105 Facts About Ryanair

1.

Ryanair DAC is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984.

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2.

Since its establishment in 1984, Ryanair has grown from a small airline, flying the short journey from Waterford to London Gatwick, into Europe's largest carrier.

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3.

Ryanair was founded in 1984 as "Danren Enterprises" by Christopher Ryan, Liam Lonergan, and Irish businessman Tony Ryan, founder of Guinness Peat Aviation.

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4.

Ryanair launched a new base of operation in Charleroi Airport in 2001.

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5.

Ryanair denied the allegations and claimed that promotional materials, in particular a photograph of a stewardess sleeping, had been faked by Dispatches.

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6.

The new airline would operate from Ryanair's existing bases in Europe to approximately six new bases in the United States.

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7.

In October 2008, Ryanair withdrew operations from a base in Europe for the first time when it closed its base in Valencia, Spain.

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8.

On 1 December 2008, Ryanair launched a second takeover bid of Aer Lingus, offering an all-cash offer of €748 million.

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9.

Ryanair stated it would double the Aer Lingus short-haul fleet from 33 to 66 and create 1,000 new jobs.

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10.

On 22 January 2009, Ryanair walked away from the Aer Lingus takeover bid after it was rejected by the Irish government on the grounds it undervalued the airline and would harm competition.

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11.

However, Ryanair retained a stake in Aer Lingus; in October 2010, competition regulators in the UK opened an inquiry, due to concerns that Ryanair's stake may lead to a reduction in competition.

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12.

In 2009, Ryanair announced that it was in talks with Boeing and Airbus about an order that could include up to 200 aircraft.

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13.

On 21 February 2009, Ryanair confirmed it was planning to close all check-in desks by the start of 2010.

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14.

In June 2009, Ryanair reported its first annual loss, with a loss posted of €169 million for the financial year ending 31 March.

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15.

In November 2009, Ryanair announced that negotiations with Boeing had proceeded poorly and that Ryanair was thinking of stopping the negotiations, then put at 200 aircraft for delivery between 2013 and 2016, and simply returning cash to shareholders.

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16.

In December 2009, Ryanair confirmed that negotiations with Boeing had indeed failed.

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17.

Ryanair confirmed that an agreement had been met on price, but it had failed to agree on conditions, as Ryanair had wanted to carry forward certain conditions from its previous contract.

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18.

On 29 April 2010, Ryanair cancelled all of its routes from Budapest Liszt Ferenc Airport after talks with the airport's management on reducing fees failed.

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19.

In June 2010, Ryanair called for the Irish government to scrap its tourist tax, implying it was destroying tourism in Ireland.

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20.

In late 2010, Ryanair began withdrawing all routes from its smallest base, Belfast City, and Shannon due to increased airport fees.

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21.

Ryanair blamed the losses on strikes and flight cancellations due to severe weather.

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22.

In March 2011, Ryanair opened a new maintenance hangar at Glasgow Prestwick International Airport, making it Ryanair's biggest fleet maintenance base.

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23.

Ryanair cut capacity by grounding 80 aircraft between November 2011 and April 2012 due to the high cost of fuel and continuing weak economic conditions.

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24.

On 25 October 2013, Ryanair announced what it described as a series of "customer service improvements", to take place over the next six months.

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25.

Ryanair said it was making the changes as a result of customer feedback.

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26.

On 27 January 2014, Ryanair moved into a new €20m, 100,000 sq ft Dublin head office in Airside Business Park, having outgrown its previous office within Dublin Airport.

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27.

On 8 September 2014, Ryanair agreed to purchase up to 200 Boeing 737 MAX 8s for over $22 billion.

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28.

In November 2016, Ryanair launched a new package holiday service named Ryanair Holidays.

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29.

Ryanair partnered with Spain-based tour operator, Logitravel, and accommodation provider, World2Meet, to create Ryanair Holidays.

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30.

Over a decade, Ryanair had only operated with its Irish Air Operator's Certificate and solely under the Ryanair brand.

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31.

In 2017, Ryanair announced that it would launch an independent Polish subsidiary in 2018, operating charter flights from Poland to Mediterranean destinations.

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32.

In late 2018, Ryanair Sun was expanded by transferring all Polish-based Ryanair aircraft to it.

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33.

Also in 2018, Ryanair expanded its portfolio with Austrian-based Laudamotion, later renamed "Lauda".

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34.

On 9 June 2019, Ryanair announced, that it would establish a new airline called Malta Air, which will consist of an initial fleet of ten aircraft and assume the 61 flights currently operated by Ryanair from the island.

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35.

That changed, with Ryanair announcing in a statement that it expected demand to return to 2019 levels by the summer of 2022.

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36.

Head office of Ryanair has been in the Airside Business Park in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland since 2014.

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37.

Ryanair later purchased Darley and had a 30-year lease of the head office facility from the Department of Transport of Ireland.

