Ryanair

Ryanair is an Irish airline known for its ultra-low-cost model, based in Swords, County Dublin. It holds the top spot in Europe for scheduled passengers, fleet size, and total flights. Worldwide, it leads in international passengers carried, ranks third in market capitalization behind Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, and is the fifth most profitable by net income. In 2025, it sold 208 million tickets, with average revenue of €70 per ticket against costs of €62. It is widely regarded as Europe’s cheapest airline.

Founded in 1984 by Christopher Ryan and Tony Ryan, the airline takes its name from them. Its parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair DAC, Buzz, Malta Air, Lauda Europe, and Ryanair UK. The group operates 651 aircraft and runs over 3,500 short-haul flights daily, serving about 230 airports across 36 countries. Its main bases are at Dublin, London Stansted, and Milan Bergamo. To keep costs low, the airline dynamically adjusts its network, often cutting routes or reducing capacity when regional airport fees, taxes, or environmental levies rise.

Ryanair’s business model is no-frills and ultra-low-cost, with nearly a third of its income coming from ancillary revenue—charging extra for seat selection, baggage, and airport check-in. It ranks 790th on the Forbes Global 2000 and 280th on the Fortune 500 Europe. Longtime CEO Michael O’Leary, who owns about 4% of the company, often stirs media controversy to generate free publicity. The airline consistently scores poorly in customer satisfaction surveys, such as those by Which?, but dismisses these results as statistically unrepresentative, pointing to its long-term growth in bookings.

**History**

**1984–1989** The company was incorporated on 28 November 1984 as Danren Enterprises. Founders included Christopher Ryan, Tony Ryan (founder of Guinness Peat Aviation), his son Declan Ryan, and Liam Lonergan (owner of Irish travel agent Club Travel). Renamed Ryanair, it launched its first flight on 8 July 1985 between Waterford and Gatwick Airport using a 15-seat Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante turboprop. Cabin crew had to be at most 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) tall to fit the tiny cabin. By September 1985, it operated nine weekly flights on that route, carrying 5,000 passengers in its first year.

First chief executive Eugene O’Neill, formerly managing director of Tony Ryan’s Sunday Tribune and Ryan’s personal assistant, was skilled at marketing but neglected costs, leading to early losses. Ryan vetoed O’Neill’s plan to accuse Aer Lingus of breaching competition rules at the European Commission, as Aer Lingus was state-owned and Ryanair depended on the Irish government for route licences. Ryan fired O’Neill in September 1987, who then sued for wrongful dismissal.

From 1986, partial EEC deregulation allowed new international intra-EEC services if one of two governments approved. The Irish government blocked a Dublin–Luton route to protect Aer Lingus, but Britain’s deregulating Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher approved it. Ryanair added its second route using two Hawker Siddeley HS 748s, directly competing with the Aer Lingus/British Airways duopoly. Its £99 return fare was half the legacy carriers’ price; Aer Lingus cut to £95, and Ryanair responded with £94.99. In their first year, the two routes carried 82,000 passengers.

In 1986, Ryanair bought an 85% stake in London European Airways (LEA) for £630,000. LEA was relaunched in April 1987 with a leased BAC One-Eleven, adding routes from Luton to Amsterdam and Brussels in May 1987. It was rebranded Ryanair Europe in January 1988 and dissolved in May 1991.

In 1987, the company lost £3 million. It began wet-leasing BAC One-Elevens from TAROM and expanded to 15 scheduled routes. In 1988, Michael O’Leary—a KPMG accountant who had handled tax for Tony Ryan and his companies, and a classmate of Declan Ryan—joined as financial assistant to Tony Ryan, later becoming CFO. That year, Ryanair leased ATR 42-300s from Guinness Peat Aviation and launched a business class and frequent-flyer program, both ended in 1989. In 1989, a Short Sandringham flying boat was painted in Ryanair livery for a proposed sponsorship with Foynes Flying Boat Museum but never flew revenue flights.

**1990–2009** By 1990, the company had accumulated £20 million in losses. O’Leary was sent to Dallas to meet Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines and an acquaintance of Tony Ryan. He returned with a plan to transform Ryanair into a low-cost carrier modeled on Southwest: a simple all-Boeing 737 fleet, growth over yield, a cost-cutting culture, and re-educating customers to prefer low prices over frills. Ryanair adopted a 30-minute turnaround goal to increase daily flights per aircraft. The company restructured with an additional £20 million investment from Tony Ryan.