Any news about Porto's press conference?

To celebrate the launch of the new page (website) in Portuguese, Ryanair releases 250 thousand seats at the price of 5 euros, as Christmas gift. Really! :}

After the news of the impending death of the Visa Electron card, we now know how Ryanair is going to play it. You'll still be able to avoid booking fees though, apparently, if you're clever.

Am I right in assuming that Ryanair have to offer at least one form of free payment method because if it charged a fee for all cards then advertised prices would have to include credit/debit card fees ??

Yep, MAN777, you are indeed right.

Likewise, you'll notice that the £5 online check-in fee never applies to 'sale' fares (i.e. whichever are included in the current promotion). Ryanair never advertises any fare other than the current promotion, so if you choose a flight that's not included in the current promotion, you'll get stung for another £5 per person per sector.

This is slightly more subtle, because the law seems to state you can't advertise a fare that accrues an additional fee. FR avoid the debit/credit card fee by always exempting one type of card. They get round the online check-in fee by simply never advertising those fares that have it added.

...and a permanent UK resident, at least with that linked card.

Low brain revenue management
 

I was just checking few prices for this summer, and again the same stupid revenue management from Ryanair.

Just an example: Brussels - Milan, out Fri 4th july, return 6th july, evening flights for a short break weekend.

easyJet price: 40€
Ryanair price: 125€

:D:D:D

The low brain airline is 3 time more expansive than easyJet!

I also checked many fares in June from London to France - every single scenarios or destinations (EGC, PUF etc), prices are of 120€ return. Is it a joke???

Usually, maximum revenue are obtained by starting with low prices and increase them when approaching the date of the flight isn't it? It looks like this is the opposite for Ryanair! I better understand how they can kill their yields by 20% with such non sense.

Just for fun, I will follow these prices, and I bet you that 2 months before departure, they would be at 10€ all inclusive :ugh: Two comments then:

- never book Ryanair tickets in advance - usually, best fares are obtained at 1 or 2 months before departure, except for bank holidays & special events

- quite sure if Ryanair is not profitable on these routes, it would be for sure because of the airports: too high costs, not enough marketing support etc and they will again use their favourite sentence: "reduce your charges/increase your marketing support or we leave"!!!

Easy no? you do **** work, but it's not your fault: it's airports that have to offset your incompetence :ugh:

Basically, one way fares for july from Milan to Brussels are all of 60€ (vs. 20€ for easyJet). We'll see how they evolve.
I bet you tuesday or wednesday flights will be something like:
- today: 60€ one way
- in january: 50€
- in february: 40€
- in march: 40€
- in april: 40€
- in may: 5€ without check in fee (this is when they will realise that actually they have **** load factors on the route, exactly when people are ready to pay a bit more)
- in june: 10€ (same story)
- in july: 15€ until 7 days before departure where prices will slightly increase
- days of departure: 189€ (lol)
= non sense

Ryanair do have high(ish) prices for next summer as they need to keep their extremely cheap seats for which they put on sale, at ludicrous prices, about 2 weeks - 2 months before departure.

They work different from other carriers for the simple reason that they use their prices as their main weapon.

easyJet are usually the most consistent airline with their fares and work with the first come first served method whereas Ryanair's is much more:

book early: pay regular fare
book couple of months in advance: extremely cheap
book day before: ludicrously expensive

Remember - Ryanair have a reputation of being cheap, so when a high percentage of Ryanair passengers (which is into the tens of millions!) check their website, the automatically assume that will be the cheapest fare on the web because they are seen as the cheapest airline. You would be amazed how many people do not shop around.

Why do you think you receive all those promotional emails from x, y and z - they know if you see a decent price on their ad, nine times out of ten, you won't check anywhere else, even if it is cheaper.

I'm sure Ryanair spend a small fortune on their pricing strategies and they will be getting their monies worth out of all of the employees who are involved working out fares etc.

I'm sure Ryanair know what they're doing...

Oh dear!Know what?

Generally, I do sympathize to some extent with Ryanair. I do agree that HEL is too expensive and I can foresee the need to have a low-cost terminal or airport in the region of the capital city. I do not like Ms. Vehviläinen either, she is... well, never mind. But for God's sake, what Mr. McNamara wants to achieve by such kind of statement? We have here the formalist-bureaucratic-egalitarian kind of mass-democracy and (after reading some comments) such a call will probably have precisely reverse effect.

Is it just FR, or are the mentality differences really so vast between the nations?

pee

Its a way of highlighting to the electorate that you were prepared to invest but politicians not interested.

Let media and electorate ask the questions.

If there is something positive to take from this is that at least Ryanair haven't "forgotten" Finland, so to speak...

Does it mean, that negotiations with Lappeenranta failed? Pee, don't you know share of Russians, travelling with Ryanair from Tampere?

