Ryanair's Head of Communications, Peter Sherrard said: ?In 2007, Ryanair will carry 13 million passengers through Irish Airports generating a visitor spend of EUR1.4 billion for the Irish tourism industry, while sustaining 13,000 jobs in the tourism sector.?



Low fare growth is the most important driver of Irish tourism however this is now being threatened by rip off price hikes at the DAA monopoly, which are being rubber stamped by a failed Government regulator. To continue to grow, the Irish tourism industry needs competition at the DAA monopoly, not rip off passenger price hikes at its biggest airport?.

Ryanair seemingly makes a point of delivering the least pleasant flying experience possible (eg removing window shades and recline features from its aircraft) and exploring new boundaries of political incorrectness. Its public row over accommodating disabled passengers and its perpetual war with airport authorities over charges are just two examples.

However, every year it delivers results that its shareholders love: its 3 pt drop in net profit margin last year still yielded a result of 18%. This compares with easyJet's 3%, British Airways? 6% and US paragon Southwest's 7%.

The carrier achieves these results by focusing like a laser on costs and maintaining an aggressive growth pattern. While other carriers, including chief rival easyJet, have a more revenue-focused business model, for Ryanair it is all about costs; thus the stripped-down service and the usage of secondary airports.

A key way it keeps expenditure low is by constantly growing, spreading its fixed costs over a wider base. This winter it plans to add two more bases to the 16 it has spread throughout Europe, with Marseilles (added in May-06 and from which it serves three north African cities) the most recent. Speaking of where to install its constantly growing fleet of B737s ? of which it has 135 on order ? the company says: ?Vast swathes of Europe remain empty.?

Outlook bright for low cost standard-bearer

As long as the carrier keeps its fares lower than anyone else, the Irish LCC will maintain its 25% annual passenger growth (42 million forecast for 2006). And, with ancillary revenues growing faster than ticket revenues, continued profitability seems virtually assured.

Ryanair issued 2007 traffic statistics for its Irish routes, which show that Ryanair will carry a record 13 million passengers to/from seven Irish airports in 2007. Ryanair is now the largest carrier of visitors to Ireland on 135 routes from Britain and Europe.

Ryanair's Head of Communications, Peter Sherrard said: ?In 2007, Ryanair will carry 13 million passengers through Irish Airports generating a visitor spend of EUR1.4 billion for the Irish tourism industry, while sustaining 13,000 jobs in the tourism sector. Low fare growth is the most important driver of Irish tourism however this is now being threatened by rip off price hikes at the DAA monopoly, which are being rubber stamped by a failed Government regulator. To continue to grow, the Irish tourism industry needs competition at the DAA monopoly, not rip off passenger price hikes at its biggest airport?.

Ryanair has carried 11 million passengers in the period Jan?Oct 2007 and will carry in excess of 13 million passengers in the full year.

Ryanair Holdings lodged a case in the European Court of First Instance against the European Commission for its apparent failure to act on Ryanair's complaint made some 18 months ago about state aid it claims is being given to Air France.

Ryanair has complained about the reduced domestic airport charges in France and said it has called on the Commission several times to investigate what it calls an "abuse of EU competition rules".