Ryanair has expanded its offerings to business customers with the launch of three new daily routes from Dublin to Zaventem, Brussels' main airport, as well as nine new routes and an expansion to 21 existing services.
At a press conference today, chief executive Michael O'Leary and chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs, also confirmed the pending availability of luxuries including premium seats for business travellers in signs of a further shift from a scrupulous no-frills model.
Details, however, on those seats and further business “goodies” are being withheld for a forthcoming launch.
Mr Jacobs said Zaventem is "one of the iconic routes for the last 35 years while Ireland has been involved with Europe" attracting significant traffic from Dublin. Their three-times-daily service to the airport will begin on October 26th.
Many of the new services will mean savings on both flights and the necessity to stay overnight due to increased frequency, he said.
Other routes launched include Basel, Bucharest, Cologne, Glasgow, Lisbon, Marrakesh, Nice and Prague.
Frequency will increase on 21 existing services, including London Gatwick, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Rome, Krakow, Berlin, Malaga and Warsaw.
About 25 per cent of the airline’s forecasted 86 million passengers this year are business customers and they intend to grow that proportion.
The pitch was also directed at the tax payer, with Mr Kenny explaining: "Last year the Government spent €6.9 million flying; that involved just under 7,000 trips to Europe.
"We estimate that the Irish Government this year alone, from September onwards, can save €3 million on their annual travel bill."
Michael O'Leary commended Finance Minister Michael Noonan for the removal of the travel tax which he said had "destroyed" Irish tourism and following which had allowed Ryanair to deliver an additional 1.6 million passengers into the country in the first year since its cancellation.
On Brussels, he said: “Kenny [JACOBS]has promised me that we will get 75 per cent of Aer Lingus’s business traffic onto Ryanair flights over the next couple of years if I change over and become nice to people; caring, cuddly and sharing, so I am doing my level best...and funnily enough it’s working,” he said.
