HISTORY

Early years
Ryanair was founded in 1985 by Christy Ryan (after whom the company is named), Liam Lonergan (owner of an Irish tour operator named Club Travel), and noted Irish businessman Tony Ryan, founder of Guinness Peat Aviation. Christy Ryan was from Waterford and it was his idea to start an air service between Waterford and London.[4] The airline began with a 15 seat Embraer turboprop aircraft flying between Waterford and London Gatwick with the aim of breaking the duopoly on London-Ireland flights at that time held by British Airways and Aer Lingus.
In 1986 the company added a second route – flying Dublin-London Luton in direct competition to the BA/Aer Lingus duopoly for the first time. Under partial EU Deregulation, airlines could begin new international intra-EU services as long as at least one of the two governments gave approval (the so-called "double-disapproval" regime). The Irish government at the time refused its approval in order to protect Aer Lingus, but Britain, under Margaret Thatcher's pro-free-market Conservative government, approved the service. With two routes and two planes, the fledgling airline carried 82,000 passengers in one year.



Passenger numbers continued to increase, but the airline generally ran at a loss, and by 1991 was in need of restructuring. Michael O'Leary was charged with the task of making the airline profitable. Ryan encouraged him to visit the USA to study the 'low fares/no frills' model being used by Southwest Airlines. O'Leary quickly learnt that the key to low fares was to implement quick turn-around times for aircraft, "no frills", and no business class, as well as operating a single model of aircraft.
O'Leary returned - convinced that Ryanair could make huge inroads into the European air market, at that time dominated by national carriers which were subsidised to various degrees by their parent countries. He competed with the major airlines by providing a "no-frills", low-cost service. Flights were scheduled into regional airports, keen to attract new airlines, which offered lower landing and handling charges than larger established international airports. O'Leary as Chief Executive adopted a hands-on style of management, for example his publicity stunts in helping out with baggage handling on Ryanair flights at Dublin airport.
He is said to have a pugnacious and aggressive management style, using a flat management hierarchy. By 1995, after the consistent pursuit of its low-cost business model, Ryanair celebrated its 10th birthday by carrying 2.25 million passengers.


1997 - 1999
EU deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997 gave carriers from one EU country the right to operate scheduled services between other EU states, and represented a major opportunity for Ryanair. After a successful flotation on the Dublin Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ Stock exchanges, the airline launched services to Stockholm, Oslo (Sandefjord Airport, Torp, 110 km south of Oslo), Paris and Charleroi near Brussels. Flush with new capital, the airline placed a massive US$2 billion order for 45 new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft in 1998.

2000
The airline launched its website in 2000, with online booking initially said to be a small and unimportant part of the software supporting the site. Increasingly the online booking contributed to the aim of cutting flight prices by selling direct to passengers and excluding the costs imposed by travel agents. Within a year the website was handling three-quarters of all bookings, and now accounts for 100% of the total.

2001
Ryanair launched a new hub of operation in Charleroi Brussels South in 2001. Later that year, the airline ordered 155 new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft from Boeing at what was believed to be a substantial discount, (taking full advantage of the downturn in aeroplane orders after the slump in air travel following the September 2001 aircraft attacks in the United States) to be delivered over eight years from

2002 to 2010. Approximately 100 of these aircraft had been delivered by the end of 2005, although there were slight delays in late 2005 caused by production disruptions arising from a Boeing machinists' strike.

In 2002 Ryanair launched 26 new routes and established a hub in Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, its European expansion firmly on track.
[edit]2003
In 2003, Ryanair announced the order of a further 100 new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft from Boeing, and in February a third continental base was opened at Milan-Bergamo in Italy.


In April 2003 Ryanair acquired its ailing competitor Buzz from KLM, at a knock-down price. Expansion continued apace with the launch of a base at Stockholm (Skavsta), Sweden. By the end of 2003, the airline flew 127 routes, of which 60 had opened in the previous 12 months.


2004
The airline launched two more bases in the first half of 2004, at Rome (Ciampino) and Barcelona (Girona), increasing the total to 11 hubs. During 2004, Michael O'Leary warned of a 'bloodbath' during the winter from which only two or three low-cost airlines would emerge, the expectation being that these would be Ryanair and easyJet. A modest loss of € 3.3 million in the second quarter of 2004 was the airline's first recorded loss for 15 years. However, the airline immediately bounced back to ever greater profits afterwards. The enlargement of the European Union on 1 May 2004 opened the way to more new routes as Ryanair and other budget airlines tapped the markets of the EU accession countries.

2005
In February 2005, Ryanair announced an order for a further 70 Boeing 737-800 aircraft along with an option for a further 70. This was expected at the time to allow Ryanair to increase passenger numbers from the 34 million expected in 2005 to 70 million in 2011. Some of these aircraft would be deployed at Ryanair's 12 European hubs, others to 10 new hubs the company intended to establish over the next seven years. In an example of the airline's relentless prioritising of cost over all other factors, the aircraft will be delivered without window shades, seat back recline and seat back pockets, which result in savings of several hundred thousand dollars per aircraft and give continued savings through reduced cleaning and repair costs. Some slight delays in Boeing airline deliveries in late 2005 (ordered in 2001) were caused by production disruptions arising from a Boeing machinists' strike.

2006
In June 2006 the company announced that in the quarter ending 30 June 2006 its average yields were 13% higher than the same quarter of the previous year[5] and its passenger numbers were up by 25% to 10.7 million, although year-on-year comparison was difficult because of the movement of Easter from first quarter 2005 to second quarter 2006. Net profits (€115.7m) increased by 80% over the same quarter in 2005. Management indicated that this level of growth may not be sustained for the remainder of this year, despite adding 27 new aircraft and opening new routes.
Ryanair's passenger numbers have grown by up to 25% a year for most of the last decade. Carrying under 0.7 million annually in its early years, passenger figures grew to 21.4 million in 2003. The rapid addition of new routes and new hubs has enabled this growth in passenger numbers, and Ryanair is now among the largest carriers on European routes. In August 2004, the airline carried 20% more passengers within Europe than British Airways.
Ryanair posted record half-year profits of €329 million for the six months ending 30 September 2006. Over the same period passenger traffic grew by more than a fifth to 22.1m passengers and revenues rose by a third to €1.256 billion[6]



On 5 October 2006 Ryanair launched a €1.48bn (GB£1bn; US$1.9bn) bid to buy fellow Irish carrier Aer Lingus. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said the move was a “unique opportunity” to form an Irish airline. The "new" airline would carry over 50 million passengers a year.
Aer Lingus floated on the Irish Stock Exchange on 2 October 2006 followed a decision by the Irish government to sell more than 50% of its 85.1% share in the company. Workers retained a 15% stake. The shares began trading at €2.20 each, valuing the firm at €1.13bn. Ryanair said it had bought a 16% stake in Aer Lingus and was offering €2.80 per share for remaining shares.[7] On the same day Aer Lingus rejected Ryanair's takeover bid, saying the bid was contradictory.[8] With a total of 47% of Aer Lingus in the hands of the Irish Government, the employee share ownership trust, and other entities that have publicly rejected the bid, and a further 4% in the hands of Bank of Ireland and AIB who are considered highly unlikely to sell, the takeover bid is now effectively dead. On the Ryanair website, it describes the attempted take over as, "In October...we make an all cash offer for the small regional airline, Aer Lingus".
[edit]2007
Fourth quarter 2006 profits far exceeded analyst expectations, and over the period from October 2006 to February 2007, the stock rose by some 50%. The press suggested that Ryanair is now selling on its 737-800s at higher prices than the cost of acquisition from Boeing.