill, easyJet changed the passenger's flights free of charge.'

b.hale@dailymail.co.uk

TOO LATE TO FLY?

Katharina Bishop: She had to leave the plane

— Most airlines will not allow travel beyond 36 weeks for mothers-to-be and 32 weeks for those expecting multiple pregnancies. But there is no single rule. — Beyond 28 weeks, most airlines require a 'fit-to-fly' certificate. — Pregnant flyers have an increased risk of getting deep-vein thrombosis.

— Civil Aviation Authority guidelines say the key focus when considering if a pregnant woman should travel is the wellbeing of the mother and the baby. — But they warn: Delivery in flight, or diversion to a location which may not have high-quality obstetric services, is undesirable.'

Haha, I sent an email with Stockholm route sugesions to easyJet now that they fly here and the reply I got was that sorry, easyJet does not fly to Stockholm. Hah, I had to reply to say 'uh, yes you do...'.

Haha, I sent an email with Stockholm route sugesions to easyJet now that they fly here and the reply I got was that sorry, easyJet does not fly to Stockholm. Hah, I had to reply to say 'uh, yes you do...'.

I hope you suggested Stockholm to Glasgow ;-).

Ryanair says unhedged for remainder of year-report

DUBLIN, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Ryanair , Europe's biggest low-cost airline, remains unhedged for its fuel needs for the remainder of the year, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Ryanair said in July it had hedged 90 percent of its September fuel needs at an oil price of $129 per barrel, 80 percent for its fiscal third quarter at $124 and remained unhedged for its fourth quarter, which starts in January 2009.

"Looking back it was stupid not to hedge on oil but we're not hedged for the remainder of the year and that's a good move," O'Leary told the Irish Examiner newspaper in an interview.

O'Leary, who has often acknowledged getting his hedging policy wrong, had said on Monday the carrier would post a full-year profit if the oil price remains at $70 per barrel and that profit could rise to 400-500 million euros next year.

Oil traded around $64 per barrel on Tuesday.

Ryanair is due to report first-half earnings on Monday.

Ryanair sees second half loss, rebound next year

DUBLIN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Irish airline Ryanair posted a 31 percent fall in second-quarter profit on Monday but said it was still confident of breaking even in the full year and rebounding next year if oil prices stay low.

Europe's biggest low-cost airline said net profit for the three months to the end of September came in at 185.78 million euros ($237.3 billion), after deducting an exceptional loss of 7.8 million. That compared with an average of 190.2 million euros expected by four analysts surveyed by Reuters.

Scrapping recent warnings of a possible full-year loss after the price of oil fell by half since June, Ryanair affirmed its strategy of cutting fares aggressively and growing capacity to snatch business from struggling rivals across Europe.

"There is massive commercial opportunities out there with the weakness of our competitors," Deputy Chief Executive Michael Cawley told Reuters, pointing to Alitalia, Spain's Iberia, Scandinavian SAS and Austrian Airlines as some peers with weakness to exploit.

Ryanair plans to add 33 new aircraft in the next six to seven months, helping it to carry 67-68 million passengers next year, an increase of 8-10 million from this year and taking Ryanair to second place behind Air France-KLM, Cawley said.

"I think it's the right strategy, but it will take time to reap the dividends," said Goodbody analyst John Goode.

Ryanair expects to generate 15-20 percent lower fares and to make a loss in the second half of this fiscal year, including the seasonally weak winter period which is expected to add to the already long list of casualties among airlines.

"Our full year average fare could fall by almost 12 percent, although these lower fares will be largely offset by lower fuel costs (currently $73 per barrel in Q4)," Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said.

Earnings will rebound strongly next year if oil stays around $80 per barrel, O'Leary added.

The Dublin-based airline has taken a hedge for 25 percent of its fuel needs for the first half of the 2010 fiscal year at an average $77 per barrel, it said. Oil traded around $67 on Monday. In a separate statement, Ryanair said it had caried 5.35 million passengers in October, 18 percent more than a year ago, and its average flight was as full as in the same month last year.

Shares in Ryanair traded 3.3 percent higher by 1010 GMT at 2.838 euros, having earlier dipped to 2.63 euros.

"The traffic numbers were quite good," one Dublin-based trader said. "The headlines read not particularly positive, but the fact that they hedged in 25 percent for the first half of next year at good levels ... could be worse."

Ryanair Appeals Against Eight EU Decisions
14 November 2008
Edited Press Release

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Ryanair, the European international airline, said Friday that it has lodged appeals against eight separate E.U. decisions to block Ryanair access to documents in the Commission's ongoing State Aid investigations against tiny regional airports - Hamburg (Lubeck), Schonefeld, Tampere, Alghero, Pau, Aarhus, Bratislava and Frankfurt (Hahn).

Ryanair's Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Jim Callaghan, said: "The Commission fails to provide any justified reason for refusing access to these documents and is simply afraid to grant access to evidence of the Commission's biased and flawed application of the E.U. State aid rules".

"Ryanair will continue to expose the Commission's biased and flawed application of the State aid rules in favour of failed national carriers", Callaghan said.

Sir Stelios in EasyJet board battle
15 November 2008
Financial Times

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, one of the most flamboyant entrepreneurs of the past decade, is seeking to wrest back influence over EasyJet amid a boardroom dispute at the low-cost airline. Sir Stelios has fallen out with the EasyJet board over the airline's strategic direction and is pushing the company, his most successful creation, to be much more cautious in the face of the growing crisis in the airline industry.

He is challenging the airline's strategy of ambitious growth supported by the acquisition of hundreds of cheap Airbus aircraft.

The company's shares fell by almost 5 per cent as investors worried about divisions at the top. To push his case, Sir Stelios has increased his stake in the airline in order to appoint two more directors to the board.

He has raised his holding from 15.6 to 26.9 per cent via the transfer of the legal interest in his sister's 11.3 per cent stake to EasyGroup Holdings, his Cayman Islands-registered company.

With more than 25 per cent, Sir Stelios has the right under EasyJet's articles of association to appoint the new directors, giving him control of a quarter of the board. He has also reminded EasyJet directors of his right to appoint himself chairman should they seek to block the move.

In a statement, EasyJet said that the board had already sought to adopt a "more cautious approach to fleet growth" given the downturn in the market and had taken steps to conserve cash, reduce growth plans and dispose of surplus aircraft.

It said Sir Stelios had indicated, however, that he wished the company "further to restrict future aircraft orders and to make future dividend payments in conjunction with a cessation or slowing of growth".

EasyJet, in common with Ryanair, its fast-growing Irish rival, has never paid dividends in the belief that the group was a growth stock that rewarded investors through capital appreciation from a rising share price.

Sir Stelios's surprise intervention indicates he might believe the era of such growth is over.

In an e-mailed statement, he said yesterday: "I am merely applying my rights under the articles of association of the company to protect my investment in EasyJet.

"I did not request a dividend now. I think the company should plan to pay one in 2011 if the markets allow."

Sir Stelios's 15.6 per cent stake is valued at £175m.

FACTBOX-Easyjet fleet and plane orders

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Low-cost airline Easyjet has disclosed a top management row over the pace of aircraft orders, with founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou upping his stake and demanding the appointment of two non-executive directors and a more cautious strategy.

Here are details of the Easyjet planes in operation and unfilled orders totalling $7.5 billion at current list prices.

EasyJet initially flew Boeings then diversified to Airbus.

(Source: Airbus order book end-Oct 2008, Easyjet)

Airbus A319 -----------

Seats: 124

Current list price: $70.3 million

Range: 3,660 nautical miles (6,800 km)

Aircraft operated: 122

On order: 80 worth $5.6 billion at current list price

Airbus A320

-----------

Seats: 150

Current list price: $76.9 million

Range: 3,060 nm (5,700 km)

Aircraft operated: 9

On order: 25 worth $1.9 billion at current list price

Airbus A321

-----------

Seats: 185

Current list price: $90.3 million

Range: 3,030 nm (5,600 km)

Aircraft operated: 7 On order: None

Boeing 737-700

--------------

Seats: 126

Current list price: $57-68 million

Range: 3,365 nm (6,230 km)

Aircraft operated: 30

On order: None

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to September 2008:
EasyJet = 43,659,478
Ryanair = 56,000,000

Percentage increase in passengers since September 2007:
EasyJet = 22.1%
Ryanair = 20%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in September 2008:
EasyJet = 84.1%
Ryanair = 84%


They seem to have a combined total of about 100m now. Unfortunately Ryanair's quoted passenger figures have become slightly less precise than before. They now round to the nearest million. I'm not sure what Southwest's figures are right now (though for 2007 they were just shy of 102 million - the largest airline in the world by total pax) but the combination of Ryanair and EasyJet must be closing in on Southwest's total and could overtake that of the US lowcost giant in the coming months.Rolling 12 month passenger totals to October 2008:
EasyJet = 44,273,756
Ryanair = 56,800,000

Percentage increase in passengers since October 2007:
EasyJet = 18.4%
Ryanair = 18%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in October 2008:
EasyJet = 84.2%
Ryanair = 85%


They've gone past the 101 million combined total now.

easyJet: Too Late To Defer Aircraft For 2009 - CEO
18 November 2008

LONDON (Dow Jones)--easyJet's PLC (EZJ.LN) chief executive officer Tuesday said it had valuable flexibility with its Airbus contracts and could defer the delivery of aircraft for two years.

Andy Harrison, easyJet's CEO said it was too late to delay delivery for 2009 but the company had delayed delivery of four aircraft due in 2010.

Harrison said the flexibility of its contract with Airbus allowed the budget carrier to review its orders on a quarterly basis.

The company plans to have a total fleet of 172 aircraft by Sept. 30 next year provided those held for sale are actually sold, growing to 187 aircraft by Sept. 2010 and 197 by 2011.

Harrison said it was in talks with various parties to sell the GB Airways' aircraft. He said he hoped Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet's founder's comments about its market value wouldn't concern possible buyers.

Earlier Tuesday the budget airline posted a 45% drop in fiscal full-year pretax profit, supporting founder Haji-Ioannou's calls to rein in its growth strategy.

Friday Haji-Ioannou called for the airline restrict plane orders and start paying a dividend.

At 0910 GMT shares were down 42.3 pence, or 15.3%, at 234.25 pence.

2nd UPDATE: EasyJet FY Earnings Drop; Details Stelios Rift
18 November 2008

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Shares of easyJet PLC (EZJ.LN) Tuesday plunged 17% after the budget carrier posted a 45% drop in fiscal year pretax profit and disclosed that founder and director Stelios Haji-Ioannou hadn't approved the accounts.

In a statement attached to its final results, Haji-Ioannou said he was "concerned about the application of certain of the accounting policies adopted by the board in a way that I believe is at odds with current commercial realities and the macro-economic climate."

Haji-Ioannou, who Friday raised his stake in the airline to 27% from 15.6%, said that these issues included the value of aircraft owned by recently acquired GB Airways that he believes should be written down, the value of landing slots at London's Gatwick Airport and easyJet's dividend policy.

