Ryanair Boeing 737
Ryanair was founded in 1985 by a group of Irish businessmen led by Tony Ryan, the head of aircraft leasing company Guinness Peat Aviation. Operating with a single EMBRAER EMB-120 Bandeirante turboprop, Ryanair hoped to break into the profitable London-Dublin route, which at the time was monopolized by Aer Lingus and British Airways. Despite expanding services to continental Europe and doing decently on the London-Dublin route, Ryanair was losing money.
In 1991, the airline hired Michael O’Leary as their deputy executive officer; he studied the US’ Southwest Airlines and their no-frills, low-cost airfare business model. O’Leary determined that for Ryanair to survive, it must adopt the same model, along with a more aggressive marketing campaign. Like Southwest, Ryanair would also standardize on one type of aircraft to lower costs—and once more similarly to Southwest, the airline chose the Boeing 737.
Ryanair’s new business model came along at a perfect time. Most of Europe’s other smaller airlines were reeling from the aftereffects of the First Gulf War European travel slump, and deregulation by the European Union meant that new startups like Ryanair had a better chance at competition with state-sponsored flag carriers. It slowly expanded during the 1990s, and by 2000 Ryanair’s growth shot sharply upward. Its low-cost airfares and online booking were popular with travelers, and its marketing campaign brought some laughs from passengers, if not its competitors. O’Leary was ruthless with the latter, applying decals to Ryanair aircraft reading “Bye, bye Latehansa” as a shot at Lufthansa’s reputation for late flights, and putting up billboards referring to British Airways as “Expensive bastards!” He was also more than willing to engage in publicity stunts, such as announcing Ryanair was going to charge passengers to use the toilet—in actuality, Ryanair had no such intentions, but the publicity allowed the airline to announce how low its fares were.
The low airfares came at the price of creature comforts—no reclining seats or seat trays—but passengers did not seem to mind. By 2008, Ryanair had become one of Europe’s largest airlines, one of its fastest-growing, and most popular, competing with Easyjet for the majority of Europe’s low-cost services. It was so successful that Ryanair launched two bids to take over Aer Lingus; neither were successful, but for an “upstart” airline to attempt to buy out one of Europe’s oldest airlines and Ireland’s flag carrier proved just how well Ryanair had done. The no-frills approach brought Ryanair some criticism: much like Easyjet, the airline has been cited for poor treatment of customers, enough that O’Leary announced the revamping of some of its business model. Whatever the case, Ryanair experienced explosive growth since 2000, and shows no signs of slowing down, announcing expansion airlines in Israel and a transatlantic service to compete with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
The early 737-200 variant was Ryanair’s only operating type for most of the 1990s (today, it uses later models of the 737 exclusively), and like many airlines, allowed for corporate sponsorship of its liveries—in this case, the Jaguar car company.
Ryanair Boeing 737
Ryanair was founded in 1985 by a group of Irish businessmen led by Tony Ryan, the head of aircraft leasing company Guinness Peat Aviation. Operating with a single EMBRAER EMB-120 Bandeirante turboprop, Ryanair hoped to break into the profitable London-Dublin route, which at the time was monopolized by Aer Lingus and British Airways. Despite expanding services to continental Europe and doing decently on the London-Dublin route, Ryanair was losing money.
In 1991, the airline hired Michael O’Leary as their deputy executive officer; he studied the US’ Southwest Airlines and their no-frills, low-cost airfare business model. O’Leary determined that for Ryanair to survive, it must adopt the same model, along with a more aggressive marketing campaign. Like Southwest, Ryanair would also standardize on one type of aircraft to lower costs—and once more similarly to Southwest, the airline chose the Boeing 737.
Ryanair’s new business model came along at a perfect time. Most of Europe’s other smaller airlines were reeling from the aftereffects of the First Gulf War European travel slump, and deregulation by the European Union meant that new startups like Ryanair had a better chance at competition with state-sponsored flag carriers. It slowly expanded during the 1990s, and by 2000 Ryanair’s growth shot sharply upward. Its low-cost airfares and online booking were popular with travelers, and its marketing campaign brought some laughs from passengers, if not its competitors. O’Leary was ruthless with the latter, applying decals to Ryanair aircraft reading “Bye, bye Latehansa” as a shot at Lufthansa’s reputation for late flights, and putting up billboards referring to British Airways as “Expensive bastards!” He was also more than willing to engage in publicity stunts, such as announcing Ryanair was going to charge passengers to use the toilet—in actuality, Ryanair had no such intentions, but the publicity allowed the airline to announce how low its fares were.
The low airfares came at the price of creature comforts—no reclining seats or seat trays—but passengers did not seem to mind. By 2008, Ryanair had become one of Europe’s largest airlines, one of its fastest-growing, and most popular, competing with Easyjet for the majority of Europe’s low-cost services. It was so successful that Ryanair launched two bids to take over Aer Lingus; neither were successful, but for an “upstart” airline to attempt to buy out one of Europe’s oldest airlines and Ireland’s flag carrier proved just how well Ryanair had done. The no-frills approach brought Ryanair some criticism: much like Easyjet, the airline has been cited for poor treatment of customers, enough that O’Leary announced the revamping of some of its business model. Whatever the case, Ryanair experienced explosive growth since 2000, and shows no signs of slowing down, announcing expansion airlines in Israel and a transatlantic service to compete with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
The early 737-200 variant was Ryanair’s only operating type for most of the 1990s (today, it uses later models of the 737 exclusively), and like many airlines, allowed for corporate sponsorship of its liveries—in this case, the Jaguar car company.