Hi

Well, I’m not sure about the profitability comparison; certainly before the Go acquisition, Ryanair had higher profits & lower costs – I don’t know what the current situation is with regards to profits, but Ryanair still have the lowest costs in the industry.

I think the reason Ryanair avoid large airports is simple: congestion & costs. Not only are remote airports less congested (facilitating quick turnarounds), but they are often cheaper and willing to help pay the airline with ancillary costs (marketing the route for example).

Larger airports, who aren’t as desperate to lure low-cost traffic, probably wouldn’t offer the same incentives.

So Ryanair theoretically could make a point of only using major airports, but their costs would increase, their fares would increase and their profitability would decrease. Besides, that’s easyJet’s model. 😉

I think they’re good at what they do…the RYR model of using secondary airports also makes money, so I don’t think they are going to change. Besides, if RYR started flying similar routes to easyJet, a huge and prolonged fare war would start, something I think both airlines would rather avoid…

rgds

Actually, if you want an academic look at the ops of LCCs, a good book (though rather expensive) is Thomas Lawton’s “Cleared for take-off” available from Amazon (link below).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0754612694/qid=1065215351/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_0_1/026-2067150-2853221

In case you’re wondering, I got my local library to purchase it. 😎

Not that impressive really – not ugly, but hardly stunning!

Who cares, as long as they offer cheap fares!

Hi

Great to read of your report – I flew the same route on the same airline about 2 years ago…although I didn’t think the crew on either flight were as good as on yours, they still got us there safely, and that’s what counts!

cheers

p.s. we had a great approach into LIS, in over the bay/river, then over this sort of aqueduct – really very scenic!

Hi Monarch

Ex-FR about to move on to EK as CC, but hopefully an office-based role after that.

T5 is free to air his opinions, bien sur.

But then, so am I. Even I pose questions re Ryanair, but mostly in jest.

Maybe I was too harsh this time (hot off another forum where similar rubbish was written), but my opinion at the time was that T5’s tone in this, and other FR-related threads was derogatory, and I reserve the right to question why this is necessary. Apart from that, the thread was beginning to turn into another silly argument about FR’s use of 2ary airfields, a subject which has been done to death, and everyone already knows about.

I guess I got a little hot under the collar, but not for no reason. As I said, if pple want to air grievances about FR, that’s A-OK with me (no doubt some are justified), but not in the middle of another thread which deals with GOOD news.

ciao

Hey come on guys, everyone already knows the deal with Ryanair and the airports they use…no need to start another thread about that!

I hope the communities at either end of each route derive benefit from the new services – not just of Ryanair, but other LCCs.

I think it’s great to see regional airports being served in this way. If BA ain’t interested, so much the better if LCCs come in instead.

rgds

At least it wasn’t a Ryanair B737-200 series

Are you kidding me? I LOVE that rustbucket!

Good luck with the flights, they seem to be totally random with respect to allocating a/c on their routes.

Indeed, that seems awful. I’m so sorry you missed your air show.

I’m amazed that people keep flying them, despite their total lack of customer service. Well, not really – I suppose it is difficult to ignore such cheap fares, but still…