Haji-Ioannou again called for the company to pay a dividend by 2011 "if the markets and the liquidity of the company allow."

EasyJet Chief Executive Andy Harrison told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview it was premature to consider a dividend for 2011 but added, "We are not against paying a dividend provided we are sufficiently profitable."

The company has GBP863 million of cash and money market deposits on its balance sheet, which excludes restricted cash of GBP66 million.

Finance Director Jeff Carr said the GB Airways' aircraft had already been written down to market value in dollars terms. He said the company now accounts for the value of the aircraft in sterling, and that the market value of the planes "is significantly higher" than that stated in the accounts.

EasyJet added it hoped that Haji-Ioannou's comments would not disrupt negotiations to sell the aircraft.

The growing row between Haji-Ioannou and easyJet overshadowed the company's earnings.

Higher oil prices in the first half dragged down the airline's pretax profit for the 12 months to Sept. 30 to GBP110.2 million from GBP201.9 million a year ago. Net profit for the year fell 45% to GBP83.2 million from GBP152.3 million last year.

Its annual fuel bill rose 66.6% to GBP708.7 million.

Revenue per seat climbed 12.6% to GBP45.51, boosted by the GB Airways acquisition and improved ancillary revenue performance. With 40% of the company's revenue denominated in euros, the strong euro helped boost full-year revenue to GBP2.4 billion from GBP1.8 billion last year.

"Our winter bookings for the first quarter of 2009 are slightly ahead of last year, which is partly a reflection of the reduction in competitive capacity on our routes and partly our own decision to restrict our growth in seats flown," Harrison said.

Given tough economic conditions, "easyJet is planning accordingly, which means focusing on offering customers great value, driving down controllable costs and preserving cash," he added.

Panmure Gordon analyst Gert Zonneveld said the results were slightly ahead of expectations, but added, "The outlook for the year remains very difficult and uncertain."

At 1047 GMT, easyJet's shares traded down 47.5 pence, or 17.2%, at 229 pence in a broadly weaker London market.

Ryanair Says UK Passenger Tax Rise To Hit Tourism
25 November 2008

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYA.DB) Tuesday slammed the U.K. government's decision to raise air passenger tax, saying it will devastate U.K. tourism and threaten the viability of some of the regional airports that Ryanair uses as analysts warned airline profits will be hit.

The U.K. government Monday announced that the air passenger duty will be split into four bands, with those traveling further paying proportionally more tax. From Nov. 1, 2009, someone traveling no further than 2,000 miles from the U.K. will pay GBP11, rising to GBP12 a year later. In the highest band, for those traveling over 6,000 miles, the tax will be GBP55, rising to GBP85. Business and first class passengers will pay even more. Currently, short-haul passengers pay about GBP10 and long-haul about GBP40.

"Ryanair highlighted that its average fare during the winter at regional airports is just GBP10 with Ryanair absorbing the current GBP10 tax. However, Ryanair warned that it will be unable to continue to absorb taxes which continue to increase the cost of air travel," the airline said in a statement.

Europe's biggest low-cost carrier, which mainly flies short-haul European routes, said it will now start talking to the regional airports it operates from about "the future viability of passenger traffic and growth in light of this increased cost." It has been able to keep ticket prices down by using smaller regional airports where charges are lower.

"The government is insane if it thinks these price sensitive passengers will continue to travel if faced with increased costs," Ryanair Deputy Chief Executive Michael Cawley said.

Broker Collins Stewart agreed, saying that Ryanair and low-cost rival easyJet PLC (EZJ.LN) will likely have to absorb the tax increases because their passengers are price-sensitive. It said it is more difficult to calculate the impact on British Airways PLC (BAY.LN) because its passengers, which include a higher proportion of business and first-class travelers, are less price-sensitive.

"Set against average fares for easyJet and Ryanair of around GBP46 and GBP35, respectively, the increases don't sound like much; probably around a 1% yield hit if we assume around 40% of their traffic is U.K. departing. However, 1% off yields represents as much as 30% off our annualized pretax profit forecast for easyJet to September 2010 and 10% off Ryanair to March 2010," Collins Stewart said.

The airline industry has been suffering globally this year, hit first by record fuel prices and then by falling traffic as the economic downturn kicked in. Profits have tumbled and airlines have been forced to trim capacity plans for this winter and next summer due to the declining traffic.

But the U.K. government is caught between its acceptance that it needs to support the air industry to secure the U.K.'s economic competitiveness in the future and the need to control the environmental impact of air travel.

The government had been considering replacing the passenger duty with a tax on each plane taking off and landing, but Chancellor Alistair Darling on Monday said he had decided not to proceed with that change because of the disruption and costs involved. He said the new four-band passenger duty would send out the desired environmental message.

However, in typically vocal fashion, Ryanair also slammed the government's claim that the passenger duty was helping the environment.

"Ryanair pointed out that the tax fails to reward airlines, such as Ryanair, which invest in brand new aircraft and operate younger, cleaner, more environmentally friendly aircraft," it said, adding that "not one penny of the tax has done anything to address environmental issues."

Ryanair makes new, half-price bid for Aer Lingus

DUBLIN, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Ryanair revived its tense courtship of Irish rival Aer Lingus on Monday, bidding 750 million euros ($970 million) or just half of what it offered two years ago in an approach thwarted by European regulators.

The European Commission rejected Ryanair's 2006 offer on the grounds it would create a near-monopoly in European flights out of Dublin.

This time, analysts believe a recent spate of airline mergers means the chances of success are greater, even if a takeover would still prove highly contentious in Ireland. Ryanair, which already owns 29.82 percent of Aer Lingus, said the all-cash offer at 1.40 euros per share represented a 28 percent premium over the average closing price for Aer Lingus shares in the 30 days to Nov. 28, 2008.

Aer Lingus, which strongly opposed the last approach from its neighbour at Dublin Airport, said shareholders should take no action pending further announcements by the company.

The European Commission declined to comment.

By 1345 GMT, in London, shares in Aer Lingus were trading 14.3 percent higher at 1.28 euros, below a session high of 1.36 euros. Ryanair's shares traded 2 percent lower at 2.87 euros, while the wider Irish market was 0.5 percent higher.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said the economic and regulatory environment had changed markedly since Ryanair's last move on Aer Lingus was blocked by regulators.

"It (Aer Lingus) is increasingly viewed as a small, peripheral airline that has been bypassed by EU consolidation," he told broadcaster CNBC.

The takeover would create a fourth major European airline group after the creation of Air France-KLM, Lufthansa's buy of Swiss and British Airways' planned tie-up with Iberia, Ryanair said.

FIFTY PERCENT CHANCE

For its latest bid to succeed, Ryanair would also have to overcome opposition from the Irish government and Aer Lingus employees, who respectively own 25 and 14 percent in the airline and rejected Ryanair's last offer.

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said he would evaluate the offer once Aer Lingus's board had received a formal bid, adding that the government had been holding a "strategic" stake in Aer Lingus partly to prevent hostile bids.

"There is no restriction ... shares can be bought and sold," Dempsey added.

O'Leary said he believed Aer Lingus staff would be more receptive this time given recent job losses at the airline. But the IMPACT union representing Aer Lingus cabin crew and pilots said it had major concerns over jobs prospects and competition.

"It is unlikely on this occasion that the response from Aer Lingus staff would be any different," IMPACT said.

Ryanair said that it would double the size of Aer Lingus's short-haul fleet to 66 over the next five years, creating 1,000 new jobs at the former state airline, which it would keep as a separate brand.

Trade union SIPTU described the offer as "mischief making" by an airline intent on creating a monopoly but analysts at Numis Securities said they believed recent mergers in the sector may have changed the regulatory environment in Ryanair's favour.

"The timing of the bid is interesting given the risk to profitability as recession risks strengthen and the consumer environment deteriorated rapidly in both Ireland and the UK," Numis said in a note.

Analysts at RBS said they believed Ryanair's latest approach would be rejected by Aer Lingus management and that other stakeholders minded to accept would want more money but that it still stood a "notably higher chance of success".

"At this stage we would give the bid 50 percent chance of succeeding -- well up on last time," RBS said.

Ryanair's lower costs and bigger cash reserves have allowed it to cut fares and grow capacity as rivals struggle to cope with recession and volatile fuel prices. Aer Lingus has already announced plans to cut costs, which are up to twice Ryanair's per seat, to stem losses and safeguard its independence.

Govt more open to Ryanair's Aer Lingus bid -report

DUBLIN, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Irish government opposition is weakening to Ryanair's 750 million euro ($952 million) bid for former state airline Aer Lingus, the Sunday Tribune newspaper reported.

The government, which owns more than 25 percent of the loss-making flag carrier, opposed Ryanair's 2006 bid for Aer Lingus, which was blocked by the European Union on competition grounds.

There is now "an awful lot less opposition" to the bid, the Sunday Tribune quoted senior government figures as saying.

A spokeswoman for the transport ministry said it would not comment until Ryanair submits its formal bid for Aer Lingus. Europe's biggest budget airline said on Thursday it would publish the formal bid within the next two weeks.

"There has been a sea-change in attitude from two years ago," the newspaper quoted the unnamed government sources as saying.

"I wouldn't put it at 50-50 that the government will endorse the deal. It's more like 35-65. But two years ago it was 99-1 (against)," one senior figure told the Sunday Tribune.

Ryanair, which already owns almost 30 percent of Aer Lingus, has offered 1.4 euros for each Aer Lingus share it did not own, half the price of its previous bid in 2006.

On Thursday, it also offered to recognise unions at Aer Lingus, to create 1,000 jobs and to give government full control over Aer Lingus's valuable landing slots at London's Heathrow airport.

Aer Lingus's board said it would fight vigorously to defend the company's independence and added that it expected investors to support it.

Employees hold more than 14 percent in Aer Lingus, and a separate report by the Sunday Independent newspaper said Ryanair would try to convince pilots to back the deal.

Ryanair will this week offer to recognise the Irish Airline Pilots' Association if the union pledges its entire pension fund stake in Aer Lingus to back the bid, the newspaper said.

Unions representing Aer Lingus workers have already dismissed Ryanair's offer of recognition.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary has said he would keep the two airlines separate and has characterised his offer as a lifeline for Aer Lingus, which is expected to report operating losses this year and next due to a deepening recession.

"We're the white knight here," O'Leary told the Sunday Independent. "We're the only solution the government and Aer Lingus have to securing Aer Lingus' future."

