Ryanair over the last 3-4 years... became so expensive...

Good afternoon everyone,

Ryanair today announced that over the next 5 years, it would like to double its capacity from Belgium. Living there, I remember very well the time where week flights were ALL around 0.01 - 10 EUR (even in holiday season) to many destinations. Weekend flights were sometimes around 25 EUR.
In low season one could virtually fly for free, which was back than also one of the long term targets of Ryanair, to make the transfer itself almost free and charging extra for all 'extras'.

Nowadays, I don't understand what is happening... Flights under 35 EUR are very rare, and 80-90-100 EUR flights one way are no exception anymore. As a frequent flyer and ryanair fan, I even start to shift to traditional carriers for my flights to for instance Milan since for maybe 10 EUR more, I fly from Brussels National to Milan Linate, with a direct train connection, instead of driving and parking in Weeze Charleroi or some other small airport.

I know that EU legislation has not become favourable (EU261, soclal law changes,...) but what has happened? Is it the same from other regions in Europe?
And more importantly, when the new aircraft start arriving and supply going ûp, can we foresee a decline to 'normal' price levels again?
Or is Ryanair repositioning itself to just another a little bit cheaper airline than the rest, and when one calculates all extra charges for driving to the small airports (fuel, parking, time,...), that it is not even worth flying FR anymore?

thanks for your comments already!
Ernie

I have observed the same.
For instance, in January last year I booked a CRL-BUD for 1 euro; this January, it cost me 10 euros; and later this year, it's priced at 25 euros or more. Only one year ago, there were many flights to be had for free or nearly so, often less than 1 euro, even 0,01 euro ...
Yes, I am afraid that Ryanair is not a ULCC (Ultra Low Cost Carrier) any more !
i would not say that Ryanair prices are on the same level than the legacy carriers' - but they certainly are now in the same range as those of easyJet, Jetairfly or Vueling ...
Will those prices go down in the future and revert to their former lowest level ? Never say never - but I very much doubt it.

You are right, especially the last 2 years it has changed dramatically. I miss those days where I could head to CRL in the morning, fly to Bergamo, have a lunch at Lake Como and fly back for 1 EUR in the evening. All those short trips someone probably does not do anymore when it is 34 * 2 EUR.
We can only hope, since Ryanair wants to achieve substantial growth in the next years, with 200+ new aircraft coming in, that there might be a decrease in prices again. I believe, if the trend is not changed, they will not be able to fill those 200 aircraft. People chose Ryanair if it is a lot cheaper, but not if they pay almost the same and have to go to a deserted airfield without transport connections...
Let's hope some of the old days come back... London Stansted, Milan Bergamo, Stockholm Sk, and those other routes with flights of 1-1.30 hours for reasonable base fares... I never thought a couple of years ago I would shift to the "established, high-cost, inefficient" traditional airlines like Brussels Airlines, Alitalia, ... but now I am not certain about that anymore.
Sometimes people blame it on the oil price, but this is also not consistent. In early 2008, oil prices were at record highs, and still, the flights were never cheaper than at that time...
Let's keep on hoping for a new shift again away from high fares with just 1 low fare every 3 weeks mid-week somewhere at 6 in the morning...

No airline can fly for the amounts you are discussing, when FR had those ridiculous low fares a few years ago, it was for marketing reasons, not because they wanted to cater "Cheap Charlies".

And I am surprised even some member on this site dont know what LCC/ULCC means.  LOW COST means how "cheap" an airline is managed, not how much they charge their customers!

We know that LC means "low cost", but it was generally understood by the public as meaning "low fare".
The "ridiculous" low fares were part of Ryanair's strategy not so long ago.
Mick O'Leary was then saying : "I have a vision in the future that we will be flying everyone for free, but I'm damned if I'm going to pay for them to fly !". (quoted by Paul Kilduff in "The little book of Mick", page 8).
There has recently been a notable change in Ryanair's strategy, that is what is pointed out in this topic.

Ryanair is by far the cheapest airline in Europe, that is well documented in their annual reports.
They may not be so cheap "Cheap Charlies" like them to be!

it is ridiculous, look now for July for weekend trips to Milan (Malpensa/Orio/Linate) and from Belgium Charleroi or Dusseldorf Weeze or Eindhoven you will see that Ryanair is MORE expensive than Alitalia or Brussels Airlines who fly from BRU to Linate instead of the minor airports! This is really insane, what is going on at Ryanair?

Ryanflyer13 wrote:it is ridiculous, look now for July for weekend trips to Milan (Malpensa/Orio/Linate) and from Belgium Charleroi or Dusseldorf Weeze or Eindhoven you will see that Ryanair is MORE expensive than Alitalia or Brussels Airlines who fly from BRU to Linate instead of the minor airports! This is really insane, what is going on at Ryanair?

Reality my dear friend, reality!

it is a scary reality:) but maybe when winter is over the prices will go down again since everyone is booking now for summer probably