Ryanair Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Ryanair is Europe's largest low-cost carrier, operating 172 low-fare routes to 15 countries throughout Europe. The Ireland-based carrier operates a fleet of 74 Boeing 737s, with plans to buy an additional 150 Boeing 737-800 airplanes by 2010. The company is listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.Ryanair is one of Europe's most controversial airlines, praised and criticised in equal measure. Its supporters praise its commitment to exceptionally low fares, its radical management, its populism, and its willingness to challenge what Ryanair calls the 'establishment' within the airline industry. Critics, meanwhile, have attacked its labor union policies, and have charged that it practises deceptive advertising. Over the years it has evolved into the world's most profitable airline, running at remarkable margins by relentlessly driving costs down. Ryanair has been characterised by rapid and continuing expansion, enabled by the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997.
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2 Routes/Hubs 3 Growth and Expansion 4 Criticisms 5 Current Management 6 Competitors 7 Books on Ryanair 8 See Also 9 External Link |
Ryanair was founded in 1985 by Irish businessman Dr Tony Ryan. The airline began with a small 15 seater turbo propeller-engine plane flying between Waterford and London Gatwick with the aim of breaking the duopoly on London-Ireland flights at that time held by British Airways and Aer Lingus. In 1986 the company added a second route - flying Dublin-London Gatwick in direct competition to the BA/Aer Lingus duopoly for the first time. With two routes and two planes, they carried 82,000 passengers that year.
Passenger numbers continued to increase, but the airline generally ran at a loss, and by 1991 was in need of restructuring. Michael O'Leary was charged with the task of making the airline profitable. Dr Ryan encouraged him to visit the USA to study the 'low fares/no frills' model being used by Southwest Airlines. O'Leary quickly learnt that the key to low fares was a quick turn-around time, no frills and no business class.
O'Leary returned convinced that a no-frills airline could make huge inroads into the national carrier-dominated European air market. By 1995, thanks to the adoption of a no-frills model, Ryanair celebrated its 10th birthday by carrying 2.25 million passengers that year. It had become the largest carrier on all its routes.
After EU deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997, Ryanair was ready to take on the continent. After a highly successful flotation of Ryanair on the Dublin Stock Exchange and theNASDAQ Stock exchanges, the airline launched services to Stockholm, Oslo, Paris and Brussels. Flush with new capital, the airline placed a massive $2bn order for 45 new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft in 1998. The airline was voted Airline of the Year by the Irish Transport Users Committee and voted Best Managed National Airline by International Aviation Week magazine.
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Ever keen to drive costs down, the airline launched its website in 2000, with the aim of cutting flight prices by selling direct to passengers and excluding the costs imposed by travel agents. Within a year the website was handling three quarters of all bookings, and now accounts for 95% of the total.
Ryanair launched a new hub of operation in Brussels Charleroi in 2001. Later that year, the airline ordered 150 new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft from Boeing at what was believed to be a substantial discount, to be delivered over eight years from 2002 to 2010. In 2002 Ryanair launched 26 new routes and established a base in Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, its European expansion firmly on track. In 2003, Ryanair announced the order of a further 100 new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft from Boeing, and in February a third continental base was opened at Milan-Bergamo in Italy.
In April Ryanair acquired its ailing competitor Buzz from KLM, at a knock-down price. Expansion continued apace with the launch of a base at Stockholm (Skavsta), Sweden. By the end of 2003, the airline flew 127 routes, of which 60 had opened in the previous 12 months. The airline launched two more bases in the first half of 2004, at Rome (Ciampino) and Barcelona (Girona), increasing the total to 11 hubs.
During 2004, Michael O'Leary warned of a 'bloodbath' during the winter from which only two or three low-cost airlines would emerge, the expectation being that these would by Ryanair and Easyjet. A modest loss of 3.3 million Euros in the second quarter of 2004 was the airline's first recorded loss for 15 years, indicating turbulent times in the low fares market. However, the enlargement of the European Union in 2004 is expected to lead to more new routes as Ryanair and other budget airlines tap the markets of the EU accession countries.
London Stansted airport is the main hub for Ryanair, which flies to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Britain, France, Finland, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Norway, and Sweden.
