Ryanair ponders doing without baggage handlers

www.ryanair.com

Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget air carrier, said it is considering the possibility of having passengers carry their checked-in luggage to the plane in order to cut out the need for baggage-handling staff.

“We would say to passengers … take your own bag down through airport security, leave it at the bottom of the steps, we put it in the hold and on arrival we deliver it to the aircraft steps and you take it with you,” the airline’s CEO Michael O’Leary said at a recent news conference.

The airline’s business has been focussed on cost reduction and it has already announced that it will do away with airport check-in desks from October, saving as much as €40 million per year.

A spokesperson for the carrier said that if the luggage plan put quick flight turnarounds in jeopardy it would not pursue the idea.

In other news, Ryanair confirmed that it will restart talks with Airbus and Boeing “in early summer.” O’Leary said that from earlier talks it was clear that both companies were “in denial”, saying their orders were robust. He said that Ryanair is still interested in placing orders for “200 to 300 aircraft” from either of the manufacturers.

The airline executive added that if the price is right, “they know where we are … We’re about the only airline in the world with enough cash to buy planes.”

www.ryanair.com