 LOW-COST airline Ryanair said in 2006 they hoped to make half of tickets free by the end of the decade.
We interview European Communications Manager Daniel de Carvalho about this target and other aspects of Ryanair’s activities in France.
How have things been going over the last year?
Due to higher price sensitivity passengers are increasingly switching from high fare and fuel surcharging airlines to Ryanair’s lowest fares and no fuel surcharge guarantee.
The crisis has been good for companies like Ikea, Aldi, Lidl, McDonald’s and Ryanair, which deliver great value and service at unbeatable prices. In addition to Europe’s lowest fares, passengers are moving to Ryanair due to our highest punctuality, least lost bags and least cancelled flights.
The recession has led to a drop in fuel prices but these will rise again. Governments are increasing airport taxes and taxes on carbon emissions are coming - is the end in sight for cheap air travel?
No. Ryanair has reduced its average fare by 13% this year and expects to lower it further. Oil prices are cyclical but demand for cheap air travel is rising.
How has the row in France over “marketing payments” affected your operations?
The EU court has confirmed Ryanair has not received state aid or breached any competition rules. This is a myth which high cost airlines table to try to cover up their own inefficiencies. In fact while Ryanair has been cleared, Air France was found by the European Commission to have had state aid in form of discounted airport charges only available to Air France amounting to €1 billion.
How do you choose which airports you want to run new services to and which you will no longer run to?
Ryanair is the only airline growing in Europe and we will carry 67 million passengers this year on our guaranteed lowest fares. Ryanair expands from airports and destinations that offer the lowest cost base.
People cannot book winter flights from Perpignan to the UK and there is uncertainty over some other south-west destinations. Have you cancelled them?
Our winter schedule is not finalised, though it will be very soon. We operate 199 aircraft on more than 900 plus routes connecting 151 airports. It is a huge network and it takes time to schedule such an operation.
Why do you make so many last-minute decisions?
Our route network is constantly revised in order to keep our lowest fares to many exciting destinations.
Manchester flights to Marseille are stopping - is it known yet whether another UK airport will replace Manchester?
Ryanair operates flights from Marseille to six other UK airports: Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Glasgow, London Gatwick and London Stansted. There are currently no plans to replace Manchester with a different airport.
What would you say to Britons who buy in a certain area of France relying on Ryanair? How long-term or solid are your arrangements with certain airports?
Ryanair brings traffic and route growth to low-cost airports and destinations. We never comment on rumours or engage in speculation on any routes. We guarantee the lowest fares and once airports work with Ryanair to help deliver these low fares then Ryanair will continue to grow at that airport.
You have recently been considering unusual extra surcharges. What is the reason for this? What was the reason for the steep increase in credit card charges recently?
Ryanair’s long term goal is to offer all fares entirely free of charge with passengers only paying for the services they use from a range of avoidable charges - though Michael O’Leary has not specified an exact target date. All passengers can avoid payment fees by using Visa Electron. Passengers only have to pay for what they chose.
In 2006 Michael O’Leary said he wanted half of seats to be free by the end of the decade. How close are you to meeting that?
We already have occasional seat sales of free flights so it is happening partially - we had one for a million free flights a few weeks ago. There are a million discounted seats every week - this week they are €1, which is virtually free. Forty per cent of our flights are at promotional fares of €0, €1, €5 or €10 - we have no breakdown for the individual prices - and this is a rising figure. A while ago we did half a million discounted seats at a time, now it’s a million. Prices include taxes and charges. If you pay with Visa Electron and don’t ask for priority booking, that’s all you pay.
Hard to check claims, says watchdog
IT IS hard to check Ryanair’s success claims on punctuality, lost bags and low fares according to a spokesman for UK passenger watchdog the Air Transport Users’ Council. “No one compiles comparative figures for all airlines on a European level - it is something we are calling for. Some airlines report some of these types of figures, others don’t and it’s hard for us to know if one is better than another.”
He estimated complaints to the watchdog for Ryanair were proportional to the airline’s size. “Low-cost airlines do not get more than traditional ones. People have lower expectations and know what to expect,” he said.
English-speakers in France told us of their experiences with Ryanair. Diane Bartholomew, from Lot-et-Garonne, said she would be “devastated” if Pau to Stansted flights stopped. “I fly to the UK five times a year to visit my very elderly parents,” she said. However she said fees for extras like hold luggage meant
“I feel disappointed when I get through the booking process to find what I thought was a very cheap flight, is not.” She added: “I have been happy with my trips. The staff are courteous and helpful.”
Ken Cheek, from Landorthe, Haute-Garonne, said: “I fly Stansted to Pau every two weeks and have never paid more than £12 one way including taxes. A bit of research and playing them at their own game helps - for example never buying a drink or food.”
Mark Edwards, from the Charente, who flies from Angoulême or Limoges said: “Now online booking is a must why do we still have to arrive so early only to wait around? Also why do the times of such convenient flights for commuters not tie in with normal working hours or days? Why are they always mid-week?”
Anne Macdonald, from Poitou-Charentes said her husband regularly works in the UK where her children live. “Ryanair’s Limoges flights are the only ones we can rely on and they are affordable - although it is a bit difficult at Christmas and in August. We would be lost without them. The downside - but not a terrible one - is the card charges and increasing ‘extra’ charges, also not being able to speak to anyone at Ryanair without being charged a fortune on the phone and not being able to email,” she said.
Andrew David from Confolens, Charente, a director of a British asset management firm, said he regularly used Limoges. “Ryanair is efficient and professional. It runs like clockwork. The prices are excellent. They have never lost any baggage and 99% of flights are on time if not before. It is a business I can trust.”
No frills policy behind success
RYANAIR is Europe’s largest low-cost airline and expects to carry 67 million people this year.
The firm is known for charging for every “extra” - including credit card fees multiplied per passenger - hard bargaining with airports (ready to pull out of those that in its view have failed to help keep prices down) and suggestions for surprising new charges which critics say is a way of getting free publicity. It made more than £500 million on “extras” last year according to a US research body IdeaWorks.
Chief executive Michael O’ Leary is known for his outspoken comments and stunts like dressing as a highwayman to criticise another airline’s fuel surcharges or as a mobile phone to publicise people being allowed to use them on flights.
The airline has suggested charges for using the toilet, a “fat tax” for the overweight and free flights for those who use “vertical seating” on stools.
The company has been in trouble with Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy who successfully sued them for using their image in an advert without permission. Last year regional French public finance watchdogs criticised “marketing payments” which Ryanair had required from airports, which they said in some cases might amount to state subsidies breaching EU rules. Changes in arrangements were subsequently made at a number of airports.
Ryanair said it will double its baggage weight allowance from October 1 to a total of 30kg but put up the check-in charges per bag - from €10 to €15 for the first one and from €20 to €35 for a second (a third was previously allowed). The firm said it was part of a policy of getting people to stick to hand luggage.
• Founded in 1986 with a single 15-seat plane by Irish businessmen Liam Lonergan, Christy Ryan and Tony Ryan.
• First route was Waterford to Gatwick. They first flew to France in 1997, Dublin to Beauvais.
• Tony Ryan protégé Michael O’Leary became chief operating officer in 1993 in return for a stake in the airline. He has focussed on “no-frills” - for example he first proposed the idea of doing without in-flight meals.
• Ryanair employs 6,000 people. It operates a fleet of nearly 200 new Boeing aircraft and has around another 100 on order over the next three years.
Photo: Scot_w_9
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