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to October 2008:
EasyJet = 44,273,756
Ryanair = 56,800,000

Percentage increase in passengers since October 2007:
EasyJet = 18.4%
Ryanair = 18%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in October 2008:
EasyJet = 84.2%
Ryanair = 85%


They've gone past the 101 million combined total now.Rolling 12 month passenger totals to November 2008:
EasyJet = 44,371,449
Ryanair = 57,300,000

Percentage increase in passengers since November 2007:
EasyJet = 16.8%
Ryanair = 11%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in November 2008:
EasyJet = 83.9%
Ryanair = 81.5%


Approximately 102 million combined total now. This is equal to Southwest's 2007 figure. Interestingly both airlines have seen their load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) increase since the same time last year - not bad a for a recession! They must also be enjoying the newly low oil prices. EasyJet's growth rate has also overtaken that of Ryanair for the first time in ages.

Didn't ryanair secure tons of oil at the super high prices?

Ryanair wins Belgian state aid appeal

LUXEMBOURG, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Europe's second-highest court on Wednesday upheld a challenge by Ryanair against a European Commission move to block aid the Irish low-cost airline received from Belgium's Wallonia region and Charleroi airport.

Ryanair hailed the decision as a victory for efforts by small, regional airports to compete with bigger hubs. The Commission, executive arm of the 27-country European Union, said it would study the ruling before announcing subsequent steps.

"Today's decision now clarifies that the low cost airports model works and does not involve state aid," a Ryanair statement said, urging the Commission to dismiss complaints against other small airports from Bratislava to Tampere.

The Commission labelled as illegal an agreement under which Wallonia granted Ryanair a reduction of some 50 percent on landing charges and undertook to compensate the airline for losses from any subsequent change in airport fees.

Ryanair had also agreed to base between two and four aircraft at Charleroi airport, south of Brussels, and operate at least three rotations a day per aircraft in return for the airport agreeing to contribute to costs.

The Court of First Instance in Luxembourg concluded the Commission was wrong to examine the two agreements separately. The fixing of landing charges is connected with the management of airport infrastructure -- a simple "economic activity", the court said.

"The airport charges fixed by the Walloon region must be regarded as consideration for services rendered at Charleroi airport," it concluded.

EARLY MEETING

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told Reuters the decision helped level the playing field for airlines in Europe and would lead to growth and new employment in the low-cost network.

"We'd like to use this as an opportunity to mend fences and improve our relationship with the Commission," he added. "We're looking for an early meeting with the Commission."

A Commission spokeswoman said the Brussels executive was studying the ruling but argued the court had "looked at the methodology of the Commission approach rather than commenting on substance".

"As far as we see it, this judgment does not have an immediate impact on the other cases," she said of cases relating to nine other airports.

But O'Leary promised more aircraft at Charleroi and said that if Ryanair was successful in its hostile bid for Irish rival Aer Lingus, the combined group might even open an Aer Lingus base at Brussels' Zaventem airport.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to November 2008:Approximately 102 million combined total now. This is equal to Southwest's 2007 figure. Interestingly both airlines have seen their load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) increase since the same time last year - not bad a for a recession! They must also be enjoying the newly low oil prices. EasyJet's growth rate has also overtaken that of Ryanair for the first time in ages.

Actually it makes sense that they increase their load factor. People tend to choose the lower fares in a recession, so the low cost carriers experience a boost in business relative to their competitors.

Easyjet to fly to Larnaca from Gatwick next year
18 December 2008
Cyprus Mail

EasyJet is to start flights to Larnaca next year with fares starting from as little as £30 sterling one-way, the low-cost airline has announced.

The airline, founded by Cypriot tycoon Stelios Hadjiioanou, announced that four new routes would be added in 2009 from London Gatwick.

With Larnaca, the other routes are Dubrovnik, Naples and Santorini.

EasyJet has been flying to Paphos since earlier this year when it took over British Airways subsidiary GB Airways.

In a bold move at a time of cutbacks and recession, the development could be just the boost Cyprus’ tourism industry was hoping for with the projections for the sector looking gloomy for 2009.

David Osborne, easyJet’s regional general manager for the UK, said: "easyJet has grown dramatically at London Gatwick over the last few years, by offering its familiar combination of low-fares with care and convenience. With our summer 2009 flights also now on sale there has never been a better time to make sure you book summer early and save big!"

With these new routes, the number of easyJet destinations from London Gatwick now totals 71. The London Gatwick to Larnaca flights will begin on March 31 2009, according the airline’s website, and will be offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. One-way fares including taxes and charges will be starting from £30.99. Flights to Santorini will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays with fares starting from £36.99.

Ryanair Carries 4.37M Passengers In December
6 January 2009

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Ryanair said Tuesday that it carried 4.37 million passengers in December compared with 3.95 million in December 2007, a rise of 11%.

For the 12 months to Dec 31, the company said carried 57.7 million passengers.

December 2008 load factor, the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers, was 79% compared with 79%, and 81.5% for the rolling 12 months.

I flew with Ryanair in december :) Why are you posting articles out of newspapers here all the time? A bit boring to read all those articles :sleepy:

I flew with Ryanair in december :) Why are you posting articles out of newspapers here all the time? A bit boring to read all those articles :sleepy:

I have some photos as well :)

http://www.globalphotos.org/lisbon/20081003/IMG_0179.jpg

http://www.globalphotos.org/lisbon/20081003/IMG_0177.jpg

Okay ^^ That's more clear I think :D

Ryanair holds talks on Niagara Falls service-paper

DUBLIN, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Europe's biggest budget airline Ryanair has held talks with officials from Niagara Falls airport with a view to launching a transatlantic service from Dublin, the Irish Examiner reported on Monday. The report did not cite sources.

"Ryanair meets with lots of airports and at their request we met them," a Ryanair spokeswoman said, without giving further details.

The Irish Examiner quoted Gregory Stamm, chairman of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority as saying after the meeting there was "a market on both ends for these charters".

"It's a matter of how this would fit into Ryanair's expansion plans," Stamm was quoted as saying.

NFTA's website says the body was aiming to attract low fare airlines to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, which is situated close to the Niagara Falls tourist spot and to Canada.

Ryanair has said in the past it was interested in setting up a no-frills transatlantic airline, which would be a stand-alone operation.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to November 2008:
EasyJet = 44,371,449
Ryanair = 57,300,000

Percentage increase in passengers since November 2007:
EasyJet = 16.8%
Ryanair = 11%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in November 2008:
EasyJet = 83.9%
Ryanair = 81.5%


Approximately 102 million combined total now. This is equal to Southwest's 2007 figure. Interestingly both airlines have seen their load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) increase since the same time last year - not bad a for a recession! They must also be enjoying the newly low oil prices. EasyJet's growth rate has also overtaken that of Ryanair for the first time in ages.Rolling 12 month passenger totals to December 2008:
EasyJet = 44,583,476
Ryanair = 57,700,000

Percentage increase in passengers since December 2007:
EasyJet = 16.6%
Ryanair = 11%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in December 2008:
EasyJet = 84.6%
Ryanair = 81.5%

O'Leary fixes top price for shares at €2 in Aer Lingus takeover bid
17 January 2009
Irish Independent

RYANAIR is open to upping its Aer Lingus bid by a "small amount" but will definitely not be paying more than €2 a share, chief executive Michael O'Leary said yesterday.

His surprisingly frank share price comments came after two broker reports said Ryanair's €1.40 a share offer was far too low and suggested a bid between €2 and €2.67 would be more realistic.

Ryanair was less frank later in the day, however, when a spokeswoman declined to comment on Aer Lingus' demand that it outline exactly how it plans to get the takeover through competition authorities in Brussels.

Dismissing the mooted share price figures as "absolutely pie in the sky", Mr O'Leary told an early morning journalists' briefing that he was "quite happy to confirm today that Ryanair will not be increasing its offer at any stage in this process to any figure that begins with a 2".

The legally-binding commitment not to raise the offer above the €2 mark is understood to have come as a surprise to even Ryanair's own advisers, who merely expected Mr O'Leary to trash the figures in the reports.

"To come out and say he won't go above €2 is something he really didn't have to do at this point in the game," said one market observer, who is not connected to the game.

"The Government is still deciding what to do and now he's given them an easy out, they can say that anything under €2 isn't good value and he is now legally precluded from going above €2."

Others, however, argued that there was no harm in telling investors Ryanair won't go above €2 if that was always Ryanair's strategic position.

"He's saying he won't do the deal at any price, if that really is his position then him saying it doesn't damage anything," one pointed out.

Ryanair also used the briefing to hammer home the point that "shareholders are running out of road here" since the bid process will time-out on February 13.

Aside from the offer deadline, February 13 is also when Ryanair will find out if the deal has received clearance from the European Commission (EC) after its initial "Phase One" probe.

If the deal isn't cleared, Ryanair must then decide whether to pursue the bid in a lengthy "Phase Two" probe -- Mr O'Leary yesterday said he wouldn't take this step unless he already had "significant prior support" from shareholders.

Ryanair's comments were followed later in the day by a stock exchange announcement from Aer Lingus, clarifying the former national airline's position on whether the bid could get past competition authorities.

Aer Lingus had previously said the bid was "not capable of completion", prompting a complaint from Ryanair to the Takeover Panel.

The airline yesterday said the offending comment was the opinion of one executive, while Aer Lingus' corporate position is that the offer is "unlikely to be capable of completion".

Aer Lingus also called on Ryanair to give all shareholders details of how the competition issues would be overcome. A spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Ryanair would be prepared to do this.

Ryanair says scrapping Aer Lingus takeover bid
28 January 2009
Agence France Presse

Irish no-frills airline Ryanair on Wednesday officially withdrew its one-billion-dollar (748-million-euro) takeover bid for rival airline Aer Lingus after admitting defeat last week.

The Irish government, which owns a 25 percent stake in Aer Lingus, rejected the bid last Thursday, arguing that it greatly undervalued the carrier.

"Ryanair confirms that following the Irish government's decision not to accept its all cash offer of 1.40 euros per share, Ryanair acknowledges that its offer cannot now be successful and accordingly the offer is now withdrawn," the group said in an official statement.

Aer Lingus management had urged shareholders not to back the takeover when it was launched before Christmas.

Ryanair's bid was worth only half the 1.48 billion euros the low-budget carrier had offered for Aer Lingus in an unsuccessful takeover attempt in October 2006.

The failed 2006 offer was also strongly opposed by major Aer Lingus shareholders, including the government, company employees, pilots and their pension fund. It was ultimately blocked by EU anti-competition regulators.

Ryanair now Number 1 in Poland
Ryanair usurps LOT as leading international carrier; regional airports now handle more than 50% of all Polish traffic.

Since anna.aero first analysed Poland’s air travel market there have been several significant developments. Passenger numbers across Poland’s top six airports grew by 23.8% in 2007 but slowed to a relatively modest 7.1% in 2008. The top six airports at Warsaw, Krakow, Katowice, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan handled almost 20 million passengers last year. In 2003, the year before Poland gained EU member status, it was less than seven million.

In 2000 Warsaw handled just over three-quarters of all Poland’s air passengers but in 2008 this share fell to less than half. While Warsaw airport has grown to handle almost 10 million passengers, Poland’s regional airports have grown faster in percentage terms and now handle over half of all Polish air traffic.

