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.”

1 NEW AIRCRAFT, 5 NEW ROUTES & OVER 1,300 JOBS

Ryanair, Europe’s and Bulgaria’s No.1 airline today (08 May) celebrated its record Sofia schedule for S24, with 40 total routes, including 5 exciting new destinations to Alicante, Bristol, Copenhagen, Skiathos and Valencia. This record schedule sees Ryanair base 1 new aircraft for S24 (an additional $100M investment), bringing Ryanair’s total Sofia fleet to 4 based aircraft – supporting over 1,300 jobs (including 120 high-paying aviation jobs) in the Region.

Ryanair’s Sofia S24 schedule delivers:

• 5 new routes – Alicante, Bristol, Copenhagen, Skiathos and Valencia
• 40 total routes
• 1 new based a/c (4 total – US$400M invest.)
• 1.6M pax for S24 (+23% growth vs. S23)
• Supp. over 1,300 jobs

As part of this record S24 schedule, Ryanair is adding an additional Boeing 737 aircraft in Sofia (4 aircraft in total) and growing traffic by +23% to 1.6M passengers in S24 (vs. S23).  Ryanair is committed to being Bulgaria’s largest and most reliable airline, continuing to provide the best choice for Sofia’s citizens / visitors at Europe’s lowest fares. To celebrate its record S24 schedule and the 5 new routes in Sofia (Alicante, Bristol, Copenhagen, Skiathos and Valencia), Ryanair has launched a 3-day seat sale with fares from €21.99 on sale only at ryanair.com.

Ryanair’s Country Manager Alicja Wojcik Golebiowska said:

“As Europe’s and Bulgaria’s No.1 airline, Ryanair is pleased to celebrate our record S24 Sofia schedule with 40 routes – including 5 new routes to Alicante, Bristol, Copenhagen, Skiathos and Valencia – offering Sofia’s citizens / visitors the best choice for their summer holidays at Europe’s lowest fares. With the addition of 1 new Boeing 737 aircraft from S24, Ryanair is basing a total of 4 aircraft in Sofia (a US$400M investment), delivering 1.6M passengers this summer (+23% growth) and supporting over 1,300 jobs, including 120 highly paid aviation jobs. While other airlines cut capacity and reduce much-needed connectivity in Sofia, Ryanair continues to reliably deliver more traffic, more jobs, and lower fares than any other airline. To celebrate its S24 schedule for Sofia, Ryanair has launched a 3-day seat sale with fares from €21.99 on sale only at ryanair.com.”

SOF Connect’s CEO Jesus Caballero said:

“We are extremely happy and thankful about the fourth Ryanair aircraft based and the new destinations. This is great news for our airport, Bulgaria, and mostly for the Bulgarian travelers. Ryanair’s decision to significantly expand the flights is also confirmation of the excellent work of our teams and the great potential of Sofia airport.”

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, Europe’s largest airline, today (7 May) launched a campaign at Brussels Zaventem Airport to encourage all EU citizens to turn out and vote in the EU elections on 6 – 9 June next. Ryanair pointed out that the enormous growth of low fare airline travel across the EU would not have been possible without the success of the EU single market and the deregulation of air travel, which freed EU citizens from the State-owned high fare flag carriers in the 1970s and 80s.

Ryanair has led this revolution in low fare air travel and together with other low-cost airlines, such as easyJet, Wizz, Jet2, and others. Air travel across Europe and tourism in the peripheral states of Europe have grown dramatically over the last 30 years thanks to the widespread availability of Ryanair’s fares.  Ryanair believes it is vital that EU citizens turn out and vote in the EU elections on 6 – 9 June and signal their strong support for the EU single market and for the continued growth and development of low fare air travel and tourism jobs in the regions of Europe.

Unveiling its campaign at Brussels Zaventem today, Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, said:

“Low fare air travel has been one of the great successes of the EU single market. Brexit has shown, however, that these freedoms and gains can be lost so is imperative that all EU citizens, particularly Ryanair’s 200m passengers, turn out to vote in the EU elections on 6 – 9 June. We strongly encourage all EU citizens to vote in favour of those parties who support the deregulation of air travel and who support the growth of low fare air travel, the freedom of movement of EU citizens across Europe. We wish to see tourism and jobs across the regions of Europe grow and thrive over the next decade and Ryanair is investing heavily in new fuel-efficient aircraft to deliver this growth in air travel while reducing our fuel consumption and CO2 emissions on a per passenger basis.”

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.”