Ryanair’s trademark €1 and €10 fares will not be seen for a “number of years” due to soaring fuel prices, the budget airline’s boss has said.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Michael O’Leary said he expected Ryanair’s average fare to rise by about €10 over the next five years, from around €40 (£33.75) last year to roughly €50 by 2027.
He told the broadcaster: “There’s no doubt that at the lower end of the marketplace, our really cheap promotional fares – the €1 fares, the €0.99 fares, even the €9.99 fares – I think you will not see those fares for the next number of years.”
Although the soaring fuel prices which are impacting the airline’s fares are also wreaking havoc on people’s disposable incomes, Mr O’Leary is confident the number of customers will remain steady.
Instead, he believes travellers will flock en masse to lower-cost alternatives such as Ryanair and EasyJet.
“We think people will continue to fly frequently,” he said.
“But I think people are going to become much more price sensitive and therefore my view of life is that people will trade down in their many millions.”
Mr O’Leary also made clear that he believed Brexit was having on his industry – believing that the UK’s exit from the EU has created conditions contributing to staff shortages.
“If there was much more honesty, or any honesty, from Boris Johnson’s government, they would come out and admit that Brexit has been a disaster for the free movement of labour and one of the real challenges being faced by the UK economy,” Mr O’Leary said.
He told the BBC that the next prime minister should have the “backbone” to secure a deal with the European Union to open up the free movement of labour.
“I think the first thing they should do to boost the British economy is prioritise a trade deal with the European Union – a good starting point for that would be to open up the free movement of labour between the UK and Europe once more.”
Mr O’Leary, who said he accepted the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum, added: “You have to accept that you’re not going to get elected by a very narrow 180,000 electorate of the Tory party membership if you advocate common-sense policies.
“But once you do become prime minister, you should have enough backbone to lead the UK economy forward and the starting point for that should be a free trade deal with the European Union.”