For the first time ever, in 2008 Warsaw was not the fastest-growing Polish airport in terms of additional passengers. Its passenger numbers grew by less than 200,000 – a figure beaten by four other airports. Katowice’s growth of 21.6% last year resulted in over 400,000 additional passengers. While five of Poland’s six biggest airports grew in 2008, Krakow airport saw passenger numbers decline by just under 5%, primarily due to SkyEurope withdrawing nearly all of its services (to some 18 destinations) at the end of the summer 2007 season.

A year-on-year comparison reveals that LOT is no longer the leading provider of international seat capacity to and from Poland. In February 2008 it offered over 48,000 weekly departing seats on international routes plus an additional 17,000 seats provided by its in-house LCC Centralwings. However, Centralwings has since been closed down and LOT’s capacity has been cut by 15%.

This has enabled Ryanair, which has increased its seat capacity in the Polish market by 45% in the last year, to take the lead. It now offers 67 international routes from nine Polish airports (but not Warsaw). Even Wizz Air, despite a 5% reduction in Polish capacity, offers 59 international routes and has also overtaken LOT in terms of seat capacity. LOT currently offers 53 international routes of which 40 are from Warsaw.

A year ago easyJet had been operating 16 routes to and from Poland, 14 of them from the UK. This year it has cut back to just nine routes with seven of them from the UK. The axed routes comprise of four routes from Gdansk, the Warsaw to Bristol route and links from Krakow to Bournemouth and Newcastle.

Since last February, 20% of seat capacity has been removed from both the UK and Irish markets. The Austrian, Danish and French markets are also down around 20%. Capacity to/from Germany is virtually unchanged, while Italian capacity is up 10%. Belgium is up 14% but the fastest growing major markets are Norway (+17%) and Sweden (+19%). Overall capacity on all international routes is down around 11%.

In the domestic market capacity has also been reduced by 12% with LOT cutting its weekly flights by almost 20% from 524 to 422. However, Jet Air has increased its presence in the market by tripling its flights from 18 per week to 54 and doubling its network size to four routes. Despite this LOT still has an impressive 96% of the domestic market in terms of seat capacity.

Ryanair in order talks for 400 jets with Boeing and Airbus
3 February 2009
Financial Times

Airbus and Boeing to contest contracts

Irish carrier seeking to exploit downturn

Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost airline, is in early talks with Boeing and Airbus about an order for 300-400 short-haul jets, one of the biggest purchases of new aircraft.

Michael Cawley, deputy chief executive and chief operating officer for Ryanair, said he expected the group to place the order within 24 months to take advantage of the weakening commercial aerospace market.

The Irish carrier is seeking to repeat its coup of six years ago, when it ordered 100 aircraft and another 50 options in January 2002, close to the bottom of the last aviation recession.

It was the biggest order Boeing had received for its 737 jets. Ryan-air secured one of the largest discounts agreed by the US aircraft maker, which was desperate for orders.

Both Boeing and Airbus have said they expect orders to plunge this year to about a quarter of the peak combined industry level of more than 2,800 orders in 2007.

Ryanair has a single type fleet of 181 Boeing 737-800s. That is due to rise to 292 by March 2012 based on existing firm orders. It recently exercised options for 13 more jets for delivery in 2011 and has 10 options remaining.

It is halfway through a plan to double its fleet and passenger numbers between 2007 and 2012. Passenger volumes are scheduled to grow from 43m in the year to March 2007 to 87m in the year to March 2012, when Ryanair will have become the biggest short-haul carrier in Europe.

The potential order will trigger a fierce contest between Boeing and Airbus. Mr Cawley said that, given the airline's size, the group would be happy to move to a mixed Airbus/Boeing fleet.

In the last downturn EasyJet wrung big price concessions out of Airbus to switch from an all-Boeing fleet. The strategies of Ryanair and EasyJet are diverging sharply, however.

EasyJet, the leading UK low-cost airline, is seeking to slow its growth and has clauses in its Airbus contract to defer half its deliveries up to two years.

Ryanair swings to Q3 loss, sees full-year profit

DUBLIN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Irish airline Ryanair on Monday posted a 101.5 million euro ($130.4 million) third-quarter net loss and said it would make a profit in both its 2008/09 and 2009/10 financial years.

The net loss for the three months to the end of December compared with a 35 million euro profit a year earlier and a forecast for a 106.8 million euro loss before exceptional items according to the average of two analysts on Reuters Estimates.

"The 38 percent reduction in oil prices which our fuel hedging has secured will ensure that Ryanair returns to substantial profitability next year, when many of our competitors will be reporting losses," Europe's largest low-cost carrier said.

Ryanair aims to eclipse SAS in Denmark: report
9 February 2009
Agence France Presse

The head of Irish low-cost airline Ryanair said Monday his company aimed to eclipse SAS with flights from Copenhagen, one of the Scandinavian airline's main hubs, "within two to three years."

"We are in discussions with Copenhagen (airport) regarding the possibility of starting with 10 planes. We could easily get up to 10 million passengers within two to three years because we are the only airline that will receive 50 new planes within the next four years," chief executive Michael O'Leary told the Jyllands-Posten daily.

Ryanair, which so far has no flights through Copenhagen, has asked the airport to guarantee a rapid rotation, allowing its planes to land, empty, re-load and take off again within a maximum of 25 minutes.

"If we get that (guarantee), we could get started this summer. But that's up to Copenhagen airport, not us," O'Leary said.

An airport spokesman told AFP that Ryanair so far had not filed a formal request and that the airport was simply "in dialogue" with the Irish company, as with a number of other airlines.

"I believe firmly that it's possible for Ryanair to achieve 10 million passengers within a few years," airport chief Brian Petersen told Jyllands-Posten.

"We will do everything in our power that is not illegal and that will not harm the airport to be attractive to Ryanair, as for other companies," he added.

SAS currently holds the top ranking at Denmark's largest airport, counting 9.4 million passengers flying in or out of the hub last year.

The beleaguered Scandinavian carrier announced disastrous fourth quarter and full-year 2008 results last week, saying it would refocus on business travelers as it lays off thousands of employees, sells subsidiaries and cuts 40 percent of its routes.

Denmark's airline market was also shaken up last October when Danish low-cost carrier Sterling went belly-up overnight, leaving a void that SAS and low-cost airline Norwegian scrambled to fill.

Ryanair threatens to cut Dublin jobs over new tax
12 February 2009

DUBLIN (AP) - Budget airline Ryanair on Thursday threatened to cut 200 jobs in Dublin if the Irish government imposes a new tax on outbound flights from Ireland's airports next month.

The carrier said traffic through Dublin Airport, the nation's busiest, was down 9 percent compared to last year, and said it believed that decline would "accelerate on 30th March next when the Irish government's idiotic euro10 ($12.80) tourist tax is introduced."

Ryanair said it was prepared to cut the number of aircraft based in Dublin from 22 to 18.

"The staff affected by today's announcement will be offered a relocation with the aircraft in question," the airline said.

Ryanair has more than 6,000 employees.

"These cuts can and will be reversed if the government's suicidal euro10 tourism tax is reversed on or before 30th March," said Michael O'Leary, the airline's chief executive.

"This travel tax has already failed in the U.K. and Dutch markets, where they caused traffic declines and sadly the Irish government's tourist tax is doomed to a similar failure. This government must realize you can only promote tourism by welcoming visitors, not taxing them," O'Leary added.

"This travel tax has already failed in the U.K. and Dutch markets, where they caused traffic declines and sadly the Irish government's tourist tax is doomed to a similar failure. This government must realize you can only promote tourism by welcoming visitors, not taxing them," O'Leary added.

I agree with this.

My local airport (Valencia) just had its Ryanair base closed because our local government did not help/welcome Ryanair.

Ireland should be very careful.

I like O'leary in his way of fighting for his company. Put him in another company or at government of any country or even Europe, it would run much effectively than today. :lol: Maybe it is his plan for retirement :devil:

nice

Airports say Ryanair policy hurting their sales
4 February 2009

BRUSSELS (AP) - Airports complained Wednesday that Ryanair's new rule limiting passengers to one carryon bag will discourage airport shopping and hurt their revenues.

The European branch of Airports Council International, which represents some 440 members in Europe, said airlines "need to appreciate" that airports make at least half their income from retail sales and that this allows them charge below-cost landing fees.

Europe's biggest low-fare airline, Ryanair Holdings PLC, said passengers were free to shop at the airport as long as their purchases fit into one 22-pound (10-kilogram) carryon bag.

It also said airports had plenty of room to cut costs by operating more efficiently.

"Passengers have no interest in airport shopping," Ryanair said. "They simply want to get through airport terminals and onto their aircraft with the shortest possible queuing time and inconvenience."

The airports did not say how much they expected to lose in sales from Ryanair's new rule, which went into force on Sunday.

Ryanair said it will charge passengers euro30 ($39) if they bring more than one handbag, briefcase or laptop bag on board.

Passenger traffic is falling worldwide as a global downturn forces people to cut back on travel. The worldwide office of ACI in Geneva estimates European passenger traffic in December fell by 6.5 percent compared with the same month in 2007.

I agree, here, there must be a compromise to find... Airports must live too... We wait for several hours or minutes to get onboard... A little shopping is sometimes welcome (although prices are higer than usual).

I agree, here, there must be a compromise to find... Airports must live too... We wait for several hours or minutes to get onboard... A little shopping is sometimes welcome (although prices are higer than usual).

sí, I agee, but Ryanair do not compromise. If Ryanair dont get there own way at "Airport A" they will just axe flights/routes and move to another nearby airport.

There for its a lose lose situation for the airport operators.

sí, I agee, but Ryanair do not compromise. If Ryanair dont get there own way at "Airport A" they will just axe flights/routes and move to another nearby airport.

There for its a lose lose situation for the airport operators.

I know, they are sharks in some ways, but they are sticking to their strategy ad business plan. And they revived plenty of areas that were "lost". Imagine all tourism now in Carcassonne, Lourdes, Malta, Charleroi Airport, the first base of Ryanair in continental Europe has opened now a brand new airport. Not thinkable 20 years from now where only the biggest airports were ruling!

:banana:

I know, they are sharks in some ways, but they are sticking to their strategy ad business plan. And they revived plenty of areas that were "lost". Imagine all tourism now in Carcassonne, Lourdes, Malta, Charleroi Airport, the first base of Ryanair in continental Europe has opened now a brand new airport. Not thinkable 20 years from now where only the biggest airports were ruling!

:banana:

sí, Its just bad that local government didn't think that here at Valencia :ohno:

Our airport could have over 8million passengers per year now, but instead we are much smaller because our government wont let easyJet or Ryanair expand. :bash:

I agree with this.

My local airport (Valencia) just had its Ryanair base closed because our local government did not help/welcome Ryanair.

Ireland should be very careful.

