Ryanair Set for US Routes

Irish budget airline Ryanair is planning to offer trans-Atlantic flights from Ireland and Britain in coming years, with seats starting as low at €10 each.

Ryanair spokesman in Dublin Stephen McNamara told the Irish Voice on Tuesday that the no frills airline's plans to fly trans-Atlantic will all depend no how soon they can get hold of inexpensive aircrafts.

"We are looking for an appropriate fleet of aircraft at a low cost, and once we have the ability to secure the aircrafts we will try and put in place a trans-Atlantic route," said McNamara.

Although the route will run under a different name, low cost flying will still be the ultimate aim.

"Ryanair have always been famous for their low cost deals, and even in the current environment we continue to run f10 flights," McNamara said. "And yesterday we committed to reducing fares for the winter by 20%," he added with regard to the airline's European flights.

McNamara said that Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary hopes to start off with a fleet of 50 or 60 aircraft for the trans-Atlantic venture and expand upwards. "In the long term we will look to have a huge fleet of aircrafts similar to that of Ryanair at the moment," said McNamara.

Currently Ryanair have 168 aircrafts flying into 26 European countries.

"The Ryanair model is always to start off on a route and then become the biggest operator on a particular route through buying low cost aircrafts," said McNamara.

As soon as planes are purchased, McNamara estimates that low cost trans-Atlantic flights will be on offer to most major destinations in the U.S. The airline is currently looking at Boston, New York, Florida, Los Angeles and San Francisco as possible destinations.

"It will be the routes that are already popular," McNamara said. "We may look at airports that are underused at the moment and look to make the appropriate deals with them at keeping the costs down and getting passengers through as quickly as possible."

With the recent ease on open skies rules, Ryanair have in the past been in talks with Long Island's MacArthur Airport in Islip, 50 miles east of New York City.

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Nster.com