Irish low cost carrier Ryanair is notorious for their loud, over-the-top, and straightforward CEO, Michael O’Leary.
Years ago he boasted about how Ryanair was eventually going to launch transatlantic service, and how they’d even have business class on those planes. The best part? They’d offer “beds and blowjobs” for free.
That transatlantic service was closer to becoming a reality as of earlier in the week, when Ryanair announced that their board approved a plan to begin transatlantic service to up to 14 cities by the end of the decade. All they needed to do was acquire longhaul aircraft. Prices would apparently start at £10 each way, which doesn’t seem that out of line for Ryanair.
Only we’re finding out today that apparently the board didn’t actually approve transatlantic flights, and it’s all a blunder. Via the Irish Independent:
In a major blunder, the country’s second-biggest company had to issue a humiliating statement to the stock exchange saying its board had not approved a move on flights to the US.
The airline had announced two days earlier its board had approved flights between Europe and the United States, and planned to start services to up to 14 US cities by the end of the decade.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the airline had “f***ed up”, describing the original statement as “a miscommunication”. But the error is hugely damaging to the credibility of the company and raises enormous question marks around its management.
This is quite interesting, and you have to wonder where the miscommunication came from that caused this blunder, or whether this is somehow a strategic play on Ryanair’s part. Could it be that they want to keep their plans secret for as long as possible to not give competitors a heads up?
Regardless, I don’t think this fundamentally alters Ryanair’s desire to fly transatlantic. It’s clear that they still intend to. It just seems like they might not have been as far along in the process of executing this as they claimed.
What do you make of this? Do you think Ryanair just jumped the gun, is being sneaky, or do you think they changed their mind on transatlantic service?
Making and retracting the announcement -- only to make it again later is double or triple the PR impact. No press is bad press to them...
Regardless of whether the announcement was premature or not, they will likely move in that direction eventually. It won't happen quickly though because they haven't even placed orders for the (probably) 787 aircraft they'll be using, and the backlog on those is quite long.
I would be surprised if this whole "miscommunication" hasn't been meticulously planned by O'Leary et al.
per Skift the story isn't over yet http://skift.com/2015/03/20/ryanair-now-says-it-wont-begin-low-cost-transatlantic-service/?utm_campaign=Daily+Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=16642584&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-81Aty3if0A8BsOszsOcHO9HPmlVPyrHdWzVev0hOQ6xGGaBdK3fEAYuzgaUNNe8G1Tl368k5tt4025QrFXTPPYJuY_BA&_hsmi=16642584-
As much as I'd love to see more foreign carriers service the US market, RyanAir isn't my first choice.
The US carriers are already at a race to the bottom and RyanAir can out-bottom all of them. 2% charge for using a credit card even when using their website, £70 for checking in at the airport counter, etc. Don't forget they were considering charging a bathroom fee and having standing-room-only type seats.
Maybe...
As much as I'd love to see more foreign carriers service the US market, RyanAir isn't my first choice.
The US carriers are already at a race to the bottom and RyanAir can out-bottom all of them. 2% charge for using a credit card even when using their website, £70 for checking in at the airport counter, etc. Don't forget they were considering charging a bathroom fee and having standing-room-only type seats.
Maybe some people like this sort of thing, but I'd rather pay a little more AND get more than be nickel & dime'd the whole time. Sad to see what B6 is becoming.
So that's what B and B stands for.