Anyway yields and load factor were low in Valencia. This goverment is the same for ALC airport, where Ryanair is expanding a lot without any help from the same goverment.

There are two sort of airport for Ryanair, the ones are profitable and the ones are only profitable with help.

PD: Pásate por el subforo español/valenciano, hace falta gente de Castellón y sobretodo seguidores del nuevo aeropuerto de Castellón. Un saludo.

I know, they are sharks in some ways, but they are sticking to their strategy ad business plan. And they revived plenty of areas that were "lost". Imagine all tourism now in Carcassonne, Lourdes, Malta, Charleroi Airport, the first base of Ryanair in continental Europe has opened now a brand new airport. Not thinkable 20 years from now where only the biggest airports were ruling!

Some airport operators just have different attitudes towards the low cost airlines, for example, BAA have a very negative attitude towards low cost carriers, especially Ryanair, however, AENA in Spain seem to be very welcoming to low cost airlines, with even Madrid airport having a huge number of Easyjet and Ryanair flights.

You will never see Easyjet or Ryanair at Heathrow...

Ryanair to cut all airport check-in desks

LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Europe's largest low-fare airline Ryanair said on Saturday it planned to save costs by closing all its airport check-in desks by the end of the year and have passengers check in online instead.

"All we will have is a bag drop where passengers can drop off their luggage, otherwise everything will be done online," Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told the Daily Telegraph.

He said the savings would be passed on to passengers in the form of lower fares.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara told Reuters that 75 percent of the airline's passenger already used its online check-in services.

"We are trying to encourage the remaining 25 percent to do the same," he said.

"Hopefully by the end of the year we will have bag drop-in areas instead, which will be manned."

The airline would continue to have staff running ticket desks at airports, he said.

The change would lead to layoffs but the airline used many third-party staff at airports and would attempt to limit the effect of the reduction.

"We are hoping the job cuts will be minor," McNamara said.

Well, finally, Ryanair will fly automatic buses with wings, without check-in, without hostesses, without pilots... Maybe they will find a way to fly without using landing gears (too expensive to replace tires when landing too many times...), maybe with one way use parachutes. Maybe without seats too, we can place thre times more passengers... If the automatic online check-in is not accepted by some airports (like I had in Stansted), we will be in biiig trouble... And Michael O Leary will not find good words to solve the problem...

The question is, "where not to go too far for Ryanair?" In order to keep its customers...

At least this will mean that those of us without EU passports will finally be able to check in online instead of being forced to check in at the airport and thus pay a fee...grr...

Actually, checking in without somebody is not a bad thing. But will we be able to carry a suitcase in the future or only one handbag? Then there would be need for an attendant anyway. And also, due to economical principles, we will have to pay some taxes anyway, either to the airport either through the price ticket. Or we will not have any improvement or developments of the airports...

Actually, checking in without somebody is not a bad thing. But will we be able to carry a suitcase in the future or only one handbag? Then there would be need for an attendant anyway. And also, due to economical principles, we will have to pay some taxes anyway, either to the airport either through the price ticket. Or we will not have any improvement or developments of the airports...

Ryanair will introduce a baggage drop off area, which will be manned, so yes, you will still be able to travel with a suitcase.

I have flew with Ryanair many a time with no taxes, I paid £0.2p (GBP) for a return flight from Glasgow to Dublin, Paris and Cork. All I was charged for booking these flights was just 2 pence, there was no taxes or any other add-ons.

Lucky you to pay 2 pences for a flight. When Ryanair says flights for free, we always some taxes appearing by magic, either airport taxes or handling taxes (around 14 € most of the times). Anyway, it is normal to pay something. Nobody is stupid enough to think he can fly for free... Even if you had this opportunity, lucky you :)

Lucky you to pay 2 pences for a flight. When Ryanair says flights for free, we always some taxes appearing by magic, either airport taxes or handling taxes (around 14 € most of the times). Anyway, it is normal to pay something. Nobody is stupid enough to think he can fly for free... Even if you had this opportunity, lucky you :)

Yes, this is the trick to look out for, the flights that are free have taxes that must be paid. The flights that are 1 pence or 1 cent have no taxes. I know many other people who have also made return flights for just 2 pence.

So, avoid the "free" flights and go for the once that are a single penny/cent. :cheers:

At least this will mean that those of us without EU passports will finally be able to check in online instead of being forced to check in at the airport and thus pay a fee...grr...

I've had mixed luck with this, as most of my travels with Ryanair have been fee-free even though I used manual check-in at the airport. I was only charged once. I don't understand why easyJet lets me check in with my foreign passport while Ryanair only restricts it to EU citizens.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to December 2008:
EasyJet = 44,583,476
Ryanair = 57,700,000

Percentage increase in passengers since December 2007:
EasyJet = 16.6%
Ryanair = 11%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in December 2008:
EasyJet = 84.6%
Ryanair = 81.5%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to January 2009:
EasyJet = 44,661,510
Ryanair = 58,100,000

Percentage increase in passengers since January 2008:
EasyJet = 16.2%
Ryanair = 11%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in January 2009:
EasyJet = 84.9%
Ryanair = 81%

The crazy thing is that I never flew Easyjet, they are never competitive in prices with Ryanair on the flights I am looking for and they never have the roads I am looking for... Easyjet is great for UK, for the rest of Europe to fly to UK too but within Europe, it is another thing, we have to deal with AirBerlin & Germanwings (expensive), WizzAir, AirBaltic (growing slowly but surely), ...

SSC is messed up, why did my reply to the post AFTER this one appear here?

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The ever budget-conscious boss of Ryanair has suggested the discount airline may start charging passengers for using the toilet on board its flights.

Michael O'Leary said the airline had revived inquiries into whether the airline could install coin-operated toilets on its fleet.

"People might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future," he said in a BBC interview, adding "We're always in Ryanair looking at the ways of constantly lowering the costs of air travel and making it more affordable and easier for passengers to fly with us."

Asked by the incredulous presenter what passengers would do if they found themselves without money mid-flight, O'Leary replied: "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound."

The Irish airline is renowned for its cheap flights and regularly advertises competition-crushing deals to boost capacity on its short-haul routes.

The company has made no secret of its quest to boost revenue by any means possible. It already charges for food and each bag checked into the hold is subject to a fee.

Last week Ryanair announced plans to remove all its check-in counters in an effort to encourage travelers to take just one piece of hand-luggage.

Ryanair's latest revenue-raising proposal has surprised few in the industry who are accustomed to its method of business.

"It seems Ryanair is prepared to plumb any depth to make a fast buck and, once again, is putting profit before the comfort of its customer," said Rochelle Turner, Head of Research at Which? Holiday.

The consumer group also warned that move might hit Ryanair where it hurts.

"Charging people to go to the toilet might result in fewer people buying overpriced drinks on board, though -- that would serve Ryanair right," Turner said.

I doubt Health and Safety, and the CAA would allow this.

If they are selling customers (passengers) food and drink onboard, by law, do they not have to provide free toilet facilities?

What a crap.

Prefer to pay a few Euros more and fly with a quality carrier. Who knows, next the save money on security and pilot training. :ohno:

To pay for toilet is maybe the step too far I was saying about previously. It is a shame for Ryanair. I really hope O'Leary was joking but making a statement of such a level is really insane! Don't make us hate Ryanair for all costs!!!

Definitely, you must not stop somebody to use the toilets on board! This is health and safety. What if one passenger does not have 1 pound coin? He pees on his seat? O leary will be happy to change the smelly and dirty seat!!!

Really, there are borders not to cross! :bash:

I do not mind Ryanair cost cutting in many areas in order to offer cheap flights for those willing to accept less perks to fly cheap, but the bathroom thing goes a bit too far...

http://blogs.palringo.com/kerry/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ryanair.jpeg

Sad but... :lol:

what a crap airline? how can people can fly through this airlines?, this is nonsense charging money to go to the toilet.

this sad and stupid to think about

poor people that fly this airline

If Ryanair were so bad they wouldnt be one of the largest airlines in Europe...

I thought plenty of public toilets in Europe charge admission (eg. Liverpool Street station in London, where the express trains to Stansted so I can get to my Ryanair flight originate), so why such a big problem for an airplane?

Charging for toilets PR stunt, says Ryanair boss
7 March 2009
Irish Times

RYANAIR CHIEF executive Michael O’Leary has come clean and admitted that his proposals to charge passengers to use the toilet on aircraft was just a cheap publicity stunt.

Despite telling reporters on Thursday that “it’s going to happen”, Mr O’Leary told a tourism conference yesterday that it was technically impossible and legally difficult.

Mr O’Leary joked it was a “new visionary strategy and a wonderful idea” but also conceded that it could be construed as “taking the p***”. He told the conference, organised by city tourist bodies around Europe, that Ryanair had bought Boeing aircraft in recent years, but the doors were not suitable for charging customers to use the toilet.

“Boeing can put people on the moon, design fighter aircraft and smart bombs, but they can’t design a bloody mechanism to go on doors that will accept coins,” he admitted. Mr O’Leary also confessed that it would not be possible because some “bureaucrat in Brussels” had decreed that establishments where food and drink is served have to provide toilets free of charge.

“It is not likely to happen, but it makes for interesting and very cheap PR,” he told the audience at the Grand Hotel in Malahide, Co Dublin.

Mr O’Leary also proposed a travel tax which would be based on a percentage of the fare as an alternative to the €10 departure tax which will be introduced on April 1st. Such a proposal would favour Ryanair which has low fares, but higher ancillary charges such as baggage and credit card handling charges than most other airlines.

He said that a 10 per cent tax on the cost of the airline fare would target business customers who could afford to pay such charges, rather than budget travellers.

“We accept that the Government finances are in a mess, but if you are going to have a travel tax, at least make it fair and not this regressive nonsense we have here,” he said.

“Don’t target the price-sensitive visitor, target the higher fare passengers who are clearly price insensitive,” he said. Tourism Ireland chief executive Paul O’Toole said he agreed with Mr O’Leary that the €10 tax would hurt tourism business. “It is adding pressure on competitiveness at a difficult time,” he said, though he would not be drawn on whether it would lead to a serious fall in visitors.

Mr O’Toole told the conference that Tourism Ireland, which markets the whole island, will be embarking on an aggressive marketing drive abroad, which will focus on Ireland as a value-for-money destination. Figures for 2008 indicate that the number of visitors to the Republic of Ireland declined by 6.6 per cent in the last six months of the year.

what a crap airline? how can people can fly through this airlines?, this is nonsense charging money to go to the toilet.

this sad and stupid to think about

poor people that fly this airline

It is not quite true. I was flying to Riga from Wrocław with these lines and I paid only 3$ for the return trip with all taxes.

Budget airline in joke request for ways to save money
12 March 2009
Agence France Presse

Ryanair launched a light-hearted competition Thursday to suggest new ways the budget carrier can save money, after criticism of penny-pinching ideas including charging passengers to use the toilet.

