Ryanair

History

1984–1989

The company was incorporated on 28 November 1984 as Danren Enterprises. It was founded by Christopher Ryan (1936–2007), Tony Ryan (1936–2007) (founder of Guinness Peat Aviation), his son Declan Ryan, and Liam Lonergan (owner of Irish travel agent Club Travel).

The airline was renamed Ryanair and launched its first flight on 8 July 1985, between Waterford and Gatwick Airport, with a 15-seat Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante turboprop aircraft. Cabin crew were required to be at most 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) tall "in order to be able to operate in the tiny cabin of the aircraft". As of September 1985, Ryanair was operating 9 weekly flights on the route. In its first year, the airline carried 5,000 passengers.

The first chief executive was Eugene O'Neill (1956–2018), who had formerly worked as managing director of Tony Ryan's Sunday Tribune newspaper and as Ryan's personal assistant. O'Neill was talented at marketing but did not focus on costs, and the airline lost money in its early years. Ryan vetoed O'Neill's proposal to accuse Aer Lingus for breach of competition rules at the European Commission because at the time Aer Lingus was state-owned and Ryanair depended on the Irish government for its route licences. Ryan fired O'Neill in September 1987, who sued for wrongful dismissal.

Beginning in 1986, under partial European Economic Community (EEC) deregulation, airlines could begin new international intra-EEC services as long as one of the two governments approved. The Irish government at the time refused to allow Ryanair to add a route between Dublin and Luton to protect Aer Lingus, but Britain, under Margaret Thatcher's deregulating Conservative government, approved the service. The company was then able to add its second route, with two Hawker Siddeley HS 748s, directly competing with the Aer Lingus/British Airways duopoly for the first time. Ryanair's price of £99 return was half of that of the legacy carriers; Aer Lingus then cut its price to £95 return and Ryanair cut its price to £94.99 return. In their first year of operation, Ryanair's two routes had 82,000 passengers.

In 1986, Ryanair acquired an 85% stake in London European Airways (LEA) in a £630,000 rescue package. It was re-launched in April 1987 using a leased BAC One-Eleven. In May 1987, the service launched routes between Luton and Amsterdam and Brussels. In January 1988, it was rebranded as Ryanair Europe. LEA was dissolved in May 1991.

1990–2009

By 1990, the company had accumulated £20 million in losses. That year, O'Leary was dispatched to Dallas to meet with Herb Kelleher, a co-founder of Southwest Airlines and an acquaintance of Tony Ryan. He came back with a plan to transform Ryanair to a low-cost carrier modelled after Southwest. O'Leary's strategy was to adopt a simple all Boeing 737 fleet, pursuing expansion over yield, create a culture of cost-cutting, and re-educate the customer to prefer lower prices to frills. Ryanair implemented a 30-minute turnaround goal to allow aircraft to make more flights per day. The company then restructured with an additional £20 million investment by Tony Ryan. Also that year, the company moved its base at Luton Airport to London Stansted Airport. The company switched to a buy on board programme, the route network was reduced from 19 destinations to 6, and the cheapest ticket prices were reduced from £99 to £59 return. By the end of 1990, the airline was on pace for 745,000 passengers per year.

In 1991, due to a decline in demand during the Gulf War, the airline lowered fares and increased operations at London Stansted Airport, generating a total profit of £293,000 for the year. In 1992, the airline carried 945,000 passengers.

In January 1994, Ryanair took delivery of its first Boeing 737. That month, Michael O'Leary became the sixth chief executive officer of the company. At that time, Ryanair was owned by the three sons of Tony Ryan.

In 1995, Ryanair carried over 2 million passengers.

Ryan clashed with O'Leary, with Ryan wanting the airline's public relations stunts to be less aggressive, and O'Leary suggesting that Ryan should leave the board.

Ryanair Holdings was established in 1996 as a holding company for Ryanair.

The EU Single Aviation Market established in 1992 as well as the airline deregulation in April 1997 and the removal of cabotage gave low-cost carriers, including Ryanair, the opportunity to expand.

The airline became a public company via an initial public offering in May 1997, raising funds on the Dublin and the NASDAQ stock exchanges to expand the company across Europe. All employees received free shares in the IPO; many pilots' shares were worth over £100,000 by 2000. In 1997, Ryanair carried 3.7 million passengers.

2010s

In May 2010, Ryanair was fined €3 million by Italy's civil aviation authority for refusing to pay for lodging and food for passengers stranded due to air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption. The refusal resulted in a lawsuit; Ryanair lost the case in January 2013.