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38.

Whilst Ryanair announced in December 2017 that it would recognise pilots' unions, the company still refuses to recognise or negotiate with any union for cabin crew.

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39.

In 2011, a former Ryanair captain was awarded financial compensation by an employment tribunal in London after being fired for handing out a union form to a cabin crew member while on duty.

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40.

Ryanair discussed union recognition in response to threatened strikes over the Christmas period.

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41.

Ryanair faced criticism for allegedly forcing pilots to pay tens of thousands of euros for training, then establish limited companies in Ireland to have the pilots work for Ryanair through an agency, as well as forcing ground staff in Spain to open bank accounts in Gibraltar in which to receive their wages.

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42.

The British Civil Aviation Authority urged the company to compensate the 2,400 affected passengers under EU Regulation 261, but Ryanair stated that it would refuse to accept any claims for compensation.

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43.

Twenty percent of Ryanair's revenue is generated from ancillary revenue; that is, income from sources other than ticket fares.

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44.

In 2009, Ryanair abolished airport check-in and replaced it with a fast bag drop for those passengers checking in bags.

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45.

Ryanair faced criticism over the ambiguous nature of these changes.

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46.

New Ryanair aircraft have been delivered with non-reclining seats, no seat-back pockets, safety cards stuck on the back of the seats, and life jackets stowed overhead rather than under the seat.

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47.

Ryanair reportedly wanted to order its aircraft without window shades, but the new aircraft do have them, as it is required by the regulations of the Irish Aviation Authority.

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48.

Ryanair has been criticised for many aspects of its customer service.

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49.

In 2002, the High Court of Ireland in Dublin awarded Jane O'Keefe €67,500 damages and her costs after Ryanair reneged on a free travel prize she was awarded for being the airline's 1 millionth passenger.

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50.

Ryanair did not offer customers the possibility of contacting it by email or webform, only through a premium rate phone line, by fax or by post; however, it does now have a web form contact option.

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51.

On 17 June 2014, Ryanair announced a new campaign to re-invent itself as a more family-friendly airline.

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52.

Ryanair was subject to widespread criticism after it announced that it would be cancelling between 40 and 50 flights per day during September and October 2017.

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53.

In subsequent statements, Ryanair acknowledged that it had "messed up" holiday schedules for pilots, including a change to the calendar year for how vacations were calculated.

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54.

In June 2022, Ryanair faced severe anger and backlash for making South Africans take a general knowledge test in the Afrikaans language before allowing them to board UK-bound flights, as a means to verify that their passports were genuine.

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55.

In 2018, Ryanair became the first airline and the only non-coal-power plant to be among the 10 companies with the highest amount of CO2 emissions in the EU.

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56.

In 2020, Ryanair was criticised for releasing misleading advertisements through their claim they were "Europe's… Lowest Emissions Airline", using figures from an airline efficiency rating dating back to 2011.

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57.

An example of this was the live BBC News interview on 27 February 2009 when Michael O'Leary, observing that it was "a quiet news day", commented that Ryanair was considering charging passengers £1 to use the toilet on its flights.

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58.

The concept of Ryanair charging for even this most essential of customer services was foreseen by the spoof news website "The Mardale Times" some five months previously, in its article "Ryanair announce new 'Pay-Per-Poo' service".

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59.

Ryanair often uses advertising to make direct comparisons and attack its competitors.

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60.

Ryanair was ordered to discontinue the advertisements immediately or face fines.

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61.

Ryanair was obliged to publish an apology and publish the court decision on its website.

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62.

Ryanair used the apologies for further advertising, primarily for further price comparisons.

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63.

However, in this case, the High Court sided with Ryanair and threw BA's case out ordering the BA to make a payment towards Ryanair's court costs.

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64.

In 2007, Ryanair used an advertisement for its new Belfast route which showed Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness standing alongside party president Gerry Adams with a speech bubble which said "Ryanair fares are so low even the British Army flew home".

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65.

Ryanair ran the advertisement in two Scottish and one UK-wide newspaper.

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66.

Ryanair was ordered by the ASA to stop claiming that its flights from London to Brussels were faster than the rail connection Eurostar, on the grounds that the claim was misleading, due to required travel times to the airports mentioned.

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67.

Ryanair stood by its claims, noting that the flight time is shorter than the train trip and that travel time is required to reach Eurostar's stations.

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68.

Ryanair added that the ASA "would prefer to work with advertisers within the self-regulatory system rather than call in a statutory body, but Ryanair's approach has left us with no option".

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69.

Ryanair countered with the claim that the ASA had "demonstrated a repeated lack of independence, impartiality and fairness".

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70.

In July 2009, Ryanair took a number of steps to "increase the clarity and transparency of its website and other advertising" after reaching an agreement with the OFT.

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71.

In July 2010, Ryanair found itself in controversy regarding alleged misleading advertising.

