Budget airlines have conquered Europe. This is how they did it
As much as we like to grumble about them, there’s no denying that Ryanair and easyJet have reshaped much of the air travel experience in their image – and not just in Britain.
Having built their businesses offering cheap flights to the Mediterranean, the strategy for Ryanair and easyJet has changed somewhat in recent years. These days, you’re just as likely to find them jetting between two different European capitals, as you are to find them flying Britons to Alicante.
This diversification appears to be paying off. According to aviation analyst OAG, Ryanair is now the number one carrier at 15 of Europe’s 50 busiest airports, which includes not just Stansted and Dublin, but also the likes of Palma, Valencia, Naples, Alicante, Berlin Porto, Tenerife, Bergamo, Malaga, Marseille and Venice.
How did Ryanair and easyJet conquer the European aviation market? Isn’t it about time that we celebrated this British/Irish success story? And how do ordinary Europeans feel about these two budget carriers from the British Isles conquering their continent?
How have Ryanair and easyJet changed over the years?
Ever since their big breakthrough in the 1990s, Ryanair and easyJet have been expanding massively in terms of their passenger numbers – partly at the expense of the larger “full service” carriers.
Over the past 20 years, Ryanair has gone from carrying some 40.5 million passengers to within touching distance of 200 million (197 million to be exact) in 2024. It’s a similar story with easyJet, which now ferries some 89 million passengers each year – almost twice as much as 20 years ago.
Cheap breaks to the Med are as popular as ever. But both airlines have expanded their presence across the Continent, including shifting beyond the usual leisure routes to capitalise on the wider demand for connectivity across Europe.
Across its entire network, Ryanair currently offers 2,598 different pairings between cities. More than two thirds of those have no UK or Irish connection at all – for example, Brussels Charleroi to Milan Bergamo, or Copenhagen to Alicante.
Of course, some routes will be a lot busier and more regular than others (like Stansted to Dublin, for example), so the numbers don’t tell the full story, but they do show how Ryanair’s profile has changed in the past decade.
“The international expansion has been a continual process over the past 25 years,” says John Grant, an aviation analyst at OAG. “Their first moves were into the summer sun markets, but they also moved faster than other carriers to take advantage of EU migration movements.”
What has driven this expansion?
A big driver of the international expansion has been the demand for leisure travel from other countries – for example, routes from Germany and Italy to popular holiday destinations in Greece and the Mediterranean.
Last year, Ryanair added an additional 9 million flights to its summer schedule, while easyJet added around 1 million. Data from OAG suggests that much of this expansion came through additional flights from Germany, Italy and Poland.
The growing popularity of certain holiday destinations – notably Croatia and Morocco – has also been a boon for the low-cost carriers. Last spring, Ryanair opened its new base in Dubrovnik, its third in Croatia, where it currently offers 19 routes.
Lastly, Ryanair has also been adding domestic routes, most notably in Spain and Italy, where low-cost carriers now cater for more than 50 per cent of the sizable domestic air travel market.
Overall, Ryanair’s domestic routes have expanded around one third in the past five years. More than 30 million customers fly domestically on Ryanair each year, accounting for around 20 per cent of all tickets sold.
Why has Ryanair been so successful in Europe?
For aviation analyst John Grant, the biggest factor in Ryanair’s continental expansion has been the lack of effective competition in the short-haul market.
As they did in the early 2000s in Britain, both Ryanair and easyJet have been able to eat into the market share of legacy carriers like Iberia and ITA Airways, which aren’t positioned to offer the same no-frills, low-cost ticket prices.
“Ryanair already has one of the lowest cost bases in the industry, as well as huge fleets of planes,” says analyst John Grant. “They’re famously not afraid to defend their position with some really aggressive fares if necessary.”
He adds that the airline has also emerged as a savvy deal-maker behind the scenes when it comes to winning over tourism boards and government authorities.
“Ryanair recently signed an agreement with the Moroccan government that allows them to operate domestic services there.” Crucially, the agreement will let them compete directly with Morocco’s national airline (Royal Air Maroc) in exchange for creating more jobs in the country.
What do Europeans make of Ryanair and easyJet?
While we can’t resist the lure of their low ticket prices, we Britons rarely hold back when it comes to airing our frustrations about low-cost carriers. But how do the Europeans feel about them?
Looking at the Italian and Spanish reviews on TrustPilot, Ryanair and easyJet tend to get the same treatment they get from British travellers. Although it’s usually frustrated customers who are motivated to leave reviews in the first place.
“Ryanair is like that friend who’s always a little chaotic but somehow manages to get the job done,” says Valentina Nicastro, travel blogger and creator of My Italian Diaries.
“Lots of us complain about it constantly, but the planes are always packed because it’s so cheap. Plus, it covers Italian destinations like Rimini, Pescara and Perugia that most airlines generally don’t include in their routes.”
Neither has the airline been hampered by the fact that it is based in Ireland and typically associated with the British market.
“Ryanair is the first airline that Italians think of when it comes to low-cost tickets,” says content creator and documentary maker Andrea Lorenzon. “We don’t really care about the company’s nationality when it’s that cheap.”
