Ryanair Chase Becomes Thursday Feature Race As Prize Fund Rises From £350,000 In 2018 To £400,000 In 2022
Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (25 Jan) announced that it had agreed to extend its sponsorship of “The Ryanair Chase”, at the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival for a 5 year period from 2018 to 2022 inclusive. The prize fund will increase from £300,000 in 2017 to £350,000 in 2018, and will rise to £400,000 by 2022.
In the light of this significant boost in prize money, The Ryanair Chase will now become the feature race on St. Patrick’s Thursday of the Cheltenham Festival from March 2018 onwards. Ryanair continues to be the official airline partner of the Cheltenham National Hunt Festival, and continues to bring more than 20,000 Irish visitors each year to/from Cheltenham during the 4 days of the Festival.
The Ryanair Chase has established itself as the Championship Race for 2½ mile chasers over recent years with a distinguished list of winners including Imperial Commander, Cue Card, Vautour and Un De Sceaux last year for Willie Mullins. Interestingly, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has finished 2nd on 4 occasions in the last 5 years of The Ryanair Chase but has never managed to win the race.
Ryanair’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs said:
“We are pleased to extend our sponsorship of the Ryanair Chase for a further 5 years as Cheltenham is the major jumps festival which enables Ryanair to carry tens of thousands of Irish jump racing fans to and from the Cotswolds each March. Ryanair is an enormous supporter of the bloodstock industry in Ireland and the UK as we fly to most of the major racecourses, breeding and sale centres in Aintree, Cheltenham, Newmarket and Doncaster”
Cheltenham’s Ian Renton said:
“We are delighted that Ryanair is renewing sponsorship of the Ryanair Chase for a further five years. “The race had gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2005 and Ryanair’s support is very much appreciated. I just hope that at some point Michael manages to win the Ryanair Chase!”
Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (24 Jan) launched Ryanair Travel Credit, a new incentive that gives customers who book accommodation with Ryanair Rooms 10% back in credit to spend on flights.
Any customer with a “MyRyanair” account who makes a booking on Ryanair Rooms will earn 10% back in credit, redeemable directly against flight purchases on Ryanair.com.
For example, a customer who books a four-night stay in Barcelona for €400 will receive €40 Travel Credit directly into their MyRyanair account – essentially giving them their next Ryanair flight for free (given Ryanair’s average flight fare is just €41).
Ryanair recently launched a major upgrade to the Ryanair Rooms website, as it continues on its journey to becoming the ‘Amazon of Travel’, offering an even wider choice of hotel, hostel, B&B, holiday villa and homestay options, all at the lowest prices. The new website features an improved dynamic search function and simplified booking experience, enabling customers to choose from over 1.2 million rooms worldwide.
Travel Credit is the latest initiative as part of the “Always Getting Better” programme, including a personalised Ryanair.com website, a dedicated Chinese Ryanair website, Ryanair Tickets for concerts and events, Apple Pay integration, long haul Air Europa flights on sale on Ryanair.com and a new partnership with the Erasmus Student Network.
Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:
“We’re pleased to launch Ryanair Travel Credit, our latest “Always Getting Better” improvement, offering customers 10% travel credit when they book accommodation on Ryanair Rooms, which can be redeemed directly against flight purchases.
This new initiative is a huge benefit to our customers who will see the same hotels and accommodation in Ryanair Rooms as they will in other popular booking sites, but with the major difference being the 10% ‘money back’ they will receive to spend directly on flights when they book.
Following a major upgrade to our Ryanair Rooms website, customers have even more choice, enhanced search options and a simplified booking process, ensuring they can choose their ideal accommodation, but always at the lowest prices and by offering this Travel Credit, all of our commission will be given back to the customer, resulting in even lower air fares.
With our five accommodation providers, offering customers over 1.2 million rooms to choose from, ranging from 5-star hotels to hostels and B&Bs, and now the chance to earn Travel Credit towards flight purchases, there has never been a better time to book with Ryanair Rooms.”
Ryanair today (Mon 22 Jan) welcomes the decision by Deputy PM Mr Kris Peeters and his Ministry to drop a number of legal cases again Ryanair arising from its September 2017 flight cancellations. Ryanair has worked intensively with the Belgian Aviation Regulator and the Ministry’s Consumer Protection Unit to ensure that all customers affected by these flight cancellations were re-accommodated and/or received their full EU261 entitlements.
Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:
“Ryanair has worked closely with the Belgian authorities to improve the wording of its EU261 notifications and to expedite all customer claims arising from the September cancellations and we wish to thank Deputy PM Peeters and his team for their help and cooperation in this process. We also welcome today’s decision to drop these legal cases, which recognises that Ryanair customer disruption policies are among the very best in the airline industry both in Belgium and within the EU.
