Europe’s largest budget airline, Ryanair, is to stay in Europe after all.
The company’s board had to admit that it is not considering flights to the US.
The announcement comes just three days after the carrier said it was working on plans to fly trans-Atlantic and for as little as €10.
"In the light of recent press coverage, the Board of Ryanair Holdings plc wishes to clarify that it has not considered or approved any transatlantic project and does not intend to do so."
That statement was on Thursday. But on Monday a spokesperson had said the company was in talks with manufacturers for planes to serve new routes between European airports and 12 to 14 American ones.
"European consumers want lower cost travel to the USA and the same for Americans coming to Europe. We see it as a logical development in the European market."
"The business plan is there but it's dependent on attaining viable long haul aircraft and we estimate that's 4 to 5 years away."
Now the Irish airline has had to U-turn, but there is no news of what has happened to the spokesperson.
CEO Michael O’Leary’s ambition to see his company provide flights across the Atlantic is long known. Reaching that reality, however, has been the undoing of many of his predecessors.
Freddie Laker’s 1977 low-cost flights to the US lasted only five years before the airline went bust. Recently Norwegian Airlines offered cheap fares from London to New York, but the company delved into an annual loss for the first time in eight years.
Icelandic carrier Wow Air says later this year it will offer £99 tickets from London Gatwick to two US cities with a stopover in Reykjavik.
