TRIPS WILL COST A HOL LOT MORE..

Airline chief O’leary warns of price hike

RYANAIR boss Michael O’leary has warned holidaymakers prices for next summer will be “dramatically higher” as the pandemic eases.

During an interview with The Times, he said as confidence is returning and passenger numbers are increasing, this will have a knock-on effect in terms of cost as demand soars.

The airline chief has said a rise in demand for holidays would coincide with fewer flights, which would lead to rising prices for consumers. Mr

O’leary believes this increase won’t just be for flights, but also for hotels.

He said: “I think there will be a dramatic recovery in holiday tourism within Europe next year.

“And the reason why I think prices will be dramatically higher is there’s less capacity.”

During another recent interview,

Ryanair’s marketing director said its winter routes from Ireland will be “running behind” where they were in 2019 because the recovery here has been slower than in other countries. Dara Brady added: “Many, many other European countries are putting incentive schemes in place to drive recovery. We’re probably only running at about between 60% and 70% of recovery in Ireland, where we’re running at – for example – over 100% in Italy.”

Speaking on Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder, