Ryanair are making a bid for Aer Lingus! The former national carrier, Aer Lingus, went public a few days ago. Ryanair snapped up 16% of the company and are now offering “an all cash offer of €2.80 per share.”
I can just imagine the gnashing of teeth of Aer Lingus employees as they contemplate the cuts and cost savings Michael O’Leary would introduce!
I look forward to flying Lufthansa or BA for my European flights. What’s the RyanAir motto, you pay nothing you get nothing? They can keep it.
Having flown Ryanair a few times I shudder to think what they’ll do to Aer Lingus! If they are successful then they might operate two tiers – Ryanair will be the free-for-all that it always has been while Aer Lingus will be for the more discerning traveller.
O’Leary said that the two airlines would compete on the few routes they share, but that really won’t happen. It can’t. Shareholders will want the best return on their investment they can get and being competitive on price won’t do that.
Interesting. I use Ryanair a LOT – it’s the only way for me to get from my local airport to Dublin (where my beloved is) and I have very few problems with them – the occasional delay and the stupid extension of the terminal at Dublin that takes about an hour to walk to, excepted 🙂 The price is ideal – I’m paying £20 including taxes for a return trip next weekend.
For a certain length journey they provide an ideal service but I shudder to think what it would be like trapped in there for more than hour!
I can’t see the company operating a two-tier service either – how long before those minimum wage, Latvian cabin crew are looking to be moved to the better paid Aer Lingus positions? Does Ryanair become a training ground for the “better” airline?
He’s only claming two tier until he can bust the union, once the union is taken apart they can standardise practices and bring operating costs down. It’s lunacy to compete against yourself over the long term.
I used to think American Airlines being the corporate standard for trips to the US was a bad thing but it sure beats flying third world nation class for up to nine hours on RyanAir.
They’d probably operate a coin slot on the toilet doors.
i wanna know, is ryanair and aer lingus merger now? …