In May 2010, a Spanish customer brought a claim against Ryanair for unfair surcharges, claiming that the €40 surcharge on passengers who failed to print out a boarding card before arrival at the airport was unfair. In January 2011, judge ruled that Ryanair can neither demand passengers turn up at the airport with their boarding pass, nor charge them if they do not, and that the fines were abusive because aviation law obliges airlines to issue boarding passes. Ryanair appealed the decision and the Appeals Court in Spain overturned the ruling in November 2011, holding that the surcharge complies with international law.

In 2010, Ryanair carried 66.5 million passengers.

In 2011, Ryanair legally challenged regulations to ban credit card surcharges. Ryanair used a legal loophole to continue to charge credit card surcharges by allowing for payment with a very low frequency payment mechanism without a surcharge.

In February 2011, Ryanair opened a maintenance hangar at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, its biggest fleet maintenance base.

In March 2011, a former Ryanair captain was awarded £40,000 by an employment tribunal in London after being fired for handing out a union form to a cabin crew member while on duty.

In June 2011, Ryanair and COMAC signed an agreement to cooperate on the development of the C-919, to compete with the Boeing 737.

In April 2011, Ryanair began adding a surcharge of €2 to its flights to cover the costs arising from compliance with EC Regulation 261/2004, which requires it to pay for meals and accommodation for passengers on delayed and cancelled flights.

2017–2018: Abandonment of the single-airline strategy, union recognition

Ryanair had only operated with its Irish Air Operator's Certificate and solely under the Ryanair brand. However, in April 2017, Ryanair announced that it would launch an independent Polish subsidiary in 2018, operating charter flights from Poland to Mediterranean destinations. The subsidiary was branded Ryanair Sun and received its Polish Air Operator's Certificate in April 2018. Initially, it had only one former Ryanair Boeing 737-800 and complemented its operation with wet-leased aircraft from its mother company. In late 2018, all Polish-based Ryanair aircraft were transferred to Ryanair Sun. Ryanair Sun mainly operated scheduled flights on behalf of its parent company using Ryanair's FR flight numbers. Ryanair Sun was rebranded Buzz in 2019.

In December 2017, to prevent strike actions before Christmas, Ryanair agreed to recognise pilots' unions for the first time.

Ryanair UK was established in December 2017 "to protect itself from a hard Brexit". Its first aircraft, re-registered as G-RUKA, was transferred from Ryanair DAC in 2018, with a second aircraft following in 2019.

In 2017, the government of Portugal requested the intervention of the Tax and Customs Authority to force the company to issue invoices to passengers for the VAT-exempt services to allow them to claim tax refunds after passengers complained of difficulties in getting such invoices.

In March 2018, Ryanair acquired 25% of Austrian-based Laudamotion, founded by Niki Lauda, and later renamed "Lauda". Laudamotion was the successor of Niki, which had folded as a consequence of the Air Berlin demise. Ryanair later increased its stake in Laudamotion to 75% and then 100% in December 2018.

In August 2018, to reduce plane turnaround time, Ryanair announced a baggage policy under which passengers must purchase "Priority Boarding" to carry on both a large and a small bag, capped by the capacity on the aircraft; previously there was no charge to carry on bags. The move came about after flights were delayed due to too much luggage at the boarding gate. The move was mirrored by Wizz Air.

2020: COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ryanair laid off pilots and cabin crew and reduced its flight schedule.

In September 2020, the airline threatened to end operations in Ireland unless the government lifted COVID-19 lockdowns including quarantine requirements.

In April and May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, customers claimed that they allegedly refused refunds for the flight cancellations, leading to a surge in complaints to the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR).

In April 2020, the Italian Civil Aviation Authority threatened a ban of Ryanair due to alleged violation of COVID-19 regulations including the requirement for social distancing by leaving middle seats empty.

In December 2020, Ryanair increased its order for Boeing 737 MAX 200 aircraft by 75, to a total of 210 aircraft, for delivery from early 2021 to December 2024.

Ryanair sued governments that provided aid to state-owned airlines during the pandemic; it lost these lawsuits.

2021–present

After delays due to the Boeing 737 MAX groundings, the first Boeing 737 MAX 200 was delivered to Ryanair in June 2021. In July 2021, Ryanair handed back all of its leased Boeing 737 aircraft and announced plans to hand back its leased Airbus aircraft.

In June 2022, after backlash, Ryanair cancelled a policy to make South Africans take a general knowledge test in the Afrikaans language before allowing them to board UK-bound flights as a means to verify that their passports were genuine. South Africa has 11 official languages of which Afrikaans is the 3rd most spoken with a prevalence of 12%. A majority of the population cannot understand Afrikaans and some refuse to speak it on principle, regarding it as the language of oppression during the apartheid era.

