A number of stories surfaced during the week about Ryanair, as CEO Michael O’Leary spoke openly about the airline’s future plans. Earlier in the week, O’Leary was reported to have ordered pilots to reduce takeoff speed and fly slower in a bid to save fuel. He said Ryanair now had what he described as "Formula 1" telemetry on all its aircraft, called an Operational Flight Data Monitoring system.
"We get all the height, speed and everything else that the planes are flying at," explained Mr O'Leary. "We're now able to manage our flights in order to require our pilots to comply with what we term the approved flight profile, which is the takeoff speed, the cruise speed, the descent, the landing – all that kind of stuff."
However in a no-doubt less popular story, O’Leary has also spoken of his desire to eliminate hold-luggage from his service by pricing it ever-higher. Not just that, he also spoke of a future where carry on luggage would be charged, too. Speaking at a news conference in London, O'Leary said that Ryanair had increased its charge for hold luggage by €20 for the summer period. "We will keep increasing charges until we get rid of (hold) bags,” he said.
Ryanair has reduced the number of its passengers who checked in hold baggage from 80% to 19% and that this was saving the airline "a fortune in money". He said: "We will never get rid of (hold) bags but I would be disappointed if we don't get our figure for (hold) bags down from around 20% to 10%." Asked if Ryanair would consider charging for hand luggage, Mr O'Leary said: "At some point in the future I think it's likely that airlines will do it but I can't get my head round how you would do it. I think it's unlikely that we will do it."
