Transatlantic For 12 quid

Perfectly feasible. Now on the radar courtesy of RyanAir's Mr O'Leary.

A canny Irish man that he is (an accountant by training in case you were unsure where his potty mouth came from), Mr O'Leary has formally announced that he will start a new sister airline to Ryanair for Transatlantic travel. Given the now enormous feed into and out of Stansted his ability to move passengers Americas to EU will be a short incremental piece rather than a leap of faith. Consider this:

1. He doesn't need a whole new aircraft - even though he wants to order 50 brand new A350XWB or 787s. In fact the Boeing 737 for which all his pilots are trained is available in an ER version (both 737-700ER and 737-900ER). http://www.boeing.com/commercial/737family/index.html
The 737-700ER unmodified has a certified range of 5510 miles. This will take you from Stansted to ISP (3478 miles) or OAK (5375 miles). Even San Diego (also mentioned in his announcement) is possible.
2. He has the right to switch aircraft sub types in his Boeing order (actually he can do pretty much what he likes with the order - the Boeing guys LOVE him)
3. The longest route on Ryanair is today 3 1/2 hours. (Marrakesh to London). The record flight time from Boston to London (Eastbound) is around 5 hours. Not a big difference in structure.
4. RyanAir has one of the best ontime records in Europe today.

So Mr O'Leary - why wait 4 years? Boeing can deliver you a brand new plane built in around 2 weeks. So Next April sounds fine don't you think?


Cheers!

The InTheKno team have just published the first study examining the LCCs and the Travel Trade. For more information go to www.inthekno.com or email sales@inthekno.com