Ryanair our new National carrier?

[pete]

Now think about that for a second. This is a company that has been built up with taxpayer money I.E. our money, our parents money and our grandparents money, along with years of labour from workers in Aer Lingus.

Aer Lingus was run for the employees benefit for years & has cost this state a fortune to subsidise. They are making profits now but the state has still susidised the redundencies & pension fund whole in the last 5 years.

[Macy]

They are making profits now but the state has still susidised the redundencies & pension fund whole in the last 5 years.

Yeah, sell when they're making pay back. It never ceases to amaze me the arguement to sell now it's profitable, rather than the income going back to the exchequer or to be reinvested.

The hole in the pension fund is down to mismanagement of that fund, for which the state has to take responsibility for. Probably was allowed to build up on the basis it was a state company anyway. Kinda irrelevant anyway, as the state didn't fill the whole in the pension fund, it used funds raised by the floatation to do it, so no subsidy there.

All redundancies are subsidised to a minimum level - it's part of your PRSI contributions (hence Irish ferries claiming back millions on this basis).

[Clifford]

Can't wait....

Ryanair transatlantic fares could cost €10

By Sean McCárthaigh and Geoff Percival
RYANAIR chief executive Michael O’Leary confirmed yesterday that the low-fares airline is looking to start a separate transatlantic service within the next three years, which could offer fares as low as €10 per person.


Mr O’Leary said that the new service would operate a “hybrid” business model which would see 60% of seating devoted to economy class and 40% at a premium service. The premium service — which would include flat-bed style seating, showers and luxury lounges — will probably cost around €5,000 per return ticket.

A big take-up of premium tickets will allow the company charge as little as €10 each way for its economy class tickets.

Mr O’Leary said that the premium offering would be “way ahead of anything the likes of British Airways or Aer Lingus are currently offering” and described the thinking behind the concept as being “very Ryanair”.

The new service will not come into operation until either 2009 or 2010 at the earliest, or until there is a discernible downturn in the price of aircraft. Mr O’Leary said that average prices for aircraft are currently around 50% higher than will be the case when Ryanair is looking to buy.

The company will invest in a fleet of between 40 and 50 aircraft from either Boeing (787s) or Airbus (A350s) and will base up to five aircraft at its larger hubs around Europe, such as Dublin, Stansted, Beauvais and Frankfurt-Hahn.

The new entity will have its own board of directors and be run as a separate business to Ryanair. It will probably include the Ryan family name in its title, but will not be called Ryanair.

The head office will be based in Europe, but probably not in Dublin. It will be funded through the issuing of around €200 million in share capital with the purchase of aircraft funded by private borrowings and sale and leaseback arrangements.

In terms of destinations, it will follow the traditional Ryanair model of flying to secondary airports in major cities. The company is currently eyeing up nine US cities as maiden destinations — New York, Boston, Florida, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and San Francisco.

Ryanair, meanwhile, also announced four new routes from its bases in Frankfurt and Marseille. Faro in Portugal and Marrakech and Fez in Morocco will be the destinations from Frankfurt while the new flights from Marseilles will go to Bournemouth. There will also be increased flight frequencies on existing routes from Stansted, Barcelona, Liverpool, Pisa and East Midlands.

[pete]

Seems to be a big departure from the Ryanair model & don't know if will get people to pay 5k for transatlantic flight.

There is little difference between Aer Lingus now except for the fact AL still dearer. Have to laugh at the current complaints about assigned seating & baggage charges. If you want to bring large bag & have assigned seat you pay for & if you don't then don't pay. I prefer these charges then seeing the base prices increasing. I would pick Al if the flight time was better & price competitive otherwise I see no point.

The funniest thing in airports is watching people queue for Ryanair flights for 30 minutes as if there won't be enough seats. Also if assigned seat important why not pay a few euro so no standing.

[Clifford]

Can't disagree with any of that Pete, it does make me laugh seeing the queue develop as you say as if they will run out of seats.

Hat's off to them if they make a go of the US stuff, I'd be well up for it. The people who spend 2,000 or more already to go there may not be willing or able to go up to 5,000. But for a shower it might be worth it, ha ha.

[Risteard]

40% of passengers first class is a lot.
The space required for those beds would take up 2/3 of the aircraft.
So you'll have 60% of the passengers crammed into about 30-33% of the passenger space.
Even putting aside any expecations of comfort or customer service, I'd say regulations might be stringent on something like that.

[dahamsta]

I can see people paying 5k for a flight, just not one with Ryanair on the side.