Ryanair boss says €10 flights to Europe are over due to rising fuel prices

Ryanair's one euro and 10 euro flights will not be available to customers for a "number of years" as the budget airline grapples with soaring fuel prices.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said he expected average fares to rise by about 10 euros over the next five years.

Hoping to offset rising fuel prices, tickets from around 40 euros (£33.75) last year would instead be around 50 euros by 2027.

He said: “There’s no doubt that at the lower end of the marketplace, our really cheap promotional fares – the one euro fares, the 0.99 euro fares, even the 9.99 euro fares – I think you will not see those fares for the next number of years.”

Although rising prices are impacting the airline’s fares and wreaking havoc on people’s disposable incomes, Mr O’Leary is confident the number of customers will remain steady.

Instead, he believes travellers will flock to lower-cost alternatives such as Ryanair and EasyJet.

“We think people will continue to fly frequently,” he said.

“But I think people are going to become much more price sensitive and therefore my view of life is that people will trade down in their many millions.”

He added that the next prime minister should have the “backbone” to secure a deal with the European Union to open up the free movement of labour.

He said: “I think the first thing they should do to boost the British economy is prioritise a trade deal with the European Union – a good starting point for that would be to open up the free movement of labour between the UK and Europe once more.”

Mr O’Leary, who said he accepted the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum, added: “You have to accept that you’re not going to get elected by a very narrow 180,000 electorate of the Tory party membership if you advocate common-sense policies.

“But once you do become prime minister, you should have enough backbone to lead the UK economy forward and the starting point for that should be a free trade deal with the European Union.”

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