We will now continue to invest in, and grow, our low fares business in Belgium where we plan to grow our traffic and visitor numbers in both Charleroi and Zaventem airports in 2018”
Ryanair, Ireland’s No 1 airline, today (22 Jan) launched flights from Knock to Girona, as part of its peak summer 2018 schedule, which will operate twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays from June to August, and are on sale now from the Ryanair.com website.
Irish consumers and visitors can now book their holidays as far out as October 2018, on even lower fares, and enjoy the latest “Always Getting Better” improvements including:
– Reduced checked-in bag fees – one €25 fee, one 20kg size
– Connecting flights at Milan, Rome & Porto
– 20 Air Europa long haul routes from Madrid on sale on Ryanair.com
– A new partnership with Erasmus Network offering students discounts & a dedicated booking platform
– Alexa voice recognition to search flights, hotels & flight status on the Ryanair.com website
– New Ryanair Rooms website & app
Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said:
“Ryanair is pleased to launch this route from Knock to Girona for its peak summer 2018 schedule, which will operate twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays from June to August, and these flights are on sale now from the Ryanair.com website.
To celebrate, we are releasing seats for sale from Ireland to Europe from just €9.99 for travel until June, which are available for booking until Wednesday (24 Jan). Since these amazing low prices will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com and avoid missing out.”
Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (19 Jan), launched €19.99/529CZK rescue fares on its Prague-Milan Bergamo route to accommodate customers affected by Wizz Air’s closure of its Prague base in June of this year.
Ryanair opened its own Prague base in October 2016 with 2 based aircraft, and has reported record bookings on its Prague summer 2018 schedule which will deliver growth of 76% at Prague and includes new summer routes to Barcelona (daily), Bologna (4 wkly), Budapest (5 wkly), Edinburgh (4 wkly), Eindhoven (4 wkly), Madrid (4 wkly), Malaga (3 wkly), Krakow (2 wkly) and London Stansted (16 wkly).
Ryanair customers can fly to and from Prague on the lowest fares, with the most on-time flights and most reliable service, and can look forward to further improvements, as Ryanair continues its “Always Getting Better” programme, which includes more new routes, new digital features, connecting flights and even more low fares.
These €19.99/529CZK rescue fares are on sale now on the Ryanair.com website, for travel between Jan and June 2018, but must be booked by midnight Tuesday (23 Jan).
Ryanair’s Denis Barabas said:
“Ryanair customers can continue to enjoy the lowest fares and most reliable service to and from Prague and we’ve released rescue fares to assist customers affected by the closure of Wizz Air’s Prague base and the cancellation of this Milan route.
Customers can fly between Prague and Milan Bergamo at fares starting from just €19.99/529CZK between now and June and these rescue fares are on sale now until midnight Tuesday (23 Jan), only on the Ryanair.com website. Customers should book quickly because these fares will be gone very soon – just like Wizz Air’s base at Prague.”
Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (18 Jan) confirmed that all 15 of its UK pilot bases – including London Stansted which had previously rejected an improved pay deal – have now voted in secret ballot to accept pay increases of up to 20% and these increases will be paid next week in the January payroll. These increases bring Ryanair’s pilot pay in the UK to 20% more than competitor 737 operators (Norwegian and Jet2).
Ryanair is continuing its recognition discussions with BALPA, the UK pilot union, but had agreed with BALPA that these pay increases should not be delayed by these recognition negotiations, which are proceeding quickly. Ryanair and BALPA agreed to offer these pay increases to the 6 out of 15 UK bases (including Stansted) which had not previously accepted them.
The majority of Ryanair’s pilots in Ireland have already agreed to these pay increases voting in secret ballot at the Cork and Shannon bases, and a majority of pilots in Dublin who are contractors or new joiners have already agreed them. Ryanair had asked the remaining Dublin pilots to vote on this large pay increase on or before 17th January so that they could be paid in next week’s January payroll. Ryanair is disappointed that no such vote was organised among the remaining 35% of Dublin pilots who will now not receive this pay increase in the January payroll.
Ryanair is continuing to negotiate with FORSA and its Ryanair Irish Pilots Council, but these discussions are progressing slowly. Ryanair will continue to communicate with the 35% of Dublin pilots who have yet to accept this substantial pay increase which, if accepted, can be included in the February payroll and will take them to 20% higher pay than Norwegian 737 pilots in Dublin.
From Saturday, 20th January 2018, all customers on Ryanair flights to/from Israeli airports will be permitted to bring two free carry-on bags (one wheelie and one small) to the gate, subject to airport security permitting them to do so.
Priority customers will be allowed bring their two bags (one wheelie and one small) on board. Non-priority customers can bring their smaller bag on board and place their wheelie bag in the hold, free of charge, at the boarding gate.
Any customers with a bag that is not permitted through airport security who are sent back to check-in will be required to pay the airport check-in bag fee.
Ryanair continues to work with airport security to encourage them to permit all carry-on bags through airport security, as these security turn backs continue to be a problem for Ryanair and its customers.