Ryanair's Latest Madcap Scheme!

[gyrohead]

Is MO'L crazy??

...


Ryanair considering 'casinos in the sky' - paper For more business news visit [email protected]

Last updated: 05-04-02, 11:11



Ryanair is reportedly planning to offer free flights by setting up "casinos in the sky" and showing pay-per-view football matches.

Scottish daily the Daily Record says Ryanair chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary plans to introduce in-flight entertainment to subsidise the cost of the flights.

He told dailyrecord.co.uk: "We are currently talking to Boeing about in-flight entertainment where passengers will swipe through a credit card and pay, for example, a pound to watch children's cartoons or a football match.

"We are also planning to introduce gambling - like Las Vegas slot machines with a limited jackpot".

The company has also begun a service from Prestwick to Norway, with flights from only £9. Mr O'Leary told the Daily Record new services to Italy - with Milan, Pisa or Venice as favourites - and Stockholm in Sweden, will follow within the next two years.

Mr O'Leary also said he wanted to cut the amount of luggage carried on Ryanair planes.

He told the Daily Record: "If we could carry less luggage, we could get rid of check-ins and get rid of the need for baggage handlers".

:rolleyes:

[RevMan2]

He's not crazy - he's trying to generate the maximum incremental revenue from every passenger and trying to cut costs wherever he can.
The delta is called PROFIT - the key driver for being in business. More power to his elbow!

[brabazon]

Weren't Debonair planning to have gambling on their 146s at one point? Given the problems that airlines have with IFE in terms of weight, reliability etc perhaps this is just another M O'L sound bite.

[charterguy]

"If we could carry less luggage, we could get rid of check-ins and get rid of the need for baggage handlers".

Are passengers expected to carry their own baggage to the hold (like in the CIS ?). Why not require all pax to hold a valid ATPL in order to book online, so MOL could then get rid of pilots as well !:D

[gyrohead]

I'm celebrating my posting century by replying to my own post (Sigh!) but this is what I feel. MO'L is no doubt a clever accountant but he does have his head up his own a*se. His sound bites certainly do draw attention to him and Ryanair, and that's what they are supposed to do. However there is always an air of desperation about them. Nothing in them to excite more passengers into flying, just other ways of extracting dosh! If I was a shareholder in FR I would be rather worried that the man at the helm sounds more like a crazed, high on something, college student, rather than a responsible CX of an alledged wealthy and profitable airline. Rant over!:p

[BahrainLad]

Golden rule of IFE:

If passenger sees cloth in front of nose, passenger will read book.
If passenger sees non-functional LCD screen, passenger will complain, write to Sun, write to CEO and go on a competitor next time.

(Explaining that putting IFE on an a/c is one thing, hoping that it will be reliable when you're shouting about it's existence from the rooftops is quite another).

[Standard Noise]

Yeah, but you've got to agree, MO'L gives us a good laugh every time he opens his gob!

[Sick]

that would be using the same 'secure' payment technology that was used for the job applicant bloodsucking presumably

[Flintstone]

Hope for his sake his own baggage handlers can't identify his suitcase next time he travels.

[thegirth]

The latest I heard was FR were gonna charge those pax with hold baggage an extra fee!

What will be next? Maybe weighing eveyone and charging more if you are in excess of 75KG?

Jeez.

[fudpucker]

I'm starting to see certain similarities between MOL's public pronouncements, and those of The Guvnor, late of this bulletin board! I wonder.....;)

[Idunno]

Brabazon is right. Sound bite time again at Mick O'Leary land.

At a recent Fund Managers seminar (the same one where he made the infamous 'I raped Boeing' comment) he proudly boasted that he gets his airline in the media headlines at least once a week by saying something controversial. Free advertising was the point he said, and there is no such thing as bad 'free' publicity.

Try to ignore him, he might eventually shut up.

[MikeSamuel]

I heard this one propsed a good while ago now on TV news in the UK.
As much as I think Ryanair's way of doing things is fairly good, this one just ain't gonna work if you ask me...
Everyone I know will just pile onto the aircraft for the free flight, and read a newspaper instead of wasting money on slot machines, which would probably replace the lifejacket under your seat if MO'L could get away with it! :eek:

[thedude]

Ye-haa!!, Oh stewardess! oh Stewardess! I have won, can't believe it, it never happens to me. When do I get my £50.00 winnings?

