RESEARCH SHOWS 43% EMISSION REDUCTION BY USING 50% SAF BLEND

Ryanair, Europe’s no. 1 airline, announced today (Thurs, 9^th May) the extension of its partnership with Trinity College Dublin (TCD) out to the end of the decade as the airline makes a further €2.5m donation (€4m total) to fund the Ryanair Sustainable Aviation Research Centre.

Underpinned by an initial €1.5m donation from Ryanair, Research at the Ryanair Sustainable Aviation Research Centre started in Sept 2021 addressing the complex challenge of progressing sustainable aviation. With Ryanair’s extended funding, the multi-disciplinary research team will continue to focus on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and zero carbon aircraft propulsion systems as well as expanding the scope of the research to examine aviation’s non-CO2 emissions.

Over the past 3 years, the Ryanair Sustainable Aviation Research Centre has made significant research developments in the following core areas;

• examining the sustainability of different SAF types
• reducing the cost to certify new SAF candidates
• evaluating the operating impact of zero carbon aircraft propulsion and noise mapping

Results of this research, which have been presented at the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, show that the emission intensity of a passenger travelling on a Boeing 737-800 NG flight from Amsterdam to Dublin can be reduced by 43% by using a 50% SAF blend. This could be further reduced by using Ryanair’s ‘Gamechanger’ Boeing 737-8200, which is 16% more fuel efficient than the 737-800 NG.

Ryanair’s Director of Sustainability, Thomas Fowler, said: 

“Progressing towards our ambitious sustainability goals of Net Zero by 2050 and 12.5% SAF by 2030 will not be possible without continued support for the best-in-class research that is being done by the Ryanair Sustainable Aviation Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin. Expanding out the research to better understand the non-CO2 impacts from aviation is an important next step to lead our industry towards more sustainable aviation.”

Dr Linda Doyle, Provost and President of Trinity College Dublin, said:

“Research must be central to combating climate change and promoting sustainable transport. Trinity is now recognised as the 14^th best university in the world in delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and has become a go-to international destination for sustainable aviation research. I want to thank Ryanair for their support: It is good news for the researchers in the Centre and for the students who will benefit from the teaching arising from the research.” 

Professor Sinéad Ryan, Dean of Research at Trinity College Dublin, said:

“Advancing sustainable aviation presents a complex challenge, which requires the multidisciplinary approach we take here in Trinity. Ryanair’s continued support will help to ensure ongoing and new research projects deliver a number of improvements and innovations, as well as supporting interactions with regulators, policy makers and aircraft manufacturers in the pursuit of more economically and environmentally sustainable commercial aviation.”

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (8 May) welcomed the EU General Court’s ruling on discriminatory State aid favouring Condor over all other EU airlines.

The German Govt granted Condor over €525m in illegal State Aid in 2021, including over €204m for Covid-19 related damages and over €321m for restructuring support.

The General Court already annulled the European Commission’s unjustified initial decision regarding most of the Covid-19 compensation in 2021, and today’s judgement confirms that the over €321m State Aid received by Condor as liquidity support was also unlawful.

Over €40bn in discriminatory State subsidies were handed out to EU flag carriers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The EU General Court has ruled that the billions of euros in State aid received by SAS, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and certain Italian airlines were unlawful.

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

“One of the EU’s greatest achievements is the creation of a true single market for air transport. The European Commission’s approval of the German aid to Condor went against the fundamental principles of EU law. Today’s judgment confirms once again that the Commission must act as a guardian of the level playing field in air transport and cannot sign-off discriminatory State aid promoted by national Govts. The EU General Court’s intervention is a triumph for fair competition and consumers across the EU.

The Commission’s scrutiny of State aid in the aviation sector is now particularly relevant, given that during the Covid-19 pandemic, over €40bn in discriminatory State subsidies were handed out to EU flag carriers. The EU General Court has already ruled that billions of euros in State aid received by SAS, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and certain Italian airlines were unlawful.

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition has still not taken action to force recovery of this unlawful State aid, nor has it imposed any measures to remedy the damage to competition caused by the Swedish, Danish, German, Dutch, French, and Italian Govts. favouring their local airlines over other EU airlines, in breach of EU law. Today’s judgment further underlines the need for the European Commission to immediately act to recover these illegal State aid packages and order remedies to restore at least some of the damage done to competition and consumers.”

