these things will become as common as the in-flight magazine
Ryanair to launch inflight entertainment
Tue 21 September, 2004 13:57
By Michael Smith
LONDON (Reuters) - Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost airline, will introduce inflight entertainment to its planes in November, which it expects to lift revenues by at least 14 million euros (9.5 million pounds) in the first year.
Passengers will have to pay 5 pounds or seven euros per flight if they want to access movies, cartoons and television shows on the portable units, which will not be built into seats as on full-service carriers.
The Dublin-based carrier said on Tuesday it would buy 6,000 units which would be introduced to its entire fleet in March after a trial on five aircraft in November.
Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said Ryanair expected to make at least 14 million euros from the units in the first 12 months.
"The sky is the limit here. The potential is enormous. I think these things will become as common as the in-flight magazine," he told reporters.
Ryanair RYA.I needs three percent of its passengers to use the units to cover its costs. Each plane will initially carry 24 entertainment units which would be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
The units, which look like a small laptop, are the brainchild of former aircraft baggage handler Bill Boyer who sold the idea to his then employer, Alaska Airlines.
Boyer later founded APS, based in the industrial city of Tacoma, south of Seattle. Ryanair is now APS's biggest customer.
The entertainment units are Ryanair's latest push to tap new sources of non-ticket revenue. Ryanair passengers are also charged for drinks and food.
"At the moment the ice is free, but if we could find a way of targeting a price on it we would," O'Leary earlier told an airlines conference.
O'Leary has warned of a "bloodbath" in the low-cost airline industry this winter as carriers battle stiff competition and high fuel prices.
Shares in Ryanair were trading 0.96 percent firmer at 4.21 euros in Dublin.
