The end of the 10 euro plane tickets, warns the head of Ryanair

With energy prices flaring up, accelerated by the war in Ukraine, the days of €10 or cheaper airfares are over, warns the head of low-cost airline Ryanair, Michael O’Leary.

“I don’t think there will be ten euro tickets anymore because oil prices are much higher after Russia invaded Ukraine. Our really cheap deals (…), I don’t think we’ll see those prices again for a few years.” , he said speaking to BBC Radio 4 today.

In the last twenty years, low-cost airlines such as the Irish Ryanair or its British competitor, Easyjet, have shaken up the waters of air transport and “smashed” the prices, contributing to a jump in short trips, mainly city trips for the weekend.

And, according to O’Leary, average ticket prices on Ryanair are expected to increase over the next 5 years by around €10, to around €50 per route.

This, given the many surcharges of low-cost airlines mainly for baggage, could quickly cause the total cost of a return trip to rise by hundreds of euros or pounds and undermine demand.

Michael O’Leary, however, wants to believe that demand for air travel will be sustained and that “low-cost” carriers will be able to cope.

Today he also succeeded against Brexit, which significantly reduced the access of European workers to the UK, where they previously held hundreds of thousands of jobs.

“The labor market is very tight, particularly for unskilled jobs in hospitality and catering, distribution and agriculture, as well as security and baggage handlers at airports,” the Ryanair chief stressed.

“And if there was any honesty in (outgoing Prime Minister Boris) Johnson’s government, they would admit that Brexit was a disaster for the free movement of workers and that one of the main problems facing the British economy at the moment is a lack of workers.” , he added.