Suspend your disbelief: Ryanair is truly changing, even going so far as to promise ‘a great experience’. Ian Taylor reports
Ryanair has spent two decades dismissing agents while growing “like gangbusters”, to repeat chief executive Michael O’Leary’s phrase.
Yet O’Leary declared “welcome to the new Ryanair” this week as he hailed a range of customer‑friendly policies and availability of the carrier’s fares on Travelport GDSs. Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs went so far as to promise “a great customer experience”.
What on earth is happening? O’Leary was typically blunt in explaining: “We carried 81.5 million passengers [in the 12 months] to March. We have 300 aircraft and we have just started
a new period of growth.”
Ryanair will take delivery of 175 new aircraft in the next five years, expanding its fleet to more than 400. O’Leary said:
“We’ll open eight new bases in May, many at primary airports, and more primary airports are inviting us. We’ll grow to 100-120 million passengers a year.
“For the last 20-25 years it has been pile high and sell cheap and it worked like a dream. But we need to evolve that model. We need to start courting a segment of passengers we previously dismissed – corporate travellers.” Hence the GDS move.
O’Leary described Ryanair’s customer service as “tightly defined”, adding: “We’re on time, offer a low fare and won’t lose your bag. Now we think that’s not enough.”
Jacobs insisted: “We won’t lose our focus on the lowest fares, but we will improve customer service. We’ve already changed the cabin bag policy – women and families like it – and we’ll introduce milk-warming facilities on every flight.” New product for families will be launched this month.
Low-cost role models
Jacobs cited retailers Aldi, H&M and Ikea as examples Ryanair aims to follow. He said: “All started focused on low-cost then added choice and improved their service. That is the journey Ryanair is on.”
He pledged: “We’ll fix the things customers don’t like and improve the traveller experience, improve the digital experience and improve the brand.”
O’Leary said: “We’re investing heavily in our digital platform. This year our sales and marketing spend will treble from €12 million last year and there is a commitment to continue to spend heavily.”
Ryanair’s move is undoubtedly aimed at improving margins. O’Leary conceded the carrier’s pricing has changed and some fares would be more expensive.
He said: “All our focus has been on filling empty seats two months out. Fares six months out have been quite high. Our pricing model has changed. You can find low fares for next October, November, December. We hope to be able to charge higher fares closer in.”
O’Leary added: “A lot of our growth in the next 12 months is going to come from improved passenger service and less harsh policies. It’s the start of a process.”
Agents of change
Is he interested in agents selling Ryanair flights? O’Leary said: “Not really. But we have to make Ryanair visible to companies. The strategy is to broaden our distribution platform so anyone going to any platform will see Ryanair’s low fares.”
However, he said: “We do expect travel agents to use Ryanair to put together packages.”
O’Leary added: “Ryanair worked with travel agents at first. The problem was that agents’ commission and the fees GDSs took came to about 22% of revenue. The internet came along and that cost went to zero.”
Now he said: “You have much more-efficient GDS distribution. The GDSs are more cost-conscious and the travel agent model has changed. Agents are charging passengers a fee.”
So is Ryanair changing? O’Leary insists it is, saying: “The way we communicate is going to change. The website will be dramatically different. These are real, meaningful changes.
“We’ve been careless with passengers and staff and yet 81.5 million fly with us. Imagine how much better it will work if we stop being nasty to people and have a decent website. The opportunities are limitless.”
He told Travel Weekly: “This is the way forward – being nice to people, even the media.”