In flight gambling on digEplayer?
Ryanair chief: I would rather end it all now than stay too long
By Christopher Hope in Seattle (Filed: 02/10/2004)
Micheal O'Leary, Ryanair chief executive, has given his strongest hint yet that he is considering quitting Europe's biggest budget airline.
"I don't see myself at Ryanair in five years time. If I thought I would spend the next five years doing this I would rather end it now," he said yesterday.
Mr O'Leary was speaking about his future on a visit to Boeing's Seattle headquarters, where he was collecting Ryanair's 60th Boeing aeroplane.
He has always said he would stand down when Ryanair become the biggest airline in Europe. Ryanair, which will carry nearly 30m passengers this year is now nearing that target.
Mr O'Leary predicted that within a few years passengers would be able to treat its jets like casinos in the sky. Ryanair starts trialling a "digebox" in-flight entertainment system from next month and he thinks in-flight gambling is the next logical step: "You'll make a bloody fortune."
The airline claims it has been "inundated" by online gaming companies, such as Paddy Power, offering to let customers gamble on the digeboxes. Passengers will be able to gamble using a credit card as long as they are in international airspace.
He believes profits from these kinds of ancillary businesses - Ryanair also takes a cut from bookings made through it with car rental companies and hotels - would mean that flights would soon be "free for 50pc to 100pc of people" on Ryanair.
The new plane is now being flown to Ireland and will fly from Luton, easyJet's base, next week. The UK budget market is hotting up after easyJet announced three Irish routes in competition with Ryanair last month.
