Ryanair is one of the Worlds biggest and fastest growing Airlines.
Why people see this as a bad thing for Stansted and its new owner is beyond me. Ryanair would make a great feeder Airline for any transatlantic flights from Stansted and this would also work the other way round as a easy route into Europe for passengers arriving from the states.
But forget long haul ! Ryanair brings millions of passengers through Stansted and forget about out of the way destinations Ryanair fly to many more main city airports than you think also they are flying to the main short haul holiday destinations.
At the end of the day Ryanair is a great Airline at doing what it does.