Sorry sir, we only offer one winning payout per mid-week flight, provided of course it's not a bank holiday and you're sat in an even seat number. We all know that Trading standards have no problem with the concept Sir, and neither should you !

:cool:

[GuvBuster]

Now that the Guvnor has departed and this forum is liberated from the crap he used to preach, there is only one more idiot remaining in aviation MOL.

If I was working for Ryanair, I would be seriously considering taking out insurance against MOL policies/inventions, for instance, moving to a PROPER airline!!!

[Ireland's Call]

Yeah, MOL is a real idiot, I mean he's CEO of an airline that has an operating margin of 25% compared to the industry average amongst the top 150 airlines of 4.2%!!! BA's by the way was 1.57% Ryanairs profit margin is 23% again remarkable when the industry average is 1.1% BA'a was -1.34%.

The Return On Equity for Ryanair is 20% while BA's is -.44% telling you that Ryanair are far more effective at using reinvested earnings to generate additional earnings, in other words they're putting good money back into the company while BA simply don't have the money to do that as their margins are so low. The only companies that have a bigger Mkt Cap than Ryan are Southwest and Lufthansa group that includes all Lufthansas ancillary services like Lufthansa maintenance etc.

So, yeah, what a total idiot!! Imagine having the cheek to be running Europes most successful airline and becoming a multi millionaire in the process....

Puzzling how certain groups in the aviation business think....

[HugMonster]

IC - two words for you. Short termism.

Look to the future, dear chap. Mind you, with your nose stuck so close in there, you probably can't see much of it.

[Ireland's Call]

Ah, "smugmonster," I was wondering when you were going to show your belligerent face.

Are you honestly debating Ryanair's sucess? I'm just pointing out some facts indicating FR's strong financial position. The goal of any company and the responsibility it has to it's sharehiolders is to maximise profits. Ryanair do this significantly better then other airlines.

So come on smuggy, let's have your well trodden out rant about why Ryanair are the scourge of the industry, we're waiting....

[HugMonster]

(a) Past financial success is no guarantee of levels of safety, or anything else.
(b) Past financial success is no guarantee of future profits.
(c) The ability to make money is unrelated to morals, or respectability, or anything else bar an uncanny ability to take money off other people.

You think the bubble will never burst? Think again.

[BahrainLad]

God forbid that Ryanair are the future of aviation.....

[Ireland's Call]

Noone is talking about the future, read the posts properly before putting finger to keyboard. The facts as stated are a snapshot of the companies position at at a given point of time. I can' t tell the future, do you have a crystal ball?

Their goal is to maximise profits, they've done that. All I've done is state facts, the rest of you have given subjective opinions, as if we all should be so grateful to hear your advice on how to run an airline. Easy to do when you spend all day in an internet chatroom! Not so easy when you're actually out there doing it, putting your balls on the line for all to see and having people like Hugmonster praying for your demise.

PPRuNe really is full of Guvnor's

[islandhopper]

I'm waiting for the day you board Ryanair and during the safety brief you'll be told ___ In the unlikely event of cabin Oxygen Being used masks will fall from above please hand over £10.00 to the steward/ess to use this facility also if a life jacket is required these are available at a cost of £15.00 but must be returned after there use!!!!! ;)

[RevMan2]

OK, so MOL gets up peoples' noses on a fairly regular basis.
However, as a CEO , he's doing an awful lot right for his shareholders - getting free publicity, growing the market AND his market share, keeping costs trimmed.


Whether you like his management/PR style is another matter. As is the question as to whether his business model is sustainable in the longterm.

What I do like is that you know what you're getting (basic transportation and not a lot else). More than I can say for my last Y flight FRA-LHR on a scheduled major at breakfast time - cup of tea and a forced smile.
Culdn't even buy food. I know because I asked....

[jongar]

It seems to me as a pax that mol is always wanting to cut costs. that sounds unsafe. I also object to paying to transport the clothes i need to wear during the trip.

I will keep flying with BD/LH/SAS thanks mol - they treat you like a customer not an inconvienience

V50

[Pirate]

Adapt or die has has been the way of things since time began, which is why the birds are with us and the dinosaurs are not. Air transport is evolving and no frills is the way short-haul is going, however galling that is for pilots used to the gentler ways of "traditional" carriers. In the end, the customer is always right and a glance at the passenger figures shows pretty clearly what the customer wants.

Good luck to South-West, Ryanair, easyJet and all the others. The trouble with nostalgia is that there's no future in it.

[Flame]

Mr O'L;

A superb idea, well done!!! ;)