In January 2023, the first Ryanair 737-800 to be retrofitted with split scimitar winglets entered service. The winglets reduce fuel burn by 1.5% and are to be fitted to all existing −800 aircraft in the Ryanair fleet.

In July 2022, Ryanair extended its Airbus A320 leases (for Lauda Europe) to 2028.

In May 2023, Ryanair ordered 300 Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft, with a total list price of €36.3 billion before discounts. The deal included 150 firm orders and options for 150 more with deliveries between 2027 and 2033, with plans to replace its 737-800 aircraft. The order followed an 18-month public argument with Boeing over pricing, and Ryanair ultimately achieved a lower discount off list price than previous orders.

Ryanair initiated a regular dividend in November 2023.

In June 2024, pursuant to a call option, Ryanair purchased the golden share in Malta Air owned by the Government of Malta for €25,000.

In June 2025, Ryanair signed a $500 million engine deal with CFM International and in February 2026, Ryanair signed a multibillion-dollar services agreement with CFM to bring engine maintenance in-house to maintain its 2,000 CFM International engines.

Business trends and financials

The key trends for the Ryanair Group are (as of the financial year ending 31 March):

As of March 2024, the group employed 16,900 cabin crew, 7,000 pilots, 1,500 IT and administrative staff, 790 ground operations personnel, 650 maintenance workers, and 120 managers.

Publicity strategy

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has deliberately courted controversy using misleading advertising and outlandish comments to generate free publicity for the airline.

In 2000, a Ryanair launched a provocative ad campaign headlined "Expensive BAstards!", which compared Ryanair prices with those of British Airways. British Airways disagreed with the price comparisons and brought legal action against Ryanair. The High Court sided with Ryanair, ordering BA to make a payment towards Ryanair's court costs. The judge ruled "The complaint amounts to this: that Ryanair exaggerated in suggesting BA is five times more expensive because BA is only three times more expensive."

In the spring of 2001, a Ryanair advertisement used a picture of Manneken Pis, a famous Belgian statue of a urinating child, with the words: "Pissed off with Sabena's high fares? Low fares have arrived in Belgium." Sabena sued and the court ruled that the advertisements were misleading and offensive. Ryanair was ordered to discontinue the advertisements immediately or face fines. Ryanair was also obliged to publish an apology and publish the court decision on its website. Ryanair used the published apologies for further advertising, primarily for further price comparisons.

In February 2004, a Ryanair advert depicted fireworks with the headline "Fawking great offers", leading to condemnation by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for using offensive language in an advert.

In August 2007, to promote its new flight routes to/from Belfast, an advertisement by Ryanair showed Sinn Féin politicians Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams next to a speech bubble which said "Ryanair fares are so low even the British Army flew home". Michael Copeland stated that the advertisement was "insensitive, crass and made a clear political statement". Ulster Unionists reacted angrily to the advertisement, while the Advertising Standards Authority said it did not believe the ad would cause widespread offence.

In August 2007, Ryanair was ordered by the ASA to stop claiming that its flights from London to Brussels were faster than Eurostar, because the claim was misleading, due to the required travel times to the airports Ryanair served. Ryanair stood by its claims, noting that the flight time is shorter than the train trip and that travel time is also required to reach Eurostar stations.

Environmental record

In 2018, Ryanair became the first airline and the only company excluding fossil fuel power stations to be among the 10 companies with the most greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. That year, Ryanair had an emission equivalent of 9.9 megatonnes of CO2. Emissions had risen by 49% over five years. Environmentalists said that aviation was undertaxed.

In 2025, Ryanair was ranked the second most-efficient airline worldwide by Passenger CO2 per available seat kilometre.

Destinations

Ryanair operates 3,500 short-haul flights per day serving approximately 230 airports in over 36 countries in Europe as well as Morocco, Jordan, and Turkey. Ryanair has a significant presence in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It operates to more destinations in Italy than anywhere else, with fourteen bases and nine non-base airports. Ryanair also serves vacation destinations such as Sicily, the Canary Islands, Cyprus, the Greek Islands, and Malta.

Ryanair's largest base is at London-Stansted, followed by its home base at Dublin Airport.

To save money on landing fees and turnaround time, Ryanair uses many smaller or secondary airports. Examples include Paris Beauvais, Hahn Airport, and Rome Ciampino.

Major airports served by Ryanair include Amsterdam-Schiphol, Athens, Barcelona-El Prat, Berlin-Brandenburg, Brussels Airport, Bucharest-Otopeni, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Lisbon, London-Stansted, Madrid, Manchester, Marseille, Oslo-Gardermoen, Rome-Fiumicino, and Stockholm-Arlanda.

