Skift Take
We believe that a partnership between Norwegian and Ryanair makes sense and could take off with few complications. But we don't believe converting long-term rivals to new friends is done easily in aviation. Still, if anyone could argue until this gets done, it would be O'Leary--with credit going to Willie Walsh. That alone is a remarkable thing.
During a meeting between Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary and Skift in Copenhagen on Tuesday, the outspoken low-cost carrier leader answered questions on what will come next as the airline pushes forward with growth in Europe, and what he believes will be necessary for all of Europe's airlines to prosper.
The airline recently announced a new bases in Hamburg, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, and Cologne, which marks a direct incursion on Lufthansa's turf, and competition against Lufthansa's newly rebranded low-cost carrier Eurowings.
But O'Leary tells us he is not worried about a backlash from Lufthansa over Ryanair's growth in Germany.
"If Eurowings want to compete with us they'll have to lower their fares by 50%," O'Leary told us.
"Eurowings shows no signs of being able to lower its fares and even if they do we are still making a margin of 15-20% after tax, with fares that are 50% lower than Eurowings. If Eurowings want to lower their fares the markets will grow even faster. In our experience thus far at the new German bases in Nuremberg, in Hamburg, in Stuttgart, and Cologne, is that we have high load factors — ov
