Rumor Control

DispatchDragon · Post by **DispatchDragon** » 05 Oct 2006, 23:42

Anyone care to substantiate the rumor that Ryanair just bid to take over
Aer Lingus??

Leif

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 05 Oct 2006, 23:45

To be sure to be sure, 'twas on BBC tonight.

Sounded a bit crazy to me but Mr O'Leary seemed confident enough about it. Not sure if its really a good idea and Ryanair certainly has very ambitious expansion plans - evident from the number of 737s it currently has on order. I suspect that long term that Ryanair will either be very successful or go spectacularly "pop"... but very little inbetween!

Watch this space, I guess

rich byrne · Post by **rich byrne** » 06 Oct 2006, 00:05

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5408780.stm

Can't see it going through, somehow.

DispatchDragon · Post by **DispatchDragon** » 06 Oct 2006, 01:06

Mike O'Leary wants to become the Minister of Planes for the Dail ???

Theyve come along way from a couple of 748s hiding out at Luton havnt they

Leif

Got to admit there is some sense to his proposal - however it would make
Ryanair the Irish flag carrier - and thats scary

Toby - I thought they would go pop when they ordered 100 new aircraft
but it hasnt happened - maybe the lepurchaun is cleverer than we know

Leif

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 06 Oct 2006, 16:23

Leif, I think they currently have something silly like 250-300 737NG on order... bottom line is what are they going to use all this capacity for? If, as I suspect will have to happen, taxes are imposed on pollution or on aviation fuel then this might force passengers to change their flying habits and this will have a knock on effect on airlines, especially the LCCs whose sole marketing advantage is their price.

Latest is that there is strong opposition to this move, from the Irish government (who are still 28% shareholders in Aer Lingus), passenger groups and others, but Mr O'leary has now upped his shareholding from 16% to about 21%... so could be interesting, especially if this drags on a bit as the fact he is buying up large quantities of shares will inevitably force the price of the remaining stock upwards.... I think this will be an interesting one to watch.

Post by **TSR2** » 06 Oct 2006, 17:13

Personally speaking I think it would be a discrace if the national carrier for Ireland became Ryanair. I'd certainly never fly with them.

I would suggest (as most analysts would tend to) That O'Leary is meerly Saber Rattling. The Shareholding between the unions, the government and other "genuinely interested" parties is in excess of 51%.

Jon.M · Post by **Jon.M** » 07 Oct 2006, 14:18

I was told that by ordering so many 737s Ryanair had created a shortage, so that they could sell their options at a profit to other airlines.

The guy who told me this is a pilot for an airline who are replacing their 737s with A320s partly for this reason.

Could be just a rumour.

Jon

Nigel H-J · Post by **Nigel H-J** » 07 Oct 2006, 19:06

Quite honestly I am fed up with some of the aggressive advertising that Ryanair have had published in the newspapers. Yes, the airline industry is tough, it has to be in order to survive but I don't think that O'Leary is doing himself any favours by using under the belt tactics.

Oh, by the way..........This makes for an interesting read:

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/ryan.htm

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 07 Oct 2006, 19:55

I flew Ryanair in 2003 and it wasnt any worse than i expected.... yes you have to make you're there on time, yes you have to "fight" for a seat (they divide the pax in two and the two scrums enter the a/c from either end and you grab the first decent seat you can get). Food was ok if expensive but I didnt care I was paying Â£6.99 to go to Venice which is a joke. A/C was a 737-800 so perfectly acceptable. Flights left on time and no other hiccoughs along the way

Hot_Charlie · Post by **Hot_Charlie** » 07 Oct 2006, 20:36

TobyV wrote:I flew Ryanair in 2003 and it wasnt any worse than i expected.... yes you have to make you're there on time, yes you have to "fight" for a seat (they divide the pax in two and the two scrums enter the a/c from either end and you grab the first decent seat you can get). Food was ok if expensive but I didnt care I was paying Â£6.99 to go to Venice which is a joke. A/C was a 737-800 so perfectly acceptable. Flights left on time and no other hiccoughs along the way

I pay Â£1.80 for the local park and ride and end up having to do the same thing - and that's for 3 miles...

It says something about the state of a national carrier if a "budget" airline wants to take it over.

The only thing I found on my only "budget" flight so far was that having been split into four groups (decided by how early you bothered to check in - we were first, "A"), was, when passing the gate control, the number of Bs Cs and Ds asked whether they were able to read, and politely asked to go and sit down again in the departure lounge!