Ryanair to 'fly its way out of a crisis' with a cut-price bonanza

Airlines

The budget airline Ryanair put one million tickets on sale at a set price of £9.99 yesterday, hoping to restore passenger confidence in air travel.

The decision is the most ambitious attempt yet to encourage passengers back into the air and avert a crisis.

Although other low-cost carriers have announced cut-price seat offers, none has gone as far as Ryanair. The ticket sale was combined with a pledge from the Dublin-based carrier to retain all its staff, take delivery of eight new jets on order and continue to launch new routes.

The £9.99 offer applies to one-way flights taken between 27 September and 30 November and includes airport taxes. The only flights not being sold at the discount price are those which involve outward travel on a Friday, where a weekend supplement will be charged. Passengers have to book through the website Ryanair.com. The offer closes at midnight tonight.

Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, said: "We intend to fly our way out of this crisis by giving passengers even more reasons to travel at even lower prices." He denied the initiative was an attempt to "grind the noses in the dirt" of full-service flag-carriers, such as British Airways, who have called on the Government for a financial aid package, but he added: "I think a lot of airlines are making hay out of what happened and trying to create their own crisis. This is our chance to send out a clear message to the big, fat flag-carriers who are looking for state subsidies."

Mr O'Leary said the only state help he would seek was the support of the Irish government in providing insurance cover to enable Ryanair to continue flying. "Insurance premiums are going through the roof. We are only asking for the same support other governments are giving their airlines."

EasyJet, the low-cost airline run by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, launched what it claimed was its biggest ticket sale last week, offering 150,000 seats at low prices. Examples include return flights from Luton to Edinburgh and Glasgow for £25 and returns to Barcelona, Madrid and Majorca for £35.

Go, another no-frills airline, is offering reductions of up to 33 per cent on flights from Stansted. Returns to Bologna and Venice have been cut from £75 to £50 and returns to Prague, Majorca and Rome, have been reduced from £85 to £60.

The low-cost carriers say bookings are nearly back to normal, having fallen by about 20 per cent in the first few days after the US attacks. They have been less affected by the wider turmoil because the biggest downturn has been in transatlantic and US air travel.