Other major hubs include:
Ryanair has grown massively since its creation in 1985, from a small airline flying the short hop to London from Ireland. The driver of the growth has been Ryanair's flamboyant CEO, Michael O'Leary. After taking the rapidly growing airline public in 1997 he used the money raised to expand the airline into a pan-European carrier. Revenues have risen from €231m in 1998 to some €843m in 2003, and net profits have increased from €48m to €239m over the same period. In an industry where the survival rate is 1 in 10 and where even the giants such as American Airlines and Delta struggle to keep in the black, Ryanair's success has confounded many industry analysts.
Ryanair's passenger numbers have grown by well over 25% ever year for the best part of the last decade. Carrying under 0.7m annually in its early years, passenger figures grew to 21.4m in 2003. The rapid addition of new routes and new hubs has enabled this growth in passenger numbers, and Ryanair is now among the largest carriers on European routes. In August 2004, the airline carried 20% more passengers within Europe than British Airways did.
Critics accuse Ryanair of poor treatment of customers whose flights have been cancelled, and of flying to airports which, while cheap, are too far away from the cities they say they are serving. For example, Ryanair used to advertise a service to "Copenhagen", Denmark, but actually flew to Malmö in Sweden. This service is now advertised as Malmö. Legal actions forced name changes on routes previously referred to as "Dusseldorf (Niederrhein)" and "St. Etienne (Lyons)", but in other cases court actions have upheld the designated name of the route - this was the case for Frankfurt Hahn, some 70 miles from central Frankfurt.
The airline has also been criticised for the age of its elderly Boeing 737-200 aircraft, which were bought second hand from Lufthansa and Britannia Airlines. These aircraft are now over 22 years old and some industry observers believe that Ryanair has pushed them beyond their useable (and by definition, safe) service life. Ryanair argues that the planes are well maintained, but has already grounded a number of them after discovering scratches in their fuselages. The airline announced in October 2004 that the remaining -200s will be disposed of by November of the following year.
Ryanair receives subsidies from some European airports: a situation which has been investigated by the European Commission. The EC believes that subsidies from state-owned airports are a breach of European Union competition rules. In February 2004 the European Commission ruled that Charleroi airport gave Ryanair illegal subsidies and ordered the airline to repay roughly 4 million euros of subsidies. Walloon authorities who offered the subsidies were considering appealing against the ruling because of the roughly €45 million that the airline route brings to the area every year.
An investigation into a fire onboard Ryanair Flight 296 between Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport saw the airline critised for failures in the training of staff to cope with emergency situations, such as the opening of emergency doors. Also critised was Ryanair's training staff in Eastern European countries, making staff pay for their own training, and also charging staff for uniforms and airport security badges.
Amongst Ryanair's main low-cost competitors are easyJet, Air Berlin, Germanwings, Volare and BasiqAir. It is believed a low-cost airline is formed every week in Europe - it is also believed one goes out of business every week. In 2004 it is estimated 60 new Airlines will be formed. In the summer of 2004 O'Leary announced that the winter would be a 'bloodbath' in which many airlines would go bust.
In September 2004, Ryanair's biggest competitor easyJet announced routes to the Republic of Ireland for the first time - until then easyJet had never competed directly with Ryanair on its homeground. easyJet does fly from Aldergrove in Northern Ireland, but Ryanair does not operate here. The last low-cost airline to compete directly with Ryanair on the UK/Ireland routes was Go Fly - which had to pull out due to mounting losses.
This is an Article on Ryanair. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Ryanair History
Routes/Hubs
Growth and Expansion
Criticisms
737-200 taking off]]
Also critised are its banning of trade unions; and in particular, what are seen as vitriolic attacks on opponents, notably former Irish Minister for Transport Mary O'Rourke (1997-2002), who was personally ridiculed in a series of newspaper advertisements when she refused to break up the state monopoly, Aer Rianta (now called Dublin Airport Authority), which then ran Irish airports. (The break-up of Aer Rianta remains a high profile demand for Michael O'Leary. It is due to be implemented during 2005 under the State Airports Act 2004)Current Management
Competitors
Books on Ryanair
See Also
External Link