Forget about ultra cheap Ryanair flights for the foreseeable future, says O’Leary

The age of the €1 and €10 flight is over.

If you've been keeping your fingers crossed for a €1 flight from Ryanair soon, you may be waiting a long time. CEO Michael O'Leary confirmed that the changes to fares during an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday (10 August). "There's no doubt that at the lower end of the marketplace, our really cheap promotional fares - the €1 fares, the 99 cents fares, even the €9.99 fares - I think you will not see those fares for the next number of years," O'Leary said. O'Leary said that despite the rising costs of fares, that passengers would continue to aim for low-fare airlines for travel. "We think people will continue to fly frequently," he added. "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." O'Leary cited the war in Ukraine pushing up the prices of fuel worldwide as a major cause for the increase in fares across Ryanair flights. The average fare for Ryanair flights is set to rise by €10, from €40 to €50. Ryanair has also said it expects no disruptions to its flights in August or September as a result of strikes by two cabin crew unions in Spain. Last month, the unions SITCPLA and USO stated that their members will strike from Monday to Thursday weekly from 8 August, 2022 until 7 January, 2023. Among their demands are better working conditions and higher pay for staff. However, Ryanair has said it does not forecast the planned strikes impacting its 3,000 daily flights scheduled for August and September. In a statement on Tuesday (9 August), the airline described SITCPLA and USO as two "minority cabin crew unions", adding that it has already concluded a labour agreement with the CCOO, the main Spanish cabin crew union.