Ryanair is perhaps one of the cheapest airlines in the world. Let alone Europe! But why exactly are they so cheap? Here’s how!
Ryanair currently has a fleet of 450 Boeing 737-800s. As well as having 20 737 MAX 8s on order (built but not delivered due to the 737 MAX’s grounding!)
History
Before we can understand how and why Ryanair is so cheap, we must first understand who they are, and what their history is like.
Ryanair was founded in 1984 by Tony Ryan, an Irish billionaire businessman.
Originally, the airline was going to compete with the Aer Lingus-British Airways duopoly, by operating small flights between Waterford and Gatwick Airport, by offering lower fees.
However, Ryanair soon found that this model worked and began to add more routes, using their Embraer Bandeirante turboprop aircraft.
Eventually, Tony Ryan passed the torch to Eugene O’Neill and later the infamous Michael O’Leary.
It was Michael O’Leary who returned from a trip in the US, where he flew on several airlines, including Southwest Airlines. This convinced him that a low-cost carrier model was the way forward.
Soon after starting their Ireland-to-London services, the airline began to operate in other countries, starting with Sweden.
Publicity Stunts
Michael O’Leary is the king of publicity stunts. He often goes on TV or gives a press conference or interview where he says or does something absurd.
Take for instance when Michael O’Leary said that Muslim men should be profiled at airports because they are the “biggest risk”.
Naturally, this attracts much media attention and has many people talking about it for days! This helps their brand image become ingrained in the public’s mind.
This free publicity means that the airline doesn’t need to spend as much money on advertising as its competitors do. As such, the airline can pass these savings onto its passengers.
Aggressive Marketing Campaigns
When the airline does engage in marketing, it is masterfully done… if I may say so myself.
The airline famously doesn’t pay for internet ads, and rarely uses radio ads. The airline is famous for its incredibly short TV advertisements. The ads often last only a few seconds.
The ads aren’t packed with information about the airline, nor its flights. However, they usually end with a seat on one of their aircraft with some sort of price tag at a ridiculously low price!
As such, these ads get a massive rate of people seeing the ad and then booking a flight on one of their aircraft. This, combined with the publicity stunts means that they often have no need for many ad campaigns.
One Aircraft
Just as with many low cost carriers, Ryanair operates a fleet of only one aircraft. Ryanair’s aircraft of choice is the 737, the same aircraft used by Southwest Airlines.
This makes it so that all of Ryanair’s pilots are able to fly all of their aircraft. This means that all routes can be serviced by anyone of their pilots- even if it isn’t their usual route.
This also means that all of Ryanair’s ground crew and maintenance staff are able to maintain all of their aircraft. This means that turnaround times for a Ryanair 737 are much less than for a much bigger airline, such as British Airways.
Don’t Use Jetways
If you’ve ever flown on the airline, you have probably noticed about how they don’t use many jetways. Rather, they prefer their passengers to walk from the terminal to the aircraft itself.
This isn’t a one-off thing or a lack of jetways on the airport’s part, but a corporate policy. It’s a corporate policy that jetways aren’t to be used… anytime, anywhere.
And there is a reason for this. Airports charge for everything, including jetways. As a result, Ryanair has realized that they don’t need jetways and are an unnecessary expense.
The result has been that they simply don’t use them. Not only does it make it so passengers get some exercise before flight, but it also saves the airline a huge amount of money! Thus, those savings are passed over to passengers.
Bottom Line Focus
It’s well documented that Michael O’Leary is extremely bottom line focused. Whilst this bottom line focus may have been a major problem for some employees, it has been great for passengers!
Over the years, Michael O’Leary has carefully studied the books and worked out which routes are the most in demand (and profitable). He has also found what routes weren’t in demand or were profitable enough.
Thanks to this, O’Leary has made it so only the most profitable routes are serviced by the airline and its subsidiaries. This all translates into really cheap airline tickets!
Small Airports
When you look at the airports the airline operates from, they aren’t mainstream airports. They don’t operate from airports like Gatwick, Heathrow or Toulouse-Blagnac.
Instead, they operate from smaller airports like London Stansted Airport (STN) and Nantes Atlantique Airport (NTE).
A few years ago, I flew to Barcelona with some friends and flew on a Ryanair 737. Instead of going the main Barcelona airport (Barcelona El Prat) we flew to Reus airport (REU).
This allows them to be so cheap, as they have more buying power. Not only are these airports far cheaper to operate from in terms of airport fees, but the airline is also a major source of business for them.
So the airports give Ryanair a better deal!
