How I flew International for Euro 2.99 ticket

The secret of Europe’s most popular Low-Cost Carrier (LCC), Ryan Air.

It was post-winter semester holidays and while looking out for my next destination to visit, I came across this ticket, Euro 2.99 from Dusseldorf, Germany to Timisoara, Romania (2 hours 10 mins Flight). Without a second thought, I booked it only to realize later that Romania is not in the Schengen region. Thankfully they allowed visitors with an EU residence permit and I was relieved.

After the trip, I wrote about this on various blogs and tens of people contacted me to know if I was bluffing, and if no, how on earth the Ryan Air carried me for a cost less than an average McD Chicken Burger meal.

So here are some interesting reasons how Ryan Air can sell so cheap yet remain profitable year after year.

The airline industry is a game of fragile economics and Ryan Air had established itself within the market with the best of the strategies, eventually making it successful mainly due to these 4 reasons:

Low cost

• No frills, you pay even to breathe inside the plane (just kidding)
• Self service, forgot to check in, pay 40 euros
• Big bags, Pay euros.
• Small airports with low airport fees
• Least usage of airport ground services. They carry their own stairs.
• Short turn around time, so the Aircraft on Ground (AoG time) is low and returns are high.
• Operate only Boeing 737- save cost on maintenance and training
• Carries more international passengers than any other airline

Safety

• Excellent safety record.
• No fatal accident to date in 32 years of service.
• As the crew is flying more, they have more takeoffs and landings than other airlines, more trained crew.
• Only Boeing 737 fleet, easy maintenance so no messing up there.

Connectivity

• Has a fleet of 400 Boeing 737–800 aircraft
• Operates in 33 countries
• Operates from over 200 airports
• Has 86 bases across Europe and North Africa
• Operates over 1,800 routes
• Operates over 2,000 flights per day
• Deep penetration into small regions

On-time

• They market that their 95% of the flights follow the schedule
• This is a big plus for the travelers who are using air travel as pure utility and least leisure.

As mentioned earlier, I myself traveled for Euro 2.99 ticket four times and for Euro 4.99 many times.

P.S. However, I have also seen Ryan Air tickets going Euro 400+. So its basic economics, the game of demand and supply.