Low-cost airfares will only get cheaper in the coming years, budget carrier Ryanair Holdings PLC forecast Tuesday, predicting a 5 percent to 10 percent drop in its own average fare price this year.
Ryanair Chief Operating Officer Michael Cawley also dismissed comments from his own Chief Executive Michael O'Leary that the airline was considering a long-haul service, saying that would happen "not now and maybe not ever."
Cawley said that fares had to come down further for the budget airline to continue to grow.
"Our average fares are set to drop between 5 to 10 percent this year," he said in a speech at the annual World Low Cost Airlines Congress. Fares could drop by another 5 percent next year, he added.
Irish Ryanair, which has its major hub at Stansted Airport in London, is Europe's largest budget airline by passengers carried and has the lowest cost base among its rivals.
Cawley said the airline had wanted to emulate the success of Southwest Airlines Co. in the United States, saying that both the regulatory climate and the travel opportunities were more beneficial for growth in Europe.
"Who wants to go to Boise, Idaho, when you can go to Krakow, to Prague," he said. "The midweek break market, or even the weekend break market, doesn't exist in the United States."
Ryanair already flies to 150 airports around Europe and Cawley said the carrier was in talks with 150 more, pointing out that it still does not fly to six EU countries.
Cawley also said that Ryanair retained some hope that it could eventually succeed in buying Aer Lingus Group PLC, the Irish rival in which it has built a 29.4 percent stake after failing to close a hostile takeover bid.
Ryanair is now Aer Lingus' biggest shareholder, ahead of the Irish government with just over 25.3 percent, and has begun to try to enforce change at the carrier.
Aer Lingus on Monday rejected Ryanair's calls for an extraordinary general meeting for shareholders to vote on plans to retain its route from Shannon in western Ireland to London Heathrow.
"Aer Lingus have wonderful opportunities if we could get our hands on it," said Cawley.
However, he rejected suggestions by O'Leary that Ryanair is considering launching a separate airline that would fly long-haul between Europe and the United States around the turn of the decade.
O'Leary told trade magazine Flight International in April — shortly after the European Union approved an aviation deal with the United States to open up the restricted routes to new rivals — that the new airline could fly to five or six U.S. cities from European bases and offer one-way fares as low as US$12 (€8.94).
Cawley put those comments down to the maverick nature of the Ryanair CEO, saying that high aircraft prices ruled out long-haul services.