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Martin Keene

Ryanair will offer connecting flights onto rivals' routes starting this year

The Irish budget airline plans to hook up with both Aer Lingus and Norwegian Air.

RYANAIR WILL LINK up with rival airlines to offer ‘feeder flights’ onto long-haul routes, with the first of the deals to start by the end of the year.

The low-cost carrier also plans to offer punters the ability to book connecting flights on its own routes by the end of this month, with the airline handling baggage transfers for transfer passengers.

“This will be a big deal for us,” Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said, adding that the changes would allow passengers to ‘self-connect’ between destinations with bookings made via the airline.

“I think this is going to be a big advantage for Ryanair, given our network, it will be a big advantage for Ryanair getting more of the business travel market in Europe,” he said.

The airline will first trial interconnecting routes for its own flights through Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, with other bases to follow.

Connecting flights with “one to two partner airlines” are due to begin between September and the end of the year, Jacobs said.

Aer Lingus and Norwegian Air – which recently launched low-cost transatlantic routes from several Irish bases – where the first two airlines the carrier was expecting to use for both long-haul and short-haul flights.

Ryanair has long been reported to be courting deals with the two airlines, though its finance chief, Neil Sorahan, recently said the setup was “not hugely high” on his to-do list.

Norwegian deal

The significant shift in Ryanair’s strategy comes as part of its bid to become the ‘Amazon of air travel’ – handling everything from package holidays to flight bookings on rival airlines through its website and app.

The feeder-flight move would allow passengers to book their whole trip with the short-haul specialist and have their luggage automatically moved between planes.

In turn, it would open up Norwegian and Aer Lingus’s US routes to more airports across Europe at little extra cost, and help guarantee higher-priced seats to Ryanair.

In February, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary told airline industry business publication Air Transport World that Ryanair and Norwegian were close to reaching an agreement.

Ryanair - new connection from Frankfurt Hahn Michael O'Leary DPA / PA Images DPA / PA Images / PA Images

“We are ready to co-operate with Norwegian right now,” he said.

“We are finalizing technical implementation as Ryanair and Norwegian operate on two different reservation systems,” he said, adding, “It is better to work with them instead of compete with them (Norwegian).”

Competition

Jacobs today said he expected that Ryanair would end up working with “a raft of legacy carriers in the coming years”.

“They get to focus on what they make more money on, which is flying long-haul, and they get to fill their long-haul flights at a cheap rate of customer acquisition.”

Low-cost operators like Ryanair have been trying to discourage the major carriers from competing with them on short-haul routes and instead focus on their intercontinental services.

However some larger airlines, such as Aer Lingus stablemate British Airways, have fought back against Ryanair by offering no-frills fares and charging for meals.

Written by Paul O’Donoghue and posted on Fora.ie

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    Mute DaMoons
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    Nov 30th 2019, 7:07 PM

    Again, the media pedal the Government story on average income being 51k. The most accurate statistic includes in the same report showed the median income (which represents 90 percent of the population) being less than 24k per year. A hell of a distance from the 51k figure the Journal and government are spinning.

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    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
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    Nov 30th 2019, 7:47 PM

    @DaMoons: while I agree there is a discrepancy, the figure quoted above is household income compared with your figure of individual income. Household income often combines 2 or more individual incomes as it is calculated based on total income divided by number of households, and not individuals.

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    Mute DaMoons
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    Nov 30th 2019, 8:15 PM

    @Brian Ó Dálaigh: Well, 2 incomes from the 90 percent quoted above still wouldn’t reach 51k. So it obviously points to 3rd and 4th earners living in the same household. Would it be a stretch for me to suggest that it is probably down to adult children not being able to afford somewhere to rent? FG were so proud of this statistic this week. Think about it.

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    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
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    Nov 30th 2019, 9:00 PM

    @DaMoons: I’d say you’d be pretty bang on the money (no pun intended) with that comment. The slightest bit of analysis into the figures and you’d wonder why Fine Gael would be proud of it. And, remember, these are average figures and not median figures which would far more accurately reflect the reality for the vast majority of people.

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    Mute Manbackonboard
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    Nov 30th 2019, 7:03 PM

    Constantly broke.

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    Mute StillNotNews
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    Nov 30th 2019, 8:00 PM

    @Manbackonboard: Same, Keep the recovery going, For TDs.

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    Mute SC
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    Nov 30th 2019, 7:06 PM

    With an average rent of 24k and childcare for one child 12k, that is just about enough for a small family. It’s not enough for two children.

