Ryanair boss waiting game on transatlantic venture
10.10.08
Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, said his plans to invest in a start-up transatlantic long-haul airline could be progressed if there were a sharp fall in aircraft prices due to the crisis in the global aviation industry. Any long-haul business would be run separately from Ryanair.
He said: ‘The business plan is done . . . but it has been parked until there is a big downturn in the industry and Boeing and Airbus are parking long-haul aircraft, so we can get a deal on prices.'
Mr O'Leary said he would bring in other investors and that he had discussed the plan with shareholders including David Bonderman, Ryanair chairman and co-founder of TPG, the US private equity group, and with former executives of Southwest Airlines and Continental Airlines of the US.
The venture would aim to operate from up to 10 existing Ryanair bases in Europe to a similar number of destinations in the US. The airline would offer economy and business class services, as without the high fare revenues from premium services rivals such as British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM could ‘dump economy fares to zero ad infinitum’ to try to drive it out of business.
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