The high fuel costs result in a price increase at Ryanair. The Ryanair boss announces that the particularly cheap tickets will soon no longer be available. Nevertheless, he assumes that customer demand for cheap flights will remain.
The boss of the Irish airline Ryanair ends the era of extremely cheap flights. O'Leary told the BBC that his airline would no longer offer flights at low prices. He cited rising fuel costs as the reason. The average ticket price will rise from around 40 euros to 50 euros in the next five years, said the boss of the low-cost airline.
"We believe that people will continue to fly frequently. But I also believe that people are becoming much more price-sensitive and therefore I expect that they will reduce their many millions of air trips," O'Leary said. However, O'Leary does not believe that people are giving up flying because of the increased energy costs.
Although the demand for air travel has increased, the lack of staff at the airports has led to delays and cancellations. According to O'Leary, Ryanair handled the situation better than other airlines. The company was “partly lucky, partly courageous” when it began hiring and training cabin crew and pilots last November.
Regarding the recent difficulties at British airports to cope with the number of passengers, O'Leary raised allegations against their management. The airports would have had months to prepare. He described the passenger limit at London's Heathrow Airport as "mismanagement".
Ryanair and other low-cost airlines like Easyjet had undercut each other for cheap air travel for the past 20 years. The weekend trip to nearby city destinations became socially acceptable. The airlines were able to juggle a number of additional costs, such as for baggage and boarding times.
The currently high energy prices are not only a burden for the airlines, but also for households. The high inflation is increasingly leading to labor disputes and high wage demands, which also affect air traffic and airports in particular.
Added to this is the shortage of skilled workers, which also dominates the European aviation industry. In an interview with the BBC, O'Leary also blamed Brexit. This was a "disaster" for the free movement of workers.
