Ryanair has appointed two senior executives, Mr Michael Cawley and Mr Howard Millar, to share the role of deputy chief executive.

Mr Cawley, who currently holds the role of chief financial officer, has been named chief operating officer of the budget airline as well as deputy chief executive.

He will share the latter role with Mr Howard Millar, currently director of finance, who has been named chief financial officer. Both appointments became effective from January 1st.

A spokeswoman for the airline said the appointments recognised the role both Mr Cawley and Mr Miller have played in running the company alongside Mr O'Leary in recent years. They in no way suggested that chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary, was considering stepping down in the near future, she said.

Analysts welcomed the move, saying Ryanair was filling out its management structure following its rapid growth in recent years. It has recently appointed a director of communications and a director of treasury as well.

"They are adding more depth and beefing up management," one analyst said. "Because the company is bigger, it needs more management."

However, the unusual decision to have two deputy chief executives is likely to raise eyebrows in some quarters, particularly coming from a company renowned for keeping a lid on costs. Meanwhile, Ryanair's largest competitor, EasyJet said that its December traffic figures were up by nearly 39 per cent on the year-earlier period but load factors fell to 77 per cent from 79.9 per cent.

EasyJet's performance fell far short of Ryanair's last month when the Irish airline reported a 64 per cent rise in numbers and a load factor of 85 per cent.

EasyJet, has been affected by its acquisition last year of rival British budget airline, Go. While the load factor in EasyJet's original business was a healthy 82.8 per cent, it fell to 75.4 per cent in the Go part of the business.

EasyJet's shares closed more than 4 per cent lower on the news and analysts said it was not helped by its unhedged exposure to oil prices given the threat of war in Iraq. By contrast, Ryanair's fuel costs are fully hedged.

Indeed, one analyst suggested in yesterday's Wall Street Journal that any knee-jerk reaction to the outbreak of hostilities which saw Ryanair's share price fall could "give rise to a rare value opportunity" for investors in Ryanair.