Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s group chief executive says that the Heathrow third runway project is unlikely to progress before the 2040s.
Ryanair plans to invest heavily in British airports over the next eight years, deploying 100 aircraft and launching 206 routes in its London Summer 2025 schedule.
The Westminster finance minister, Rachel Reeves, announced an increase in air passenger duty (APD) in her October 2024 budget, raising it from £13 to £15 for economy short-haul flights.
O’Leary criticised the tax on air travel and argued that abolishing the APD could significantly boost passenger growth in England.
At the launch of Ryanair’s English routes for 2025 he said that Ryanair is learning from online travel agents how to better sell ancillary services, as the airline fully embraces the companies it has disparaged for years.
The airline is plotting the use of artificial intelligence to boost sales.
Michael O’Leary said “The third runway at Heathrow is a dead cat. If it ever arrives, it will be about 2040, 2045 or 2050, in fact long after I’ve departed from Ryanair. Here’s the prize we’ve offered to Rachel Reeves. We deliver about 60 million passengers a year to England.
Within five years, we could grow that by 50% to 90 million passengers, and all she has to do is abolish APD. England continues to lose out on enormous growth opportunities because you have a Chancellor who hasn’t a clue about how to deliver growth, has had five years to get ready for it, and yet has managed to screw it up in her first budget. Nothing is designed to damage growth faster than increasing taxes on air travel,