The Fees
Ryanair fees are well known for being absolutely extortionate!
The airline is known for having fees for everything. Even trivial things, that other airlines would overlook, come with hefty charges.
If the name on your passport is different to one on your boarding, the gate team will have to reprint your boarding ticket to match your passport. There’s a fee for that.
If you haven’t printed your boarding pass off at home, the gate team will have to do that for you. There’s a fee for that.
Whilst it may appear to be unfair, as long as you are aware of the fees (which are really well documented!) you won’t be charged for it!
No Frills
Ryanair’s whole business model revolves around the “No Frills” business model. Michael O’Leary (the CEO Tony Ryan put in charge) first saw this in effect with Southwest and realized why they were just so successful.
Essentially “No Frills” is where all non-essential services for the trip are eliminated. In-flight entertainment, complimentary food and drink and the three-class configuration are all eliminated in order to keep overheads down.
If you would like these luxuries (minus the three-class configuration), you can still get them during flight. However, they will cost you (and can be purchased in flight by asking a flight attendant).
Subsidiaries
The airline has made a habit of buying and setting up several subsidiaries. All of these subsidiaries follow the same low cost model that their parent company does.
For those airlines that weren’t founded by the airline, their non-737 fleets and aircraft were retired and replaced with older 737s. Most of these are ex-Ryanair 737s (older, less fuel efficient variants like the 737-700).
These subsidiaries often operate in areas that the airline can’t… or won’t. Sometimes, the airline has attempted to enter a market and has failed, or has taken ownership of a beloved national airline (with liquidity issues).
The subsidiaries also provide a much needed source of income for the airline. During the low periods of air travel, these subsidiaries are pooled together and used to keep all subsidiaries afloat.
During the profitable periods of air travel, their profits are pooled together in order to invest in the least profitable areas, in order to make them most profitable. Again, very impressive!
Entry Level Professionals
When you look at the résumés of Ryanair employees, they are often at the beginning of their career. These are people who have often just come out of college or university (or even school!) and require training.
As a result, the airline is able to train new pilots, flight attendants and aircrew to Ryanair company standards. Rather than trying to mold them to from another airline’s standard, to their own.
This has two major benefits: better co-ordination and lower wages.
Despite the increased costs associated with training new pilots, flight attendants and aircrew, this also has the added benefit of co-ordination. As all of the crew have been trained by the airline, they only know that form of co-ordination.
This minimizes the chance of expensive mistakes.
There is also the benefit of lower wages. Thanks to the airline providing their training, and their lack of experience in the industry, the airline can get away with paying them less than other airlines would.
And all of these savings are passed off to the passengers!
Crammed Seating
Perhaps something that causes much arguments and is a major point of contention, is the crammed seating. Thanks to Ryanair’s “No Frills” business model, the airline needs to have as many seats as possible.
As a result, the airline operates its 737s to the uppermost limits, verging on almost being over the limit!
To do this, the airline uses the smallest seats currently available. These seats have the lowest seat pitch in the industry and the least amount of legroom. The airline uses a 3-3 configuration, similarly to many other airlines.
However, where many other airlines have only a few rows of seats, Ryanair crams as many rows as possible. This is mostly done by sacrificing a few centimeters on each row- which adds up to an extra row or two!
Little Fuel
It’s common knowledge that the more fuel an airliner carries, the heavier it is. Therefore, the more fuel is carries, the more fuel it needs to have in order to takeoff and get to the destination.
The airline has nailed it down to a fine art, and knows just how much fuel is needed (and legal) to get to the destination.
As a result, almost all of their aircraft carry just enough to get the aircraft there, plus a little extra fuel to accommodate for delays and diversions.
Thanks to this, the airline is able to save a lot of money, and turn those savings into even cheaper tickets for passengers! This method also helps to keep the airline one of the “greenest” airlines in Europe!
Tight Turnaround Times
When an airliner is on the ground, it isn’t making money. Ryanair, as well as many other airlines know this! (This is why many airlines are suing Boeing for the 737 MAX).
As a result, the airline’s turnaround times are incredibly tight. Many of its airliners spend only thirty minutes on the ground, sometimes even less.
In regards to maintenance, the 737s often spend the minimum amount of time legally required by international law.
When there is an issue, its corporate policy to get the aircraft in and out as soon as possible. Its corporate policy to try to keep the aircraft out of the air for less than a day, maximum.
It is often because of this, that many aircraft are frequently late departing.
Got any other reasons why Ryanair is so cheap? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Tim Reckmann via Flickr.