Things can only get worse: that was the outlook from the boardroom of a small Irish airline called Ryanair. Forty years ago this week, it launched flights between Waterford in southeast Ireland and London Gatwick.
The plane making the maiden journey on 8 July 1985 was a 15-seat Brazilian-made Bandeirante aircraft. Over the next few years, as the airline expanded its operations over the Irish Sea, the losses mounted.