The Irish airline said it had already received suggestions including charging one euro for oxygen masks, 25 euros to use the emergency exits, and 50 euros for bikini-clad cabin crew.

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has been widely criticised for introducing more and more charges, starting with food on board and extra fees for non-online customers, but now including check-in charges.

Most recently he suggested that passengers could be asked to pay one pound coin (1.10 euros, 1.40 dollars) to go to the toilet on board, although spokesmen subsequently explained that he may not have been serious.

On Thursday Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said: "Ryanair is Europe’s largest low fares airline and we plan to continue to reduce costs and fares by stimulating ancillary revenues.

"Since we confirmed that we are considering a toilet charge we have received a huge number of ancillary revenue suggestions from passengers and we want more," he added in a statement on the airline's website.

The airline is offering 1,000 euros to the most creative idea submitted by the end of March. Other suggestions so far include charging for toilet paper with O’Leary’s face on it and charging 2.50 euros to read the safety cards.

"The winning idea will be chosen by Ryanair and our decision will be final," said the airline.

Ryanair's pilots agree to 12-month pay freeze

DUBLIN, March 17 (Reuters) - Irish budget airline Ryanair said on Tuesday that its pilots had agreed to a 12 month pay freeze as an alternative to a 10 percent cut in salary.

Ryanair had originally sought a pay cut to address the current downturn and two consecutive quarters of trading losses at the airline.

"Management at Ryanair has already accepted significant pay cuts. Now our pilots have rowed in with a pay freeze and better productivity enhancements," David O'Brien, Ryanair's director of flight operations and ground operations, said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Europe's largest low-cost carrier said that from the summer it would reduce the number of aircraft based in Dublin to 17 from 22, closing four routes and cutting the frequency of flights on eight others due to an increase in airport charges and taxes.

The group's full-year guidance is for a net profit of 50 million to 80 million euros range versus an earlier projection of break-even as lower fuel costs and cost-conscious travellers boost the bottom line.

The airline expects to increase overall passenger numbers across the network by about 9 million to 67 million this year.

http://www.apollo.lv/upload/2009-03-19/152213/47RS090318B462.jpg Picture Reuters

Michael O'Leary of Ryanair with Charleroi Airport model plane (graphic design of plane made by SkyscraperCity Forumer living in Latvia :banana: )

Excellent face! Unexpected!!! Is it envy? Astonishment? Pleasure?

Ryanair chief defends on-board toilet charge
24 March 2009
Agence France Presse

The head of Irish budget airline Ryanair Tuesday defended his plan to charge passengers to use on-board toilets, saying it would lead to "less passenger inconvenience" during flights.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary revealed last month the carrier was looking at the possibility of installing toilet doors in its planes which would only open with the insertion of a one pound coin (1.10 euros, 1.40 dollars).

"In our discussions with (aircraft maker) Boeing they haven't yet been able to manufacture a toilet door that will take coins in it," he told a news conference in Madrid Tuesday.

"But I think it's a logical development, if you use the toilet for example in train stations in England you pay to use the toilets. I don't see any reason why people on board an aircraft wouldn't pay to use the toilet."

He said the on-board charge would mean more passengers would use the toilets at airports, and would lead to "less passenger inconvenience on board the aircraft."

"We will charge for every possible thing we can think to charge for, but it will always be the passengers' choice whether they pay it or don't pay it," he said.

O'Leary said the company is now running an online competition to see what else the carrier can charge for on board.

"The suggestion I like best so far is a passenger in Sweden who has suggested that we should produce rolls of toilet paper with my picture on it."

Ryanair to expand in Spain despite crisis: O'Leary
24 March 2009
Agence France Presse

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair is to open up 39 new routes to and from Spanish airports in 2009 despite the sharp drop in tourism in the country amid the economic crisis, chief executive Michael O'Leary said Tuesday.

"At a time when traffic to and from Spain is collapsing, particularly at the major Spanish airports, including Madrid and Barcelona, Ryanair is still the one airline in Spain is growing rapidly," he said.

Ryanair's overall traffic will grow by about 15 percent this year from 58 million to 67 million passengers, he told a news conference in Madrid.

"A significant amount of that growth is already allocated to Spain, where in 2009 alone Ryanair will open up 39 new routes to and from eight Spanish airports -- Alicante, Girona, Granada, Ibiza, Palma, Reus, Santander and Seville."

O'Leary forecast Ryanair would overtake Spain's flag carrier Iberia as the country's largest airline "in about two years."

He saw "enormous growth opportunities" for Spanish tourism and airports, but only if the country's airport authority, AENA, lowers its charges.

Spain, the world's second biggest tourist destination after France, reported a record 59.2 million visitors in 2007, before the global economic crisis. But that figure dropped 2.6 percent to 57.41 million in 2008.

In February alone, tourist arrivals plunged 15.9 percent in February from the same month last year.

Ryanair made a loss of almost 119 million euros (161 million dollars) during its third quarter as fuel costs soared and it reduced fares.

However last month the no-frills carrier also upgraded its full-year profit forecast to between 50 and 80 million euros from a previous estimate of break-even as fuel costs have fallen sharply since the end of 2008 on reduced demand for energy.

easyJet increases frequency from Glasgow to Palma De Mallorca
easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, has today announced that it is increasing its flight frequency to the sunshine hotspot destination of Palma De Mallorca from Glasgow International Airport.

The additional flights will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 May to 23 June. The extra flights will also make it easier for travellers who are to visiting the Island of Mallorca for the May Bank Holiday weekend.

Carly Brear, easyJet UK Commercial Manager, said:

“Thanks to fantastic feedback from our customers, we are delighted to be offering even more flights to Palma De Mallorca. The additional services will make Majorca even more accessible to visitors who are looking for a long weekend or a short break, however, we’d advise people to book now to avoid missing out on visiting this great destination”.

Fares for this route will start from just £26.99 single including tax. Seats go on sale at easyJet.com from Tuesday 24 March 2009.

Rolling 12 month passenger totals to January 2009:
EasyJet = 44,661,510
Ryanair = 58,100,000

Percentage increase in passengers since January 2008:
EasyJet = 16.2%
Ryanair = 11%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in January 2009:
EasyJet = 84.9%
Ryanair = 81%Rolling 12 month passenger totals to February 2009:
EasyJet = 44,439,653
Ryanair = 58,400,000

Percentage increase in passengers since February 2008:
EasyJet = 13.9%
Ryanair = 7%

Load factor (ie percentage bums on seats) in February 2009:
EasyJet = 87%
Ryanair = 82%

Aer Lingus outlook bleak as Ryanair rules out bid

DUBLIN/LONDON April 28 (Reuters) - Irish airline Aer Lingus slashed its outlook and reshuffled management in the face of diving revenues and passenger numbers on Tuesday as rival Ryanair ruled out another bid for the beleaguered carrier.

Shares in Aer Lingus fell 20 percent, making it the top loser on the Irish stock index, after the company forecast losses this year would be materially worse than the 79 million-euro bottom range of market expectation.

The loss-making airline, whose chief executive resigned earlier this month saying a new person would bring fresh ideas, said it was reviewing a range of options, including its long-haul capacity, to reduce operating costs.

Aer Lingus has a track record of turning around difficult situations but analysts warned something major was needed.

"Aer Lingus faced similar challenges post 9-11 and as recently as 2007, its operation margin was the best in the industry," said NCB analyst Neil Glynn said.

"We're coming to the stage where we need to see something quite radical again."

The airline saw quarterly revenue fall 16 percent as the recession drove average fares down by nearly 15 per cent. Passenger numbers decreased by 6.5 percent year-on-year in the same period.

It appointed Niall Walsh as chief operating officer while Chief Financial Officer Sean Coyle and Short Haul Operations head Stephen Kavanagh assumed a further role each.

The company said it would examine its aircraft requirements from Airbus as part of its review of its long-haul business.

DEFENCE STRATEGY

Aer Lingus' arch rival and major shareholder, Ryanair, ruled out a third bid for the former state carrier but said it would hold onto its near 30 percent stake unless it received a significant offer.

"I think Aer Lingus is worthless. If the accountancy rules allowed us we would write down our stake to zero," chief executive Michael O'Leary told a news conference. "I am fairly certain we won't make a third bid."

Aer Lingus based its defence strategy against Ryanair's most recent bid on the argument that it had a profitable future as an independent airline, forecasting a small pre-tax profit in both 2008 and 2009.

But some analysts said this argument no longer held water.

"At this point of time, it's hard to see Aer Lingus being a standalone operation, but they still have net cash and if they're successful in negotiations with Airbus that would help," Davy analyst Stephen Furlong said.

Ryanair, which gained its stake following a hostile bid in 2006, made an offer of 750 million euros ($976.1 million) for its rival in December but later withdrew the bid after the Irish government, which holds a 25 percent stake, rejected it.

Aer Lingus said it had a net cash position of 594 million euros as of March 31, down 9 percent from the end of the year.

But Ryanair's O'Leary said the balance sheet was not as strong as the airline maintained.

"They're running out of cash rapidly. They clearly have a huge pension deficit which again they denied in December and there's going to have to be another restructuring," he said.

"I think Aer Lingus is going to run out of cash."

EasyJet down as losses H1 hit 129.8 mln
6 May 2009
Reuters News

Shares in easyJet fall 2 percent after the British low-cost airline reports first-half pretax losses of 129.8 million pounds, which Panmure calls "significant".

"The company's results have been hit by substantially higher fuel costs (up 92 million pounds), reflecting hedging rates which were substantially above current market rates," says the broker in a note.

EasyJet, which almost trebles its pretax loss from 48.4 million pounds, says it still expects to be profitable for the full-year to end-September at current fuel and exchange rates.

Ryanair CEO denies has lifted 2009 guidance

MILAN/MUNICH, May 12 (Reuters) - Irish low-cost airline Ryanair's Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said he had not raised the company's outlook for 2008-09, denying an earlier news agency report.

"I said that analysts estimate 60-80 million euros, and that we feel comfortable with those estimates. I did not give a new guidance," O'Leary said at a press conference in Munich.

Following a press briefing in Milan earlier on Tuesday, Italian news agency ANSA had reported that O'Leary had said he now expected net profit of 60-80 million euros ($82-109 million) for 2008-09.

In April, O'Leary said there was no reason to change guidance of 50-80 million euros for the year ending March 31, 2009. [ID:nWEA7554]

Ryanair is due to report results for the year to March 31, 2009 at the beginning of June.

Shares of Ryanair were up 0.8 percent at 3.325 pence by 1403 GMT.

O'Leary said he now expected it to take another 2-3 years until the opportunity arose for the budget carrier to enter the long-haul market.

"We've talked about it, but only if we can cheaply obtain long-haul aircraft, and with the delivery delays for those types of aircraft, I don't see any availability for another 2-3 years," O'Leary said in Munich.

He also said price competition in long-haul was much fiercer than in European flights, making such routes less viable.