The problem is that Ryanair are usually asking the government to do the investing, and the airports to provide services for free. The justification being that Ryanair will then stimulate the economy by brining pax in, however it doesnt always work out that way and there have been a few airports that have been fleeced by FR taking and not giving in return or dropping routes as soon as the subsidies run out.

Where does the Servisair take over of Aviance leave Ryanair’s UK regional operation? Undoubtedly the handling rates will rise and in airports with only one handling agent Ryanair have a choice of paying or leaving the airport. The interesting scenario of the Airport wanting to do a deal to get/keep Ryanair but Ryanair not getting the handling deal they want and leaving or not showing up in the first place.

Can anyone tell me how many more planes Ryanair are committed to having delivered and what rate they are arriving at? I am just curious, especially with so many currently laid up.

210 in service, 105 on order (deliveries until 2012) + 173 options (2008-2014)

Reported in the Birmingham thread:
Canarias 7. Economía. Ryanair volverá a operar en la Isla a partir de marzo y establecerá 15 rutas en 2010

Ryanair seemingly to return to Fuerteventura from next summer: 15 routes.

Cheers. They're probably going to have to start being civil to some of the bigger airports soon then.

Market forces: Mrs Thatcher introduced the concept. Enjoy.

If you own an airport, it is just a large asphalt field unless you have airplanes bringing passengers or freight.

If the airline / airlines wish to negotiate from a position of some strength....market forces.

You can dislike whoever you like and you can dislike their business practices: that is why you are a pilot and open to exploitation.

Reply from an idoit
 

I did think someone called JS Mill, and probably others as well, explained the theory of a market economy long before Mrs T.

The market economy also implies that the owner of resources can decide what to do with them; and Ms V, for whatever reason, has decided that she doesn't want to deal with Ryanair.

You don't have to be analyst to realize that at least one end of the route should be located near the bigger population centre to be successful, especially when using 189-seat aircraft and providing no connecting flights.

FR need London, even if not flying to Heathrow. In Ireland MOL is fighting with DAA simply because any other apt in the country cannot offer enough profitability. Without Beauvais or anything else close to Paris also France is less attractive, and so on. MOL has been successful getting deals in MAD and fortunate enough not to be thrown away from Ciampino so far. He will start at El Prat if everything goes well and will reduce the traffic at GRO and REU if necessary. FR could also succeed in CPH when the new low cost terminal is completed and should consider BTS as a good “two-in-one” airport serving nearby Vienna too. “Proudly” present at SXF but a bit unhappy not allowed to have an “own” airport near Berlin while BBI fees are set to rise. But not everywhere the same is possible.

FR didn't succeed in making good deals in places like AMS, WAW or LIS (so far). Also HEL belongs to this group. Of course, even in HEL Ryanair could make money by linking it with some of its present bases and thus becoming eligible for new route discounts. There are for example some 30 thousand Finns living in Spain alone, many more travelling occasionally, lower prices would lure numerous to become FR customers. But besides, it seems unlikely they FR could develop there especially well. In a way or another also Finnavia tends to protect the domestic carrier, hence the Finnish capital city is not an easy goal for anybody else.

FR could create some indirect opportunities instead.
To my knowledge, these negotiations were successfully concluded this year, at least one new route was to be announced in October or so – nothing happened. We are witnessing new routes announcements every week now so it's still possible the first route to Lappeenranta will be among them. With FR however, you can't be sure before you see the actual schedules on the website.
Not more than 10-15%. Nevertheless I think it's pretty much, taking into account the distance between St. Petersburg and TMP. One can also observe many Russian cars parked near the airport, every day.
If Ryanair wants to intensify its activity in Finland, that's obviously the opportunity I have mentioned.

Living too far from the Russian border I do not travel there regularly,. Last time I've been to Russia in 1990's, it was so cheap there 15 years ago... But now so much has changed. Let's take the Taloussanomat newspaper from yesterday. “Only McDonalds is cheaper in Russia when compared to Finland”. “Finland is a shopping paradise for Russians these days, everything is less expensive here (in Helsinki)”. If Helsinki is so competitive, what about Paris, London or Frankfurt?

The opportunity for FR could lie in getting Russians from St. Petersburg via Lappeenranta-kind of airport elsewhere to the EU for shopping and leisure. Former Leningrad could possibly create bigger passenger streams than HEL, in both directions, with no need to argue with anybody trying to get the privileges and fight the competition elsewhere.

Charleroi
 

From next summer Ryanair plan to add 3 more aircraft at their Charleroi base, bringing the total number of aircraft to 11.
They also expect to add approximately 10 new routes. (I am very curious...)

Ryanair va baser trois avions de plus à Charleroi - lesoir.be

Is Ryanair's 'online check-in fee' a different name for a fuel surcharge?

