Ryanair to offer transatlantic flights by 2024
Budget airline Ryanair could offer discount transatlantic flights in the next five to ten years, boss Michael O'leary has claimed.
A shortage of available long haul aircrafts means the service can not be launched immediately but O'Leary is confident that they will begin operating cheap flights to the US during his time in charge, reports the Irish Mirror.
He said: "We've had a business plan ready to roll for a transatlantic, low-fares airline.
"The difficulty is, I keep cautioning, is that there's no availability of long-haul aircraft for another four or five years.
"So unless we can secure a fleet of low-cost aircraft, frankly, the business doesn't get off the ground.
"The future is very hard to foretell, it certainly is unlikely to happen within the next five years, but I'd be disappointed if it doesn't happen within the period, maybe, five to 10 years."
Mr. O'Leary's comments follow claims he made in February that the airline could offer passengers flights to the US for as little as €10.
Passengers who wish to avail of the knock down prices will have to pay extra for everything from meals to baggage.
He said: 'We can make money on 99 cent fares in Europe. Not every seat will be €10 of course; there will also need to be a very high number of business or premium seats.'
Last year he said: 'There is 15 per cent of the public who will pay for the frills and you will be mad to switch off from that'.
The airline intends to offer the cheap flights from between 12 to 14 European cities to the same amount of destinations in America, reports the Daily Mail.
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