At the moment, he said he expected carriers offering primarily European routes to benefit from jitters that flights to places such as Mexico and Latin America could raise the risk of contracting swine flu following a recent outbreak there.

"But swine flu's complete rubbish. It's like a hangover," O'Leary said.

Mexico's death toll from the H1N1 flu outbreak has risen to 56, the health ministry there said on Monday. Some 30 countries have reported cases of the flu, which has killed people in Canada, the United States and Costa Rica as well as Mexico.

Peer easyJet's Chief Executive Andy Harrison said last week there had been "no impact yet" from the swine flu outbreak. EasyJet flies exclusively between European destinations. ($1=.7336 Euro)

Spain's royal palace unhappy over Ryanair ad featuring queen
5 June 2009
Agence France Presse

Spain's royal palace Friday expressed its annoyance Friday at ads by Ryanair that used a photo of Queen Sofia, who recently flew on the Irish budget airline, without her permission.

The company, known for its controversial ad campaigns and for its use of images of celebrities without their permission, released an ad with a photo of the wife of King Juan Carlos and the slogan "fly like a monarch."

"It is a privilege for us that Queen Sofia flies with the company that shows the highest growth in Spain, Ryanair", said the ad, published in the Spanish press Friday.

But the royal palace expressed its displeasure with the ads.

"We are surprised, they did not ask for permission nor did they inform us of the ad campaign," a spokeswoman said.

"We are looking into it, but there is nothing definite that we can foresee in terms of legal actions or options. Nothing has been decided."

Queen Sofia flew on Ryanair between the northern city of Santander and London's Stansted airport last month to visit her brother Constantine, the former king of Greece, who was to undergo heart surgery.

The royal palace at the time stressed that the reason was not the low cost, but that the Irish airline offered the best option for getting to London on that date.

Ryanair is the only commercial airline that flies direct between the Santander and London.

Ryanair has only one class of passenger, no reserved seats and offers basic levels of comfort. On-board services must be paid for.

Ryanair flights are finally very dear !

I am far from rich and when I travel, I try to do at the best price. But what is the true price of a trip with Ryanair, have you ever thought?

-They only use secondary airports often have an architecture of industrial hangar with comfort and facilities very limited.
-The time needed to reach these airports and the price of the shuttle buses (minimum 10 euros, mostly around 15 !)
-The overall "quality" of the Company :at Ryanair everything is ugly, kitsch, ultra-cheap:
*Hostesses' uniforms (they must pay with their own money!) Are elegant enough for road works, but surely not for air hostesses (personally, I like watching them: this is part of the pleasure of flying )
*Harassment of those hotesses to sell you all kinds of things you do not need (even lottery tickets! It is missing more than carpets and kebabs ...). Everything in English only of course ,even if you are on a flight Italy- Spain or Estonia-Germany...

**But these are details compared to the rest. On several occasions crews informed me discretly on the failings of the company safety.
**Those who wants to work on that company must themselves pay for the training given by the company! 1500 Euros for an unemployed Poles who wants to find a job, it's huge!
And it is outrageous to pay for work, not to mention ridiculous wages and poor social conditions...
**Furthermore, this company only goes where they are heavily subsidized by local authorities. Ryanair never hesitate to put in concurrence two platforms for raising the stakes. The airport that pays the most has the honor to receive the Ryanair flights.
Who paies these subventions ? You, me .
Often, despite the commitments made with the authority that subsidize them (with our money), they leave the platform because the benefits are not commensurate with their calculations.
They already had several lawsuits because of this piracy (South Brussels, Strasbourg ...) but continue to ransom our taxes across Europe !

-Result: company personnel working under shameful conditions , passengers are treated like cattle (or sheat if you prefer...)
And our taxes are used to pay their benefits (not knowing the crisis).
They are the main beneficiaries of the current crisis.

Since I realized that their prices are finally expensive (price of ticket + extras: baggage, registration, credit card supplement+ price and time of the shuttle ...)
Since I understood that they are by far the worst low-cost, while finally as expensive as others .
= Travel with SkyEurope, Myair or Transavia and see the difference!
Since I understood how my taxes pays their benefits by the subsidies paid by our local authorities to Ryanair...
And because I don't really appreciate to be treated like shit when I fly and travel , I decided to boycott Ryanair.

I always travel as much, finally without spending more. But I feel much better in-flight.

If Ryanair were so bad they wouldnt be one of the largest airlines in Europe...I'm amazed how large RyanAir is.

If Ryanair were so bad they wouldnt be one of the largest airlines in Europe...
tell that to GM:lol:

Ryanair halts British projects in tax protest
23 June 2009
Agence France Presse

Europe's leading budget airline Ryanair said Tuesday it was freezing the expansion of bases in Britain in protest at government tax measures and high charges levied by airport operator BAA.

Ryanair "will freeze growth at its nine UK bases with immediate effect," it said in a statement, citing a "tourist tax" of 10 pounds (11.6 euros, 16.5 dollars) per flight on air passengers and what it called the "monopoly" of BAA.

These "have caused the loss of over 4.5 million passengers at the BAA UK airports in the first five months of the year," the Irish airline said.

"While the UK keeps taxing tourists Ryanair will switch its growth to other EU countries where low cost airports are growing and where governments are welcoming tourists not taxing them," Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said.

"The government's 10 pound tourist tax is making the UK an uncompetitive destination and they must scrap this tax now to prevent a further collapse of UK passenger, tourism and job numbers," he said in the statement.

Ryanair last week said it would cut 650 jobs in Ireland, blaming the move on similar tax hikes amid a deep recession in the eurozone member nation.

Earlier this month, Ryanair posted an annual net loss of 169 million euros which it blamed on high fuel costs and a large writedown on its stake in Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus.

The loss, suffered in the 12 months to March, compared with net profit of 391 million euros in the group's previous financial year.

Ryanair to Ban Checked Bags
24 June 2009
The Wall Street Journal

LONDON -- Ryanair Holdings PLC plans to ban checked luggage, eliminate airport check-in and offer online gambling on its planes in a move to lower costs and boost profit, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said Tuesday.

The Dublin-based company, Europe's largest low-cost airline by passengers carried, plans to put a ban on all checked luggage early next year, Mr. O'Leary said. Instead, it will offer unlimited carry-on baggage free, subject to airport regulations.

The move is aimed at reducing airport costs, speeding up baggage-processing times and allowing Ryanair to offer lower fares, Mr. O'Leary said.

The CEO said he envisages a system that allows passengers to carry their baggage through the airport, check it into the cargo hold at the steps of the aircraft and collect it as they disembark at their destination.

Mr. O'Leary said the airline plans to get rid of airport check-in by October 2010, completing the migration to online check-in. The moves form part of Mr. O'Leary's plan to cut back on airport services and to reduce costs while minimizing the time passengers spend in airports.

Court rejects easyJet's Gatwick price claims - CAA

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Britain's High Court has dismissed allegations by low-cost carrier easyJet that price increases approved at Gatwick airport last year were legally flawed, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Friday.

EasyJet had accused the CAA, which regulates Britain's airports network, of unlawfully raising the cost of using the airport, claiming that the price hike followed private talks between the regulator and the airport's operator BAA after the deadline for a consultation period passed.

"The CAA is pleased with the outcome of this judicial review," CAA Group Director Economic Regulation Harry Bush said in a statement. "This provides an opportunity to draw a line under the most recent price control reviews of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted and to focus on future regulation of airports."

The court did, however, grant easyJet the right to appeal, the CAA said.

The low-cost carrier had said the decision to increase the maximum charge per passenger using Gatwick by 1.18 pounds ($1.92) to 6.79 pounds ($11.04) would cost it 46 million pounds in extra fees over five years.

The CAA says the price increases are necessary to pay for modernisation and improvements in services, including additional security costs at the airport which lies to the south of London.

Ryanair to order up to 300 new planes by year-end: O'Leary
27 June 2009
Agence France Presse

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair is to order or take firm options on up to 300 new aircraft from Boeing or Airbus by the end of the year, its boss Michael O'Leary said in an interview to be published Monday.

He told German weekly magazine Der Spiegel that Ryanair, which announced a net loss earlier this month, wanted to double its operating profit this year.

Saying that cut-price operators always benefitted from a recession, in aviation or trade, O'Leary said Ryanair would be seeking to take advantage of low prices from manufacturers.

"That is why we want to order from Boeing or Airbus, or take firm options on, up to 300 new planes by the end of the year," he said.

Ryanair, which currently operates some 190 aircraft, all Boeing 737s, will be carrying up to 150 million passengers a year by 2017, compared with 58.5 million last year, O'Leary predicted.

The flamboyant airline boss also told Der Spiegel that recent remarks expressing interest in acquiring German flag-carrier Lufthansa were not a joke, but gave no details.

On June 2 Ryanair reported an annual net loss of 169 million euros (239 million dollars) that it blamed on high fuel costs and a large writedown on its stake in Aer Lingus.

The loss, suffered in the 12 months to the end of March, compared with net profit of 390.71 million euros in the group's previous financial year.

It predicted it would bounce back into the black in the current financial year with net profits of 200-300 million euros thanks to lower fuel costs.

Last week Ryanair said it would cut 650 more jobs in Ireland, blaming the move on government hikes in taxes amid a deep recession in the eurozone member nation.

And on Tuesday it said was freezing the expansion of bases in Britain in protest at government tax measures and high charges levied by airport operator BAA.

"Ryanair will switch its growth to other EU countries where low cost airports are growing and where governments are welcoming tourists not taxing them," O'Leary said.

Ryanair June passenger numbers rise 13 percent yr/yr

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Irish budget airline Ryanair carried 5.84 million passengers in June, 13 percent more than a year earlier, it said on Friday.

Load factor -- a measure of how well it fills planes -- rose to 85 percent from 84 percent in the same month of 2008, Europe's biggest carrier by passenger numbers said.

Ryanair passenger numbers are up but BA descent continues
4 July 2009
Irish Independent

It was a case of mixed fortunes for two of Europe's largest carriers yesterday as Ryanair reported a 13pc year-on-year increase in passenger numbers for June and British Airways said its passenger figures fell 4.9pc for the month. The disparity in the figures reflects BA's troubled operations as Ryanair continues to expand its footprint across Europe.

But shares in British Airways, which is headed by former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh, closed up almost 4.5pc in London at £1.25 after the airline said it will slash capital spending and further crimp capacity as it seeks to prevent a further slide in its losses.

The airline is already haggling with unions on plans to cut an additional 3,700 staff from its 40,000 headcount.

BA added that total capacity for the current summer period to the end of October will be 3.5pc lower, while winter capacity will be 5pc down.

Both figures represent bigger capacity cuts than had been previously announced.

The airline has also postponed delivery of its first six Airbus A380 super-jumbo aircraft by about five months, with the initial unit delivery scheduled to take place in 2012.

An additional six A380s willnot be fully delivered until 2016 -- about two years later than previously planned.