When Ryanair negotiates with airport operators, it demands very low landing and handling fees, as well as financial assistance with marketing and promotional campaigns. Ryanair also initiates flights between airports that have cheap operating costs, not necessarily based on market research, and will try to generate demand that did not previously exist.

The airline flies in a point-to-point transit model rather than a spoke-hub distribution paradigm model, where the passengers have to change aircraft in transit at a major airport. In April 2017, Ryanair began selling connecting flights, starting with a new transfer hub in Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO).

The expansion and retention of Ryanair's route network are heavily dependent on local taxation and airport fees, with the airline frequently adjusting or cutting capacity to leverage negotiations. Ryanair has historically withdrawn or downscaled operations from airports that implemented passenger or environmental taxes, such as cuts made at Dublin and Shannon (2010), Rygge (2016), Glasgow (2018), Billund and Aalborg (2025), and Charleroi (2026). This pattern continued in April 2026, when the airline reduced flights across Spain and Portugal, targeting smaller airports due to travel taxes, environmental levies linked to the European Union Emissions Trading System, and increased charges set by airport operators like ANA Aeroportos de Portugal. Conversely, the airline rapidly expands capacity in markets that reduce aviation taxes, exemplified by major expansions in Sweden and Germany following the abolition or reduction of aviation levies.

Fleet

Current fleet

As of April 2026, the fleet of Ryanair Holdings group is composed almost entirely of Boeing 737 models, making it one of the largest Boeing operators globally. The group relies primarily on Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft alongside the high-capacity Boeing 737 MAX 8-200, which was custom-designed by Boeing specifically for Ryanair to maximise seating capacity and lower per-passenger operating costs. A minor component of the fleet consists of leased Airbus A320s operated by subsidiary Lauda Europe, alongside a small number of corporate aircraft utilised for executive transportation and logistical support.

Historic fleet

Ryanair has operated the following types of aircraft in the past:

Services

To maintain some of the fastest turnaround times in the aviation industry and maximise profit margins, Ryanair utilises a highly customised and utilitarian cabin configuration. The interiors of its Boeing 737 aircraft are stripped of standard convenience features to reduce cleaning times and aircraft weight. The seats are non-reclining, lack seat-back pockets, and feature safety instruction cards affixed directly to the back of the seats rather than distributed as printed booklets. Additionally, life jackets are stowed in overhead compartments rather than under individual passenger seats, allowing cabin crew to perform security inspections rapidly between flights.

On the ground, the airline severely limits the use of expensive airport jet bridges, opting instead for passengers to board via tarmac walkways. To facilitate this process independently of airport ground equipment, Ryanair's Boeing aircraft are equipped with built-in airstairs beneath the forward cabin door. Combined with traditional mobile boarding stairs at the rear door, this configuration allows for dual-door boarding and deplaning simultaneously, significantly lowering airport operational fees and ensuring tight scheduling integrity.

Accidents and incidents

On 10 November 2008, bird strikes damaged both engines on the approach of Ryanair Flight 4102 from Frankfurt–Hahn Airport, forcing an emergency landing at Rome–Ciampino Airport. Two crew members and eight passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries. The port undercarriage of the Boeing 737 Next Generation collapsed, leaving the aircraft stranded on the runway and closing the airport for over 35 hours. The rear fuselage, engines, and undercarriage were damaged rendering the aircraft unusable; it was scrapped. The National Agency for the Safety of Flight released an investigation report on the incident in 2018.

On 23 May 2021, Ryanair Flight 4978, a Boeing 737 operated by Buzz from Athens to Vilnius, was forced to land at Minsk National Airport by the Belarusian government while it was in Belarusian airspace, using the pretense of a false bomb threat. Belarusian opposition activist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, who were wanted by the Belarusian government, were onboard; they were arrested upon landing. The landing was personally ordered by president Alexander Lukashenko and was enforced by a Belarusian Air Force MiG-29 fighter aircraft. Airlines subsequently began avoiding Belarusian airspace.

On 10 July 2026, Ryanair Flight 1879, a Boeing 737 operated by Malta Air flying from Thessaloniki to Memmingen, suffered an uncontained engine failure in which debris destroyed a cabin window, causing a rapid decompression and a 61-year-old passenger to be partially ejected from the cabin. The passenger was restrained by his wife, and the aircraft made an emergency return to Thessaloniki Airport, where he was admitted to hospital. The NTSB's preliminary report, released 13 August, found that a fan blade from the aircraft's engine had separated, sending engine parts through the window, and that bird remains were found in the engine.