Ryanair in 2014

[cnc]

you people always make stories based on some "overall net number"
you should compare operational numbers, it might be they improve their operational level but see a decrease in subsidies

[RTM]

you people always make stories based on some "overall net number"
you should compare operational numbers, it might be they improve their operational level but see a decrease in subsidies

Good point... But isn't that where the weakness is?
If you turn a profit of 500 million, but received 700 million in subsidies to get there, what is left when the subsidies will stop... Sooner or later, that will happen, so to counter that, they are now adapting the strategy, with a rise in ticket prices as a result. And that puts them closer to the competition. Next question is then, how will its reputation of operating on the limits of safety and crew fatigue, and hidden costs start to play a role in the decision taking of where to book your ticket by the customers?

Anyway, still a healthy profit, so there is still sufficient time to correct, but sit at idle, and watch what happens is not a luxury they have now IMO.

[teddybAIR]

At 500m€ positive result, 90% of next years' fuel needs already hedged and knowing that the augmentation of the costs is the result of a strategic choice to move operations partly to primary airports, I wouldn't start to panic just yet. And rest assured, they will not - as you call it - sit idle.

IMHO 500m€ is a healthy result and the objective now should be to maintain that level of profitability. Not blindly expand geographically, but consolidate the strategy of moving to primary airports.

[RTM]

Agreed.

But since they are unable to predict how the second half of this year will pan out, that is just the question, wheather they are able to maintain these profit levels...
Time will tell...

[rhigginson]

According to check-in dk Ryanair and SAS will from this December be in direct competition with each other for the first time ever and SAS flights currently sell slightly cheaper when all costs are included.
http://www.check-in.dk/Foerste-direkte- ... 3vROM6_PbU

The route in question will be Billund to malaga.

The article also notes that Ryanair is apparently ready for a Scandinavian and German 'invasion' when new planes come.

[cathay belgium]

Hi !

Battle in Scandinavia ? My bets are on Norwegian, same fares, super service !
This ain't no competition :p

CXB

[teddybAIR]

But since they are unable to predict how the second half of this year will pan out, that is just the question, wheather they are able to maintain these profit levels...

Off course that is the question...it is each year!

[sean1982]

Hi !

Battle in Scandinavia ? My bets are on Norwegian, same fares, super service !
This ain't no competition :p

CXB

Same fares? Far from .... NAX's fares are remarkably higher. I've never been able to find a ticket from AMS to CPH, OSL or ARN for less than 200€. Thing is: NAX doesn't need to lower it's fares. Norwegians pay whatever they need to pay without questioning.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Better loo better!
DY fares are comparable to ryanair with far better service, even free wifi!
DY is as much for norwegians as FR is for the irish nowadays
Noticed many times fares from less then 100 euro, except the timeshedules aren't that good ,..
Will be interesting to see, but guess this time FR won't make it, even SK fares are competable with free luggage and coffee
And besides DY do sell connections... Another positive point of them...
Guess FR will change to this model also... It already started...

CXB

Altough I flew more FR then DY, DY has the better options for Scandinavia... But we will see...

[JAF737]

Well I think it's too late for Ryanair. They have been all over the place with agressive ads, they have been extremely "customer unfriendly", they have a strong reputation in that direction and I personaly don't think people will change their mind...

Yeah they had the advantage of being cheap, but now they have competition that offers better for sometimes lower!

Saying they are always cheap is bull***, that era is over!

[airazurxtror]

Now, I am the first to acknowledge that Ryanair have raised their fares; they are no more an ULCC.
But they sure remain a good LCC, and they certainly are not more expensive than the other LCC competitors in Belgium : WizzAir, easyJet and Vueling.
Of course, it's difficult, even impossible to make all the comparisons of prices at every date and destination, but my impression is that, most of the time, Ryanair is still the cheapest.
And I fail to see what the competition offers that is "better for sometimes lower".

[Passenger]

Seems their new luggage policy causes new problems:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trave ... ngers.html

and
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trave ... short.html

“…Now more passengers have criticised the airline over the restrictions. ..”

“… "It's ridiculous, not least because it caused a massive queue at the gate - and they didn't even start boarding people for another half an hour…”

Same story on Telegraaf.nl - the largest newspaper in The Netherlands:
http://www.telegraaf.nl/reiskrant/22645 ... air__.html
Telegraaf-reader ‘Sil’ though is happy with Ryanair. He wrote: “Bij Ryanair krijg je er altijd ontzettend vrolijke oostblok cabin attendants bij”. Translated by passenger.subjective.translations.com, that is: “flight attendants Svetlana and Boris are allways very cheerful”.

[sean1982]

Seems their new luggage policy causes new problems:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trave ... ngers.html

and
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/trave ... short.html

“…Now more passengers have criticised the airline over the restrictions. ..”