    And assuming that’s the median, half of households have less. Is it any surprise we have a birth rate below replacement now?

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    Mute Finbarr Barry
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    Nov 30th 2019, 7:20 PM

    @SC: and they are quoting disposable income… I. E income after all expenses such as mortgage/rent, utilities et. Etc are paid…. What a load of BS

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    Mute Finbarr Barry
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    Nov 30th 2019, 7:23 PM

    @Finbarr Barry: https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/cso-figures-show-mean-disposable-income-is-now-almost-23000-967144.html

    CSO figures show average disposable income in 2018 was €23,000; 9.6% up on 2017

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    Mute Sos
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    Nov 30th 2019, 7:32 PM

    @Finbarr Barry: disposable income is income after government tax has been paid. Discretionary income is income after bills have been paid. Given the very high cost of living here I would expect that to be a lot less.

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    Mute Peter Hughes
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    Nov 30th 2019, 7:42 PM

    @SC: I’m delighted, we deserve it we keep voting for it……keep the rippoffs going lads there are legions of suckers who are stuffing your pockets full of cash and keep voting for you……dumb is an understatement.

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    Mute SC
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    Dec 1st 2019, 10:24 AM

    @Peter Hughes: the government has no power to interfere with the economy because it goes against EU rules in most situations (we can’t borrow to boost housing stock, we can’t subsidise rural industry to take pressure off the cities and keep our language alive etc) so it doesn’t make a difference who you vote for.

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    Mute keano
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    Dec 1st 2019, 10:37 AM

    @Finbarr Barry: no Finbarr I believe disposable incoming is your Income after Tax. Before Rent, mortgage, heat, light, etc etc. which would make it a lot more realistic figure and nothing to be proud of !

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    Mute Anastasia
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    Nov 30th 2019, 8:06 PM

    Spin spin spin the average wage is 20000 euro for a 38 hour week or am I working in the wrong place

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    Mute DaMoons
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    Nov 30th 2019, 8:36 PM

    @Anastasia: 90 percent of the people working in Ireland earn less than 24,000. This figure from the Government is pure spin.

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    Mute Brian Clancy
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    Nov 30th 2019, 9:06 PM

    @DaMoons: that’s rubbish anyway for a start

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    Mute John fitzpatrick
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    Dec 2nd 2019, 8:57 AM

    @DaMoons: so you are saying 90% are on minimum wage? Or are you saying that a huge portion of people are part time. What are you saying. What ever your saying it’s BS. But go , keep on plugging the SF agenda, 13% of the people believe you.

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    Mute Harry Trafford
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    Nov 30th 2019, 10:36 PM

    I work 50+hours a week. I’ve a wife and 2 kids. Council house and a car loan, I’m sure like alot of other houses. All I see is the weekly shop getting more expensive, insurance through the roof, more taxes. I’m not seeing any recovery around here. I’d dream of have 51k disposable income. I call bs on the whole thing. This ff fg government are a joke and need to be shown that we are done being fed lie after lie and tax after tax.

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    Mute Ro-your-nan
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    Nov 30th 2019, 7:43 PM

    All the poor-mouths on here – every pub in the country always seem rammed with people swallowing their disposable incomes down their fat necks. Drink less Irish-alcos and you might feel a little better off. Now I’m off to the pub

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    Mute SC
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    Dec 1st 2019, 10:26 AM

    @Ro-your-nan: I don’t think spending a few hundred a year on drink and a few hundred on electronics explains why people can’t afford ten thousand for childcare or 24k for rent… And my car insurance has nearly doubled even though I’ve never even had a penalty point so we’ll all be paying another grand for that soon enough.

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    Mute Ro-your-nan
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    Dec 1st 2019, 1:11 PM

    @SC: move out to Wicklow and don’t have a kid and you’ll be grand. Reckon people are dropping easily €10k a year (€200 per week) on booze. Look at all the snowflakes eating / drinking in town but they can’t save for a deposit.

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    Mute CJ Stewart
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    Dec 1st 2019, 10:28 AM

    ..well somebody must have disposed of my 51k without me seeing it !

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    Mute Michelle Keeley
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    Dec 1st 2019, 8:20 AM

    https://www.thejournal.ie/rish-workers-earn-an-average-of-e23-an-hour-4677090-Jun2019/

    According to the CSO, the average full time wage is approx €48000 and average partime €17000.

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    Mute Luap
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    Dec 1st 2019, 9:41 AM

    51k DISPOSABLE income? Hahahaha

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