RYANAIR’S LOW FARE FLIGHTS NOW AVAILABLE TO BOOK AS PART OF ON THE BEACH PACKAGE HOLIDAYS

Following the announcement of their “Approved OTA” (online travel agent) partnership Feb last, Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Thurs, 2^nd May) announced that its low fare flights are now available to book as part of On the Beach holiday packages, just in time for the peak Summer holiday season. For On the Beach customers who wish to book Ryanair flights/ancillaries as part of their On the Beach package holiday, this exciting new partnership means;

• Customers benefit from Ryanair’s low fares combined with On the Beach’s flexible payment plans, customer perks (including free lounge and fast track), and ATOL protection.
• Customers receive all flight-related communications directly from Ryanair, including T&Cs & important flight updates.
• Customers have direct access to their myRyanair account to manage their booking.
• Customers don’t have to complete Ryanair’s customer verification.

Over the past few months, Ryanair has signed “Approved OTA” distribution agreements with six large OTAs, including this partnership with On the Beach, demonstrating how OTAs can work transparently with Ryanair to benefit consumers.

Speaking from On the Beach’s Headquarters in Manchester, Ryanair CEO, Eddie Wilson, said:

“We’re delighted to be in Manchester with the On the Beach team this morning to launch our partnership with Ryanair flights now available to book as part of On the Beach package holidays. This is great news for On the Beach customers who will now be able to book Ryanair’s low fares as part of their On the Beach package holiday with full price transparency (no overcharges or hidden mark-ups) and direct access to their booking through their myRyanair account.

With the peak summer season just around the corner, we look forward to seeing lots of happy On the Beach customers onboard our low fare Ryanair flights to over 170 destinations from our 22 UK airports.”

Shaun Morton, CEO of On the Beach Group plc said:

“Ryanair is leading the way in showing how low-cost airlines and online travel agents can work together to give customers choice and value for their holidays. As the number one airline in Europe, Ryanair offers an extensive variety of routes at competitive prices, and we are so pleased to have successfully integrated this into our offer to customers.

This partnership means that our customers will have a seamless experience when booking a package holiday with a Ryanair flight, while still enjoying all of the benefits and protections that come with booking with an online travel agent. This industry-leading, collaborative approach with Ryanair is a blueprint for how the industry can work together to ensure consumers have choice and free, fair access to flights across the market.”

Ryanair Holdings plc today (Thurs, 2 May) released Apr 2024 traffic stats as follows:

RYANAIR CALLS AGAIN ON URSULA VON DER LEYEN TO PROTECT OVERFLIGHTS AND KEEP EU SKIES OPEN

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (24 Apr) announced cancellations of over 300 flights, due to tomorrow’s French ATC strike on Thursday, 25^th April. This is due to France’s failure to protect overflights during its national air strikes. Even though it’s French ATC that are striking, most disrupted passengers are not flying to/from France but overfly French airspace en route to their destination (e.g., UK – Greece, Spain, Italy). French law unfairly protects domestic flights which means French flights are protected but non-French flights get cancelled. Ryanair again calls on the EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to take urgent action to protect overflights, which she has failed to do for the last 5 years. EU citizens’ freedom of movement is being denied by these ATC strikes and we call on passengers to join our campaign by signing our ‘Protect Overflights: Keep EU Skies Open’ petition, which has over 2.1m signatures from Europe’s fed up passengers.

Ryanair and its 200m passengers demand that the EU Commission take the following measures in order to protect overflights during French ATC strikes;

1. Protect French overflights by law during ATC strikes as they do in Greece, Italy and Spain
2. Allow Europe’s other ATCs to manage flights over France while French ATC are on strike
3. Mandate that French ATC unions must engage in binding arbitration before calling strikes

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“French air traffic controllers are free to go on strike, that’s their right, but we should be cancelling French flights, not flights leaving Ireland, going to Italy, or flights from Germany to Spain or Scandinavia to Portugal. The European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen has failed for 5 years to take any action to protect overflights and the single market for air travel. We’re again calling on her to take action to protect overflights which will eliminate over 90% of these flight cancellations.

In June, we will have European elections, we encourage everyone to vote in these elections and demand your MEP and the European Commission to take action to protect overflights. We can’t have the skies over Europe repeatedly closed because French Air Traffic Controllers are going on strike.

Protect overflights during national ATC strikes, reduce flight cancellations and disruptions and let’s have a better summer for all of Europe’s citizens and visitors.”

Following Ben Gurion International Airport’s decision to re-open low-cost Terminal 1, Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (4 Apr) announced that it will resume operations to/from Tel Aviv from Mon, 3^rd June. The airline will operate 40 flights per week to/from Athens, Bari, Berlin, Budapest, Malta, Milan and Paphos.  

Ryanair flights to/from Tel Aviv are available to book now at ryanair.com.

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

“It is great news that Ben Gurion Airport is re-opening Terminal 1, which has enabled Ryanair to resume our Tel Aviv operations from Mon, 3^rd June, with 40 weekly flights to/from key markets such as Cyprus, Germany, Greece, and Italy available to book now at ryanair.com.”