Ryanair’s CEO says ultra-low fares a thing of the past

Ryanair’s CEO says ultra-low fares a thing of the past

Ryanair Credit: pio3/Shuttershock.com

Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, has said that ultra-low fares are a thing of the past and that flight costs will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.

Speaking at Ryanair’s headquarters on Friday, September 2, O’Leary said that tickets as low as €9.99 will no longer be available and that prices will rise by as much as €50 over the next four to five years.

Referring to the effects of the pandemic, the strikes and the rising energy costs he said that “low cost is not dead” but that “We will continue to fly with cheap prices and the more passengers we have, the cheaper the prices will be.”

O’Leary went on to add that the current inflationary market suits the Ryanair model and that: “In the next two years, there will be a transfer of passengers from other airlines to Ryanair because we have cheaper rates.”

Speaking about the strike in Spain he said it was having minimal effect on operations and that he would not be negotiating with the unions. As ever controversial he accused the unions involved of wanting to take Spain back to communist days, saying that they do not represent anyone just a small number of staff.

The airline says Spanish cabin crew members earn between €20,000 and €40,000, with the wage demands amounting to an increase of 165 per cent.  

With Spain and Portugal remaining important markets for the company O’Leary said they plan to open a new training centre in the area and to hire a further 1,000 pilots and up to 3,000 cabin crew.

Ryanair remains the largest airline in Europe and the second largest in the world by the number of flights, transporting more than 165 million passengers in Spain. O’Leary expects that number to rise to 225 million by 2026.

Although Ryanair’s CEO says ultra-low fares a thing of the past he expects passenger numbers to rise in the coming years and has as a result placed an order for an additional 73 aircraft.


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Written by

Peter McLaren-Kennedy

Originally from South Africa, Peter is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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