Nov 09
3
Soaring Ryanair set to take over as UK’s top airline
Ryanair is flying high and may soon jet past British Airways as Britain’s No1, claims chief executive Michael O’Leary.
During in September Ryanair took to the air with 1.4 million passengers, while British Airways flew with 1.6 million.
Ryanair carried 36.4 million passengers in the six months to September 30 – a 15% increase on the previous six months. The airline is already the biggest carrier in Europe.
Michael O’Leary said: “It is hard to know when we will overtake BA because it is hard to keep up with how fast BA’s passenger numbers are declining.”
“We will overtake them at some point — and I am not talking about months when they have a strike.”
Ryanair tries to land 200 more aircraft
The airlines future growth seems to depend on a deal with aircraft maker Boeing.
Ryanair is trying to strike an agreement with Boeing for up to 200 new aircraft, with 100 on order for delivery by 2012.
If Ryanair cannot take the extra 100 aircraft, the company’s strategy will adapt to grow profits and return cash to shareholders.
“There is a relatively small gap between us in terms of pricing,” Mr O’Leary said. “The problem is that we cannot get a decision out of Boeing. If we cannot get the deal, we will reach 2012 and change strategy to maximise profits and cash and distribute it to shareholders.”
Many industry experts see this announcement as an attempt by O’Leary to leverage a £3.6 billion deal for the additional aircraft from Boeing as the company has chased growth in passenger numbers rather than profits to return to shareholders in dividends over the past 15 years.
"O’Leary should go easy", says Sir Stelios
The UK’s other big budget airline – easyJet commented that Ryanair’s expectation of continued large-scale growth is unsustainable, especially with the recent airport tax increase across the country and the continuing recession.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s founder, has already taken the profit rather than chasing growth strategy, agreeing with the airline’s management to contain growth to no more than 7.5% a year.
“I have been telling everyone that would listen for the past year that this do-or-die mission O’Leary is on to buy more and more aircraft will end up in tears for his shareholders,” he said.
