About 8 years after the statements made by Michael O'Leary, the executive director of Ryanair, here is the fact. In 2007, Michael O'Leary expressed his desire and intention to build a low-cost transatlantic airline. By 2014, came back with the statement and then I expressed my skeptical opinion.
During this day, 17 March 2015, the leadership Ryanair has approved the transatlantic operational plan, which includes the opening of routes to 14 destinations in North America from as many bases in Europe. New York, Boston, Chicago and Miami are on the list of US destinations, and Stansted, Dublin and Berlin will fly from London.
The plan could be implemented in about 4-5 years and it all depends on the plan of acquiring aircraft dedicated to long-haul flights. Ryanair officials said they are in negotiations for the necessary aircraft, but did not provide further details.
The interesting part is about the tariff plan. The fares on these flights would start at 10 pounds (14 dollars / 13.2 EURO), and the average would be somewhere at 100 pounds, obviously on the segment. There will also be a business class with much higher rates. It is rumored that the new airline's name would be RyanAtlantic and could sell tickets through the Ryanair site under an alliance agreement.
We are glad to hear this news. After norwegian, WOW Air and EurowingsRyanair is to attack the low-cost transatlantic flight market. And we will probably see other airlines as well, and the competition is doing well in the passenger pocket.
But we do not have to make very big illusions. Norwegian is down after many profitable years because of these transatlantic routes. If theoretically it sounds good to buy a ticket to the US at 10 pounds, remember that the fare is tax-free and without services, and they will inevitably be paid. If the visa bureaucracy for the US were to relax, the transatlantic market would probably be different.