Ryanair prices would go up if Ryanair had got a hold on aer lingus.

Ryanair price are lower where they are in competition with aer lingus or easyjet and significantly higher where there is no route competition.

If Fungus went under a new airline would have to start functioning on similar routes to avoid a Ryan monopoly. As it is we have two airlines owned by the same people effectively not in real competition with each other.

Wrong. Most countries don’t have a national airline.

Because the UK has laws which encourage competition between businesses in the same sector, such laws might be infringed upon if the two key players in the sector are owned by the same people.

This helps to protect the consumer and stops price fixing.

why did the UK allow the BA Iberia merger then? surely that reduces the Spanish/UK competition?

Ryanair are profitable. No matter what they think themselves, Aer Lingus are more budget than luxury. BA they are not. O’Leary may be intensely annoying, but he’s been effective at building up a successful airline. Ireland’s a small country with many non-Irish airline flying in daily. Can Ireland really support two airlines. I’ve no problem letting O’Leary maintain and increase his stake in Aer Lingus if it leads to more profits and more revenue for the state. Let him at it.

As a customer I find Aer lingus as completive if not cheaper. Ryan air is profitable because it promises cheap flights but by the time you add booking fees, luggage (extra weight) etc, He’s making a fortune off the passengers. I prefer to have a choice with whom I fly with, an air line that treats you with courtesy or a cowboy who is out to milk an obnoxious profit out of you. €503,000,000 profit is what he made this year. Companies need to be financially viable but should this be at the cost of basic service/ courtesy to customers.

@ Mick – I agree with you in that Ryanair have cut customer service to the bone. The old analogy of running an airplane like a bus service. To be honest though, from where I live, the only way I can fly to Dublin these days is with Aer Lingus and, while sometime’s they’re better than Ryanair, most of the time it’s a very similar level of service, and sometimes it has been unacceptable – delays when flying with 2 small kids with no apology or explanation, not enough baggage space on board, hidden charges, etc. I’ll take worse service with a reduced price, but I really don’t think Aer Lingus is a different level of luxury or a different pricing level overall. They’re offering a similar service at relatively similar prices overall, it’s just Ryanair seem to be better at making a profit. There’s a great comment below that wonders if Aer Lingus would stay in business if and when they are a fully private company. I don’t believe Ireland needs a “national” airline, and I don’t believe that 2 Irish airlines can effectively thrive in the same market, so let the best company win.

There’s over 20 million passengers flying in and out of Ireland every year. That’s more than enough to support two airlines.

Not all of those 20 million are flying on the two Irish Airlines ( taking the minis like AE out of the equation. I’ve a pile of work to do, but I’m interested to find out what percentage of the 20mill are Ryanair and AL passengers. Will have a search when I get a bit of time…

Well he has a say and has for the past 6 years and Air Lingus is not the national airline any more it is owned by shareholders and M. O’Leary is a shareholder

@ Mick are you serious with , “milk an obnoxious profit out of you?” ya may do your numbers again, Ryanair made about ?6 profit per passenger last year and about ?4 the year before, whatever else you think about them. you can’t say that’s not bloody fair? if you think its not fair you’ll get some fright when you find out how much profit the last shop you visited made out of you…

I thank deregulation. If it wasn’t Ryanair it would be Easyjet.

@ Chris – d’oh, this should be a reply to your comment above.

Irish Airlines shouldn’t be limited to Irish Only flights. Aer Lingus should take a page from Ryanairs book.