Ryanair to slash fares and CEO claims it could soon offer free flights

Budget airline boss plans to cut prices and sees no reason why flights won’t be free in the future.

Ryanair has pledged to cut the cost of fares after it posted full year profits of £960 million.

That's up 43% year-on-year, despite terrorism fears and air traffic control strikes in France.

The no-frills budget airline said its average fare stands at around £37, but it expected to cut prices by 7% this summer and as much as 12% in the winter.

Ryanair reckons it will be able to make the move thanks to extra seats on planes, which will grow passenger numbers, and the savings made on its fuel bill from lower oil costs.

The expected price cuts from Ryanair, Europe’s biggest airline, will likely spark a new price war among rivals like easyJet and Monarch.

Robin Byde at Cantor Fitzgerald said: “Ryanair is a major player in many of the markets and airports it flies to. If it cuts prices, other airlines will have to respond to that.”

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Free flights coming soon

While Ryanair's cuts are expected to bring savings this year, CEO Michael O’Leary doesn’t see why flights won’t eventually be free.

Speaking at the recent launch of year three of the airline’s Always Getting Better (AGB) programme for customer service improvements he said: "My plan is that the average fares on Ryanair would be €10 (£7.60) in the next five years."

"I'd see no reason why they can't be €15, €10, €5... why not even free?"

O’Leary reckons the cost of flying could hit rock bottom as long as passengers continue to shell out for extras like car hire, travel insurance, hotels and checked bags.

"As long as we can persuade people to buy additional, optional services, then I see no reason why we can't keep driving down the underlying airfare," he said.

According to Ryanair’s latest annual report, ‘ancillary revenue’ – the money brought in from these extra services rather than ticket sales – was up 13% year-on-year and accounts for nearly a quarter of the airline's total revenues.

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