Capital expenditure is being reduced from £725m (€847m) to £580m for 2009-2010 and BA said the figure was likely to remain at that level for the subsequent financial year.

BA's revenue passenger kilometres fell 3.8pc, while its overall load factor dropped 1.8percentage points to 79.6pc. First-class and business-class traffic slumped nearly 15pc.

Ryanair said yesterday that its passenger numbers for June were 5.84 million, up from 5.17 million in June last year.

Its load factor increased one percentage point to 85pc. In the 12 months to the end of June it carried 60.2 million passengers, a record for the airline.

Ryanair's shares closed up 1.3pc, or 4c, at €3.22.

Ryanair resumes Lingus battle
5 July 2009
The Sunday Times

LAWYERS for the Irish government will reiterate its opposition to any Ryanair takeover of Aer Lingus when an oral hearing on the failed 2006 bid opens in Luxembourg tomorrow.

Ryanair's first attempt to buy the former state airline fell foul of European Union merger rules when the European Commission ruled against the merger in June 2007.

The EU Court of First Instance (CFI) will hear oral submissions on Ryanair's appeal tomorrow. The judgment, expected to be published later this year, could have significant implications for the Irish air transport market.

A ruling in favour of the commission's 2007 decision would make it extremely difficult for Ryanair to complete a takeover of Aer Lingus if it decides to make a third attempt.

The low-fares operation, led by Michael O'Leary, announced it had acquired a 16% stake in Aer Lingus in October 2006 after the state airline was privatised. It launched a hostile takeover bid, which required clear-ancfrom the commission under merger regulations.

The government opposed the move, citing the importance of competitive and frequent air services to and from Ireland as an island nation.

It said a merger of the two largest airlines flying into and out of the country, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, would have a significant detrimental effect on competition, with negative conse-quencefor the growth and development of Irish business and tourism.

A legal team from the Chief State Solicitor's Office will make the state's case against Ryanair again tomorrow. Aer Lingus will be separately represented and will present its own arguments against Ryanair's right to take it over.

In a written submission already lodged with the CFI, the state has argued that for an island economy dependent on competitive air services for growth, the merger would have been incompatible with Irish aviation policy.

It would have left the merged entity "without any competitive restraint on the majority of the 35 overlap markets identified by the commission in its decision of 27th June 2007", the submission argued. The merged entity would therefore be free to raise its prices, cut its capacity and maximise profits to the detriment, largely, of Irish-resident consumers.

If the CFI upholds the 2007 commission ruling, any fresh Aer Lingus takeover bid by Ryanair will be rendered almost impossible, short of the company devising a remedies package such as divesting Aer Lingus's short-haul operation.

Ryanair, which launched a second bid for Aer Lingus late last year, has a 29.8% stake in its rival.

Howard Millar, Ryanair's chief financial officer, last month ruled out a fresh bid for the airline "certainly in the next three to five years".

Ryanair and Aer Lingus contest EU shares rulings
7 July 2009
Irish Independent

Ryanair has challenged the European Commission's refusal to allow the low-cost airline to buy the entire Aer Lingus share capital.

Lawyers were in court in Luxembourg in the latest legal wrangle between Ryanair and Brussels.

And today Aer Lingus will be in the same court contesting the Commission's refusal to force Ryanair to divest itself of its current Aer Lingus stake of nearly 30pc.

Eurocrats are caught between the two in a tussle which started when Ryanair bought a 19.16pc share in Aer Lingus on the national carrier's privatisation in 2006.

Soon afterwards, Ryanair launched a public bid for the entire share capital -- but the commission declared the proposed merger illegal under EU competition rules.

By then Ryanair's share of Aer Lingus had risen to 29.4pc, prompting Aer Lingus to ask the commission to order Ryanair to sell its holding.

The commission rejected the request on the grounds that it has no power under the EU rules to make such an order against a minority shareholder which does not have a controlling power in Aer Lingus.

Yesterday it was the turn of Ryanair's lawyers to challenge the commission's claim that Ryanair's acquisition of all the Aer Lingus share capital would be incompatible with EU rules.

Today lawyers for AerLingus will ask the judges in the European Court of First Instance to annul the commission's decision to refuse to order Ryanair "to divest itself of its shareholding in Aer Lingus".

The commission is expected to repeat in court its insistence to Aer Lingus that the commission has no power under the EU merger regulation "to order such a divestiture". (PA)

Low-cost carrier easyJet to begin flights from London to Israel, Morocco
8 July 2009

LONDON (AP) - Low-cost carrier easyJet PLC said Wednesday that it will open new services from London to Israel and Morocco later this year.

The airline said it will launch services six times a week from Luton Airport, just north of London, to Tel Aviv from November. A twice weekly service from London's Gatwick airport to Agadir, in southern Morocco, will begin in the same month.

EasyJet, which doubled its losses in the first six months of the financial year, is seeking to expand its routes and compete with traditional carriers.

The airline said it was adding a total of 23 routes in 2009, adding services across the Mediterranean and Middle East. It currently flies to 111 airports in 28 countries.

"Israel seemed the next logical step as part of that expansion," said easyJet spokeswoman Samantha Day. "It'll introduce a whole new market. It makes Israel more accessible to a whole new range of travelers."

EasyJet chief executive Andy Harrison said easyJet will be the first low-cost airline to operate between London and Israel.

"This is a major breakthrough," he said. "For the first time the traveling public in the London area has the choice between a high-cost traditional airline and a low-cost alternative."

One-way fares to Tel Aviv will be priced from about 72 pounds ($115.95), one-way fares to Agadir will cost from about 35 pounds ($56)

In May, the airline posted a net loss of 85.9 million pounds ($114 million) for the six months to the end of March, compared with 43.3 million pounds a year ago. It said fuel hedge contracts had kept it from benefiting from falling oil prices.

Ryanair downplays swine flu impact, cuts winter schedule
21 July 2009
Agence France Presse

Irish budget carrier Ryanair said Tuesday that swine flu was not expected to affect passenger traffic but added it would cut 2009-2010 winter capacity at London Stansted Airport due to higher charges.

"We don't expect the flu to have any impact on our traffic this winter," Ryanair chief executive Micheal O'Leary told a London news conference when asked by reporters about the impact of swine flu.

The airline said in an earlier statement it would slash capacity at Stansted, located northeast of London and operated by Spanish-owned airports group BAA.

"Ryanair today announced a 40-percent capacity cutback in its Stansted winter schedule starting in October 2009," the statement said.

"Ryanair operated 40 aircraft from Stansted this summer but will reduce this to 24 aircraft -- a 40 percent reduction -- this winter."

The airline added that it would reduce the number of weekly flights by 30 percent between October 2009 and March 2010.

It said it would now switch the 16 aircraft it was withdrawing from Stansted to other European bases.

Ryanair's fees move is no flight of fancy
22 July 2009
The Times

Ryanair is the Tesco of the skies. Admired for its climb to the top of the market and resented for the aggressive tactics that helped it to get there.

One of the strengths that the two companies share is their ability to force suppliers to lower their prices. These cost reductions are then passed on to consumers, which in turn feeds the phenomenal growth that both companies have enjoyed over the past decade.

However, Ryanair, which is now Europe's largest airline, has hit a bit of turbulence because the British Government and BAA, the airports operator, do not seem to understand their role in the food chain.

When Ryanair asked BAA to share the pain of the downturn by reducing its landing fees, the airline claims to have been offered 20p per passenger — about 3 per cent.

Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's mouthy chief executive, had a better idea: how about a 100 per cent cut? BAA declined and so Mr O'Leary retaliated yesterday by announcing that he will remove 16 planes from BAA's Stansted airport this winter. Ryanair will cut its flights by 30 per cent and axe ten routes completely, costing BAA millions of pounds in lost revenues.

Mr O'Leary will redeploy his planes to countries such as Spain, which has just announced that it is eliminating all landing fees this winter in an attempt to keep tourist numbers up.

Mr O'Leary also slammed the British Government for increasing Air Passenger Duty by between 20 per cent and 100 per cent at a time when travellers are already cutting back on their weekend breaks to Barcelona and Prague.

The Government and BAA do not seem to be listening to Mr O'Leary's demands, perhaps because they are used to operating as monopolies.

However, the world seems to be moving in Mr O'Leary's direction. As he pointed out yesterday, planes are the most mobile of assets and he has an opportunity to use Europe's economic difficulties to screw the best deals out of the most desperate airports and governments.

Spain and Greece have axed landing charges while Belgium and the Netherlands have done away with their passenger taxes. This is a buyer's market, and Ryanair knows it.

The rarefied world of aviation, where airline destinations were often agreed through bilateral trade agreements, is breaking down.

It is beginning to resemble the grubby world of commercial haggling, and so Mr O'Leary may well get his way in the UK eventually. Just like Tesco.

80,000 Ryanair Passengers Would ‘Stand’ for a Free Fare

66% of 120,000 passengers vote for free standing flights in online poll

Ryanair, the World’s favourite airline, today (22nd July) announced that over 80,000 (66%) passengers voting in an online poll over the past two weeks said they would stand on short one hour flights if it meant that their fare would be free.

Over 120,000 passengers voted in the poll with 72,000 (60%) agreeing that airline passengers should have a choice of standing on short flights as they already do on buses, trains and underground transport while a minority of 50,000 (42%) said they would stand if they could pay 50% less than seated passengers.

If it meant your fare was free would you stand on a one hour flight?
66% Yes; 34% No

If it meant your fare was half that of a seated passenger would you stand on a one hour flight?
42% Yes; 58% No

Do you think passengers should have a choice of standing on short flights as they currently do on trains, buses and underground transport?
60% Yes; 40% No


Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“Ryanair offers passengers the guaranteed lowest fares and we are pleased that 60% of participants in our online poll agree that people should be given the choice to travel fare free on short flights by standing if they want to. With 120,000 passengers voting and 80,000 saying they would stand on board Ryanair will continue to explore the concept of ‘fare free standing’ flights with Boeing and the relevant aviation authorities in the US and EU”.

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Okay, so it's forbidden to stand during take-off and landing in any other airliner. Because it's considered dangerous. And now Ryanair is going to introduce standing flights? I guess they lost their mind at "Cowboyair"... :nuts:
I favor safety over cheap tickets. As IMHO anyone should do.

If it meant your fare was free would you stand on a one hour flight?
66% Yes; 34% No

If it meant your fare was half that of a seated passenger would you stand on a one hour flight?
42% Yes; 58% No

Do you think passengers should have a choice of standing on short flights as they currently do on trains, buses and underground transport?
60% Yes; 40% No

So 6% of people want to stand on flights but at the same time, they dont want the option of standing? :nuts: :lol:

The 'standing on the plane' thing is nothing more than a publicity stunt by Ryanair. The Boeing 737-800s that Ryanair flies are certified for (I believe) 189 passengers, not one more. They can't squeeze in more by making people stand, it'd be illegal. The plane would never meet the 90 second evacuation rule with say 250 passengers.