Eddie Wilson of Ryanair says the Dublin-based Ryanair Labs technology centre has been “particularly important,” because situations that would have resulted in operational “meltdown days” five or six years ago can now be managed in real-time.
“Optimising the allocation of crews has been critical, not just piling extra bodies in. The support and systems that we have are homegrown systems and they are working very effectively this summer. We are able to get through without cancellations, unlike many of our competitors,” he said.
Ryanair Labs employs nearly 1,000 people. Its main focus is IT infrastructure and cybersecurity, but about half is split between revenue development and operations management. Wilson said operational technologies will come “more in focus” as the B737 MAXs start to arrive. “The way that Ryanair Labs has exploited ancillary revenues in the last few years has really been visionary. Bringing that in-house and developing those systems ourselves has been, I think, one of the great sea changes in our development over the last decade.”
He said Ryanair’s competitors have been experiencing “very significant challenges from tacked on legacy systems that don’t talk to each other.”
