Some news re. proposed long-haul airline:
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary outlined further plans for Ryanair's potential long-haul spin-off, which he said he's considering calling 'something sexy like O'Leary Air or Ego Air' yesterday. He first mooted the idea months ago and has referred to it as a project for his retirement, but he said talks are already active with airports in the US.
Mr. O'Leary told a London press conference that although 18 airports had expressed an interest in doing business with O'Leary Air / Ego Air, with airports in the Middle East also reported to be interested, the plans would only come to fruition if the prices for long haul planes dropped by between 30 to 40 percent.
He added that the airline would be run by a completely separate company to Ryanair and would target secondary airports, just as Ryanair does in Europe. He said: 'At New York it would be Newark or Islip, it certainly wouldn't be JFK.' About 80 percent of the seats would be economy with 20 percent of its seats as a premium class, which ' they won't get for 10 bucks.'
However, Mr. O'Leary said that the venture is still years away, adding: 'It won't happen if there's isn't a downturn in the plane market over the next five years.' He said he believes that jet prices could start to fall in the next six months or so but no serious discussions are taking place with Boeing or Airbus.
Ryanair famously placed a huge order for 100 single aisle Boeing 737-800 airplanes just months after the terrorist attacks against the US on 9/11 to take advantage of falling airplane prices. It is one of the factors that has allowed Europe's biggest budget airline to keep its costs low and consistently undercut its rivals on ticket prices.