Ryanair confirms GDS plans
Ryanair has confirmed plans to put its fares on the global distribution systems by the summer.
In a major u-turn, the airline is now in "active negotiations" with a number of GDS suppliers.
It said if these negotiations go to plan, Ryanair fares will appear in "one or more GDS channels by mid-year".
As part of a change in distribution policy, the airline has also recently partnered with Google to be included in its European Flight Search tool.
Ryanair confirmed its new distribution strategy today as part of its third quarter profit announcement.
It reported a loss of €35 million, in line with previous guidance.
Traffic grew 6% to 18 million passengers, revenue per passenger fell 6% as “strong” ancillary revenue growth offset a 9% fall in fares.
Ryanair’s full-year profit guidance remains unchanged at around €510 million.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said the loss was "entirely due to a 9% fall in average fares and weaker sterling".
"We responded to this weaker pricing environment last September with seat promotions and lower fares which stimulated traffic across all markets resulting in 6% growth in quarter three, and a 1% rise in monthly load factors.
"Ancillary revenues grew by 13%, significantly faster than traffic growth due to strong customer uptake of reserved seating, priority boarding, and higher credit card fees.
"Excluding fuel, quarter three sector length adjusted unit costs fell 9% as Ryanair continues to deliver industry leading cost control."
The airline has made a number of customer service changes in recent weeks and months.
Last weekend it returned to allocated seats on all flights.
"The uptake of reserved and allocated seats has grown significantly in the last weeks of January, and it now appears that sales of reserved/allocated seats will exceed the revenue loss from cutting airport and bag fees," it said today.
The airline said it was also on target to roll out mobile boarding passes in April, a new business travel product by the end of May, and an "industry leading mobile app", tailored for smart phones and tablets, by the end of June 2014.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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