Ryanair must be taken seriously, say business editors
Analysts say paying passengers to fly is not out of the question
Business editors in several of today’s newspapers pay homage to the “genius” of Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary – despite his assertion that the carrier will “destroy the airlines business as we know it”.
The boss of the no-frills carrier yesterday announced that it is going to cut its fares further – and O’Leary even joked that it is “only a matter of time before he starts to pay passengers to fly his routes”. Expanding on this, O’Leary said that in 10 to 15 years’ time, three quarters of passengers will be flying for free, and that some passengers would be paid to fly, in return for the income they generate for airport operators.
Jeremy Warner, in The Independent, writes: “Nobody should altogether discount the possibility that Mr O’Leary might occasionally try it on as a marketing ploy … underneath the bombast Mr O’Leary is no mad hatter and he should be taken seriously.”
Warner concludes: “His aim of overtaking BA, Air France, Lufthansa as Europe’s biggest carriers in terms of passenger numbers looks easily achievable. As the established airlines sink beneath mountainous losses, it’s out with the old and in with the new.”
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