Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary was in Manhattan this week, sharing the usual outlandish ideas and off-the-cuff comments (but no more talk about pay toilets or “standing-room only” seats this time). But Europe’s most outspoken discount airline chief was also here for some serious stuff: signing a deal with Boeing to buy up to 200 new 737s Max 200 aircraft—the latest variation on the budget airline workhorse that will permit airlines to seat 200 on a plane type that most airlines configure for around 150 people. O’Leary says he’ll exercise some restraint and only put 197 people on the plane, eight more than his current fleet allows, and without sacrificing precious legroom. (He says by removing galleys and using the latest slimline seats, passengers will have a bit more than 30 inches of seat pitch, about standard for coach on short flights.) “It’s truly a gamechanger,” he said, adding that the new planes will allow him to take on the legacy airlines of Europe with more firepower and allow him to nearly double his passenger count in ten years, to a mind-boggling 150 million passengers a year. But will any of this allow him to fulfill one of his longstanding goals: to fly across the Atlantic?
Not quite, he told me when I put this question to him at the news conference following the signing at New York’s Palace Hotel. He says he still wants to offer flights from Europe to the U.S.—and he promises he’ll offer introductory fares starting at $10, a typical boast because it’s unlikely anyone will remember it when it finally launches. But he says he’ll need new planes, most likely Boeing’s efficient 787 Dreamliners, and new ones won’t become available for a few years. He says doesn’t want to start out small like Norwegian Air, which has a few transatlantic routes using the new planes. And he’ll likely form a new company to operate long-haul routes, because it’s a very different type of business from his airline’s network of frequent short hops around the continent. But still. Even with a zero added to O’Leary’s fantasy fare, that would be a pretty amazing deal…
And about those pay toilets he threatened? “Oh, that was just a p.r. wheez,” he confessed.