Fly Ryanair and gamble

Ryanair’s latest potential cash generating scheme is
to provide in-flight gambling. No fills Ryanair
already charge for the ‘frills’ such as food,
luggage and movies, and, more famously ice if they could
get away with it, are now considering providing gambling
on board its planes. News reports say that gambling
operators have expressed interest, although there are no
formal talks underway.

Ryanair’s Chief Exec warns of reduction in low
cost operators

Ryanair and easyJet are widely credited to have helped
transform Europe’s low cost airline industry.
Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O'Leary
recently warned the World Low Cost Airlines Congress that
“there will a bloodbath in Europe this winter”
in the budget air sector. “The bloodbath will reach
all the companies,” said O'Leary, who has
previously predicted that only one or two large low-fares
airlines will be left flying the skies of Europe in the
medium term. Competition in the low cost, no frills
airline industry is intensifying. In 2000 there were
just five low-cost airlines in Europe, now there are 49,
according to Wolfgang Kurth, president of the European Low
Fares Airline Association and chief executive of TUI's
no-frills carrier Hapag-Lloyd Express. Webster told
the conference that low-cost airlines could take advantage
of short-haul routes likely to be neglected by the larger,
established carriers.

Ryanair adopts a school

Cause related marketing is a live and well.
Ryanair’s Head of Communications Paul Fitzsimmons
recently said: “It’s back to school time for
parents everywhere, and we’re giving people an
opportunity to grab a back to school bargain with flights
for ONLY 10p on many of our routes from Stansted and at
the same time help our adopted school Mountfitchet High
School. We will sell 200,000 seats at this fare, which
means we can donate £20,000.00 to the school.
It is fitting that as http://www.ryanair.com is
Europe’s biggest travel website, that Mountfitchet
High School is to use our donation to further upgrade
their IT facilities for pupils. We would urge
passengers to book quickly as demand will be huge and to
remember that not only will they fly with Europe’s
No.1 low fares airline, but they will also be helping
school children further their computer education.”

Announcing the support for Mountfitchet High School at a
photo call in the school, Mountfitchet High School
Headmistress, Jo Mullis said: “We are delighted to
have been chosen by Ryanair as their adopted school.
Ryanair’s support comes at an important time,
because with this help we can buy computer equipment for
our pupils, which will help us to achieve our goal of
becoming an IT merited school. We hope lots of
people will buy their Ryanair flight knowing that Ryanair
are donating the entire fare to our school
project.” Pass the sick bag, somebody.

Ryanair told to pay back EU subsidy

No-frills Irish airline Ryanair has said that it would
repay EUR4 million in subsidies it received to operate
from Belgium's Charleroi Airport, pending an appeal to
the European Court of Justice. In February, European
Union regulators told Ryanair to repay EUR3.9 million
(USD$4.97 million) to the regional government of Wallonia
in southern Belgium, which had offered Ryanair cheap rates
at the region's Charleroi Airport. “(Ryanair)
agreed to repay EUR4 million in an escrow account until
Ryanair's appeal is heard,” the airline said in
a statement. The money will go into a blocked
account, to which Ryanair will regain access if it wins
its appeal. “We remain very confident that we will
win,” Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary
told a news conference in Brussels. O'Leary said
the airline reserved the right to quit Charleroi if an
adverse ruling raised costs, but said he intended to keep
operations at their current level until then.