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72.

Ryanair circulated advertisements in two newspapers offering £10 one-way fares to European destinations.

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73.

Ryanair made no comment on the claim but did hit back at EasyJet, claiming it cared about details in this regard but did not itself publicise its on-time statistics.

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74.

In 2016, Ryanair stated that websites such as Opodo and CheapOair and their partners engaged in screenscraping and false advertising, and attempted to prevent them from showing Ryanair data.

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75.

In February 2020 the Advertising Standards Authority told Ryanair to provide adequate evidence to support environmental claims after the ASA banned adverts that claimed Ryanair was the lowest emissions airline in Europe for being misleading.

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76.

Ryanair had claimed in the adverts that they had "the lowest carbon emissions of any major airline" and it was a "low CO2 emissions airline" based on Europes top 27 airlines.

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77.

However the ASA said that Ryanair had used an efficiency ranking from 2011 which was "of little value as substantiation for a comparison made in 2019".

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78.

The ASA said that customers would interpret the adverts as saying that flying with Ryanair would mean they contributed fewer CO2 emissions to the earth atmosphere, which could not be proven.

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79.

Ryanair appealed the decision and the Appeals Court in Spain overturned the ruling in November 2011, holding that the surcharge is in compliance with international law.

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80.

Ryanair has said they will not be issuing cash refunds until after the COVID-19 crisis is over, which has angered many customers having to wait months for a refund covered under EU regulations.

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81.

Ryanair said blocking the space between seats was "idiotic" and would have no beneficial effect.

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82.

Ryanair is a member of Airlines for Europe, having formerly been a member of the defunct European Low Fares Airline Association.

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83.

Airlines that attempt to compete directly with Ryanair are treated competitively, with Ryanair being accused by some of reducing fares to significantly undercut its competitors.

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84.

In 2012, Ryanair responded to the decision of another low-cost carrier, Wizz Air that planned to move its flight operations from Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland to the new low-cost Warsaw Modlin Airport in Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki.

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85.

Ryanair had previously operated the route to Dublin from Warsaw but withdrew, claiming that the fees at Warsaw's main airport were too high.

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86.

When Wizz Air began operations from Modlin Airport, Ryanair began several new routes from the same airport, most of which were identical to routes offered by Wizz Air.

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87.

In 2008, Ryanair asked the Irish High Court to investigate why it had been refused permission to fly from Knock to Dublin.

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88.

The runner up, Aer Arann, was then allowed to start flights, a move Ryanair criticises on the basis of not initiating an additional tender process was unlawful.

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89.

Ryanair operates from 84 bases connecting 35 countries across Europe and North Africa, some of which only base a single aircraft.

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90.

Ryanair traditionally prefers to fly to smaller or secondary airports usually outside major cities to help the company benefit from lower landing fees and quick turn-around times to reduce costs.

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91.

Ryanair serves sun and beach destinations with bases in the Canary Islands, Cyprus, the Greek Islands and Malta among others.

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92.

In December 2014 Ryanair announced plans to open its 72nd base in 2015 in the Azores.

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93.

In February 2018, due to the Scottish Government not abolishing or reducing Air Passenger Duty, Ryanair announced that it would cut many flights out of Glasgow Airport resulting in the airline closing its base there.

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94.

In 2022, Ryanair announced that it would close its base at Frankfurt Airport in a row over fees, with the loss of 17 routes.

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95.

When Ryanair negotiates with airport operators, it demands very low landing and handling fees, as well as financial assistance with marketing and promotional campaigns.

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96.

Ryanair was forced to give up its Rome Ciampino–Alghero route, after the route was allocated to Air One, as a public service obligation route.

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97.

In 2016 Ryanair withdrew over half of its flights from Rygge airport in Norway, after which the airport decided to close down totally, as they were privately owned and would make a loss on the low traffic volume.

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98.

In some cases, Ryanair has decided to use large airports where they are not dominant, and to pay the normal fees there.

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99.

Ryanair has operated the following types of aircraft in the past:.

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100.

Ryanair's fleet reached 200 aircraft for the first time on 5 September 2009.

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101.

All aircraft in the Ryanair fleet have been retrofitted with performance enhancing winglets and the more recent deliveries have them fitted as standard.

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102.

On 30 April 2014, Ryanair confirmed that it had ordered five more aircraft to add to its fleet, four of them to be delivered in 2015 and the last one to be delivered in February 2016, to bring the number of aircraft on order to 180.

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103.

In Summer 2014, Ryanair contracted AirExplore to operate some of their summer flights between London Stansted and Dublin airport.

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104.

Ryanair showed interest in other aircraft, including the Comac C919, when it signed a design agreement with Comac in 2011 to help produce a rival jet to Boeing's offerings.

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105.

On 8 September 2014, Ryanair made a commitment to order 100 new Boeing 737 MAX 8s for delivery from 2019.

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