Of course it is. MOL is the biggest hypocrite out there, abuse airlines for adding a fuel surcharge yet has the audacity to charge for everything else himself. Unfortunately people and airports fall for his nonsense.

darren1

60+ million every year...............

MM

Why 60+ Million ???
 

The reason 60+ million fly with Ryanair is not because they like MOL or Like Ryanair, or the way the do business, or due to their excellent customer service record :rolleyes: ( Not )

It's because they are Cheapest !

I wish Ryanair would stop trying to justify everything they do by the number of Pax that fly with them.

I actually admire MOL, but then I don't have to work for Him or do business with Him. ( Thank God )

dillthedog

60+M put 'up' with this nevertheless.
You cannot argue with the figures.
Whether you LIKE the figurehead
of the airline or his methods IS irrelevant.
I dont like WW but it doesnt stop me flying
with them.

MM

A new Catalan airport will have FR?If the rumour about FR coming to El Prat is true, Lleida would be Ryanair's fourth airport in Catalonia. While the place could be of some value to the tourists, Lleida itself is a pretty small city with approx. 130,000 inhabitants.

I have some doubts if this €95 million investment is economically viable, time will tell. Some reports show however that "Spanish airports had some productive inefficiency in their operations, and should have been able to cope with more travelers and aircraft, and that "economies of scale cannot be properly achieved at the sizes studied for Spanish airports, meaning production could be higher, and cost less, if the airports were larger and served more aircraft, passengers and cargo. [Spain should] redirect its airport policy, with operations being concentrated in a single airport in some areas, focusing on just one airport out of the existing three".

It's obviously of no concern for Ryanair, but even for them the profitability of the operations to some of these destinations could be questionable.

Any likelihood that FR would fly to Huesca in northern Aragon rather than, say, Pau, France? I note that Iberia/Air Nostrum are starting some seasonal flights from Palma, Valencia and, I think, Seville to Huesca. I guess this is in connection with the ski season at Panticosa and Formigal ski stations.

Tom - Huesca is only an hour from Zaragoza by (infrequent) train. To get FR to fly to Huesca could well require local Govt paying a *lot* of 'marketing support'.

While a similiar argument may apply to Turin + Cuneo, I would imagine that non-domestic demand for skiing in the Italian Alps is somewhat larger than that of the Spanish Pyrenees

@ tom

at the moment, Huesca airport caters only for inbound charter flights run by Pyrenair (spanish domestic destinations such as La Coruna, Madrid, Valencia and Palma) on behalf of Air Nostrum, as well as thomson holidays (which is using a Monarch Airlines weekly charter flight leaving from Gatwick). Passengers flying on these flights are bound to the local ski resorts (namely Formigal, Panticosa) and they mainly travel on a package tour.

Copenhagen Airport’s new low-cost concept, CPH SWIFT, is now materialising. The construction of a new building to provide facilities for continuous growth of low-cost traffic will start soon.

As Ryanair too expressed its interest to be one of the future users, you might be interested to learn more on the CPH website.

Expansion
 

Hey. I'm seriously considering applying to be cabin crew with FR. Can anyone tell me where FR are expanding in the coming months? I know I could be based anywhere, but I'm trying to work out the likelyhood of where this would be. So is anywhere in the UK receiving new based AC?

From March 28th 2010: Liverpool +2 and Bristol +1.
But there are constantly cabin crew vacancies arising at all existing bases (UK and non-UK) through people resigning, moving base, getting pregnant, getting sick, getting fired.
The only bases where the chance is almost zero of a placement are probably Shannon and Cork. I don't know the ins and outs to be honest, but best of luck with your career.

Fr - fue
 

Krakow expansion
 

This article (in Polish, sorry) expects 10 new routes for Krakow:
Ryanair uruchamia nowe po??czenia z Krakowa - Rzeczpospolita

Madrid, Girona, Malaga, Charleroi and Hahn are mentioned.

NRN gets a 8th a/c in March
new: Lappeenranta (Finland) and Szczecin (Poland) each 2 weekly & increased frequencies to Gerona, Faro, Ibiza, Malaga and Trapani
Ryanair kündigt zwei neue Strecken für März 2010 an: Ab Düsseldorf (Weeze)* dann auch nach Lappeenranta (Finnland) und Szczecin (Polen)

Lappeenranta
 

Welcome to St. Petersburg-West!

Ryanair are extremely prudent starting just twice-weekly flights on the NRN-LPP route. Well, the airline underestimates the potential coming from across the Russian border, presumably. Never mind, let's wait and see. I live pretty far from Lappeenranta, but intend to fly therefrom to be able to estimate the percentage of Russians aboard. :ok:

Edit. Btw. Our beautiful Saimaa lake is nearby. If you don't find any reason to travel to Russia, just come in the Summer to see the Finnish nature at its best.