Ryanair Introduces Business Plus . . . And Turns on the Charm

Ryanair, one of Europe’s largest low-cost airlines, unveiled Ryanair Business Plus, a bundled fare that includes travel services tailored to the corporate market.

Business Plus fares start at £59.99, about $99.43, and include flexibility on ticket changes; a 20kg checked-bag allowance; fast-track airport security where available; priority boarding, and premium seats, with guaranteed seats together for travel companions.

The fares will be available in Travelport after “some technical work that needs to be done,” a Travelport spokeswoman said. The fares are currently available for booking on the carrier’s website.

In addition, a second GDS partner is “to be announced soon,” according to Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer.

Savings
The Business Plus package can offer savings to travelers who would otherwise add the optional services to a regular fare.

For example, the lowest roundtrip fare with no add-ons for a Sept. 9 to 11 roundtrip from London Stansted to Eindhoven, Netherlands, was £47.98, about $79.52. The Business Plus fare was £135.98, about $225.41. But when premium seating, priority boarding and a checked-bag allowance were added to the regular fare, the total came to £141.98, about $235.36.

Business Plus and GDS participation are part of Ryanair’s “re-engagement” with the business travel market, which it virtually ignored for a decade.

But Ryanair is acquiring new aircraft and wants to fill them with some higher-value passengers, so it has established a new corporate and meetings department to achieve that goal. Currently, the carrier estimates that about a quarter of its passengers are traveling on business.

The carrier has long chosen secondary airports to keep costs low, but it has been adding a few city airport routes to attract more business travelers.

New image
Part of increasing its allure to business travelers is dropping its bad-boy image as a bare-bones service provider with draconian passenger rules and the cultivation of an open disdain for customers.
 
That image was largely the brainchild of Ryanair’s flamboyant chief executive officer, Michael O’Leary.

There was a method to his madness: His antics ensured that his every pronouncement, from the desire to install pay toilets on planes to the suggestion that any future Ryanair business class would include services that we cannot describe here, were widely reported, no matter how ridiculous.

In recent months, however, the airline has launched a charm offensive, easing rules, lowering fees and inviting customers to “tell MO.L.” — O’Leary — what they think of the airline. Its website, once an assault on the senses, has been redesigned with a clean, sleeker look.