Ryanair

Details

Ryanair's maverick image was forged early on. In 1985, businessman and philanthropist Tony Ryan, founder of the none-more-Irish-sounding Guinness Peat Aviation, began operating flights between Waterford and London Gatwick, with the direct aim of challenging the aerial duopoly of BA and Aer Lingus.

When, in 1986, Ryanair redoubled their activities by initiating flights between Dublin and London Luton, the Irish government, seeking to protect Aer Lingus, threatened to ground the company for good; it was only the free-market tendencies of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government that secured Ryanairs future. A rocky few years followed: by the end of the decade, the company was operating at a loss.

By contrast, the Nineties were golden years. Crucial to this turnaround was the mercurial figure of Michael O'Leary, Ryan's sometime tax advisor and entrepreneurial protégé. Its O'Leary who remains at the forefront of Ryanair's activities today: an individual with a sharp eye for cost-cutting and paring a fleet down to its barest essentials, he excels in the kind of PR blarney that can make each of the companys newly announced efficiency measures seem both vital and alluring. (The gaudy, eye catching Fly to [insert destination here] for 1p ads lining the insides of British tabloids will surely come to be seen as central to OLeary's legacy.)

The company has attracted more than its fair share of opprobrium, with websites such as 'I Hate Ryanair' and 'Ryanair Sucks' at the forefront. Such critics insist Ryanair treats passengers at best like cattle, at worst sardines; that its chief executive is determined to make a buck off every aspect of air travel, even the fundamentals; that the company's rapid expansion hasn't as yet been matched by an improvement in customer care. O'Leary, a seasoned ringmaster, would doubtless break away from his latest photocall to maintain that there's no such thing as bad publicity, and that you know you've made it when the very mention of your name on the internet cues an outpouring of splenetic rage.

There can, however, be no denying the evidence that the company has met the increased demand for low-cost air travel; in a relatively short period of time, it has become the go-to operator for those millions who each year venture in search in sun, sea and savings. Driven by a youthful, irreverent energy - not to mention O'Leary's shameless, unapologetic showmanship - Ryanair continues to thrive, with passengers rushing to fill its cheap seats; just as there will always be a need for spare, basic one-star accommodation, we ought not to cavil too greatly at the follies and foibles of a no-frills transporter. Just know what youre paying for - and where, exactly, you're heading - in advance.

Airline Profile

As the merry prankster of the air industry, Ryanair has come to inspire love and hate in roughly equal measures. Regarded by some as a pushy upstart - the Manchester City of no-frills flights, if you will - Ryanair has nonetheless won a broad fanbase among those seeking to get to their chosen holiday or stag destinations as cheaply as possible.

As far as the hatred goes, well, the company shows no signs of abolishing its policy of aggressive cost-cutting, and its business model continues to function just fine: it was officially the worlds biggest airline in terms of international passenger numbers in 2010, transporting over 72 million customers - not all of whom went on to inaugurate their own anti-Ryanair websites.

Ryanair's route network has introduced the flying public to numerous previously unheard of European destinations, as well as a few far-flung fields (literally) which are up to 80 miles away from the cities they serve.

Quick Facts

  • Airline Code: FR
  • Alternative Name: Ryan Air
  • Type: No-frills

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