Ryanair extends massive give-away
Ireland: Carrier fails to offload 500,000 free seats despite ad campaign
Ryanair has extended its spring seat sale after claims that it failed to sell half of the cheap tickets on offer.
The no-frills carrier wanted to give away one million free seats over the Easter weekend but just over 500,000 were taken up. Ryanair blamed the warm weather over the bank holiday weekend, as well as the fact that many people only have internet access at work – the free seats needed to be booked online.
The carrier later said that it is aiming to reposition itself within the market – and that meant attacking its rival EasyJet rather than full-service carriers such as British Airways. Accordingly, it has published a series of adverts featuring a photo of so-called ‘Comical Ali’, the Iraqi information minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who makes the following statements: “We are winning the war! We’re beating the Americans! EasyJet have the lowest fares!”
Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary added: “Attacking BA is like kicking a dead sheep – there is not much point any more. We have to have someone to attack – it is always helpful to have an enemy out there.”
EasyJet’s spokesman Toby Nicol retaliated, telling the Daily Telegraph: “It sounds like Mr O’Leary is running scared – it has come to a pretty pass if you cannot give away your product.”
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