"European airline plans to ban luggage"

Monday, July 12, 2004

Airline plans to ban luggage
Agence France-Presse


HAVING squeezed out just about every cost saving from Internet-only
booking, underused airports and easy-to-clean seats, Irish budget
airline Ryanair unveiled its latest idea to keep prices low - banning
luggage.

Well, not all luggage. But passengers using the carrier in coming years
could find themselves turned away if they arrive at the airport carrying
a heavy backpack.

The airline said on Friday that it was pondering a plan to end the
practice of putting large luggage in the holds of its planes, meaning
passengers would be able to take only whatever small bags they can bring
onto the plane.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary, facing tough stock market
pressure following disappointing results, admitted that other
cost-saving measures might have been taken as far as they could.

"Now we must be cleverer," he told the Financial Times. 

"The objective is to get rid of hold baggage altogether," O'Leary said,
saying that this could save Ryanair five pounds ($12.83)) per person -
worthwhile, given that some of its current tickets go for as little as
99 pence ($2.54).

A spokesman for Ryanair confirmed that the plan was being considered,
but said it was thus far only in theory.

"We have already completed all the obvious cost cuts: moving to the
Internet, using under-utilised cheaper secondary airports," he told AFP.

"We have already begun to use leather seats because they are easier to
clean, and taking out reclining seats because our flights are very
short."

With luggage, where there were now a series of allowances and excess
charges for cabin and hold bags, Ryanair wanted to "make it simpler",
the spokesman said.

"Our aim is to find a way to remove costs from our business that we can
pass on through lower fares."

A ban on large bags would not be too onerous given that Ryanair's
passengers make relatively short flights to European airports and stay
on average for only just over two days, he argued.

"Well over 50 percent of our passengers at the moment travel only with
cabin baggage," he added.

At the start of June the no-frills carrier reported its first fall in
annual profits since joining the stock market seven years ago,
undermined by ever-lower fares in a fiercely competitive market.

The airline's share price has also suffered after the European
Commission ruled in February it had benefited from illegal state aid for
setting up a service to Belgium's publicly-owned Charleroi airport.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************