“… "It's ridiculous, not least because it caused a massive queue at the gate - and they didn't even start boarding people for another half an hour…”

Passengers always can take one bag onboard and may have to leave 1 bag at the door, depending on how far in the queue they are. We are the ONLY LCC that allows 2 bags onboard. There is no pushing, there is no shouting and in fact in most airports those bags will appear on the baggage belt before you even have the chance to wait for it, like in BRU.

Same story on Telegraaf.nl - the largest newspaper in The Netherlands:
http://www.telegraaf.nl/reiskrant/22645 ... air__.html
Telegraaf-reader ‘Sil’ though is happy with Ryanair. He wrote: “Bij Ryanair krijg je er altijd ontzettend vrolijke oostblok cabin attendants bij”. Translated by passenger.subjective.translations.com, that is: “flight attendants Svetlana and Boris are allways very cheerful”.

At least they are cheerfull thats more then can be said from an acid pisser like you.
I was right about the crying to the moderator as well

[Passenger]

Passengers always can take one bag onboard and may have to leave 1 bag at the door, depending on how far in the queue they are. We are the ONLY LCC that allows 2 bags onboard. There is no pushing, there is no shouting and in fact in most airports those bags will appear on the baggage belt before you even have the chance to wait for it, like in BRU.

Nice try sean1982, but that's not the discussion in those newspaper stories. The problem now is that passengers, although they've bought your new "fully allocated seating", are queuing again at the gate. OK, they don't shout (probably because they know shouting could mean "no flight").

Quote from The Telegraph: "There are further examples of Mr O’Leary’s acts of genius at the boarding gate. As part of its makeover, Ryanair now has “full allocated seating”. Surely that means an end to those unseemly scrums to secure the best seats. Er, no. To our horror, with almost an hour to go to take off there is already a substantial queue to board. We soon realise why. The generous change of policy that allows passengers a second (smaller) piece of hand baggage (hooray!) has brought with it a new problem: there is rarely enough room in the overhead lockers to accommodate all the extra stuff people are bringing on board

[sean1982]

That's not the airlines fault, if people choose to take that much on board. Whenever I fly I go to the gate 5 min before departure and never have to queue. OK, maybe 5 min for my bag on the baggage belt. That's not the end of the world is it??

[Air Key West]

I see that the "soap' is alive and kicking

That's not the airlines fault, if people choose to take that much on board.

To a large extent it is the airline's fault, because it charges for a piece of checked-in luggage. So, people will try and carry on board as much as possible in order to avoid heavy surcharges.

If you offer to check-in free of charge one piece of luggage up to 23kg like b.air and still many "no LCCs" do, you won't have that problem.

Whenever I fly I go to the gate 5 min before departure and never have to queue.

If eveybody did what you do and seem to implicitly recommend, the airline will have a serious problem (I presume you talk about FR and consequently, with your strategy applied by every or most pax, FR would become the airline with the worst on-time record).

[sean1982]

If people are smart, they do not have to pay for luggage. They just bring it with them, go to the boarding gate at the end of boarding and the luggage gets transferred to the hold FREE OF CHARGE. I don't see the difference with B.air at all??

No standing in queue, no hassle and no pay

[Inquirer]

Interesting discussion, because i remember you explicitly assured me that there was ample room for carry on luggage when I pointed out this potential problem right after we discussed the new relaxed policy on carry on luggage.... Seems there IS a problem after all, then?

As to the difference you don't see: I see one, i.e. the (lack of) delivery after flight
When my hand luggage is moved to the hold because of lack of bin space (which in itself is rather rare, because premium and status customers have dedicated bins reserved for them), I get it handed back to me upon arrival at the door of the aeroplane, whereas as far as I understood from your explanation, this is not the case at ryanair: it goes onto the belt???

[sean1982]

Interesting discussion, because i remember you explicitly assured me that there was ample room for carry on luggage when I pointed out this potential problem right after we discussed the new relaxed policy on carry on luggage.... Seems there IS a problem after all, then?

As to the difference you don't see: I see one, i.e. the (lack of) delivery after flight
When my hand luggage is moved to the hold because of lack of bin space (which in itself is rather rare, because premium and status customers have dedicated bins reserved for them)?

Same with us, if you pay for priority boarding for 5EUR, then you are garantueed that your bag will be allowed into the cabin. If you do not wish to pay for the priority boarding, your bag MAY end up in the hold FREE OF CHARGE and will be delivered onto the belt. But as I told you before, spindoctor, in BRU your bag will be in the baggage hall well before you are, unless you sprint just to prove your point, so again you don't have to wait. In other airports maybe 5 min, but it's the same 5 min you have to wait when you check in a bag with B.Air. Unless they have magical belts that go faster then normal ones?

So, for every so called "problem" there is a solution at a maximum cost of 5 lousy euro's. That doesnt even buy you a sandwich in BRU.

[RTM]

it goes onto the belt???

So your camera and laptop get the lovely handling treatment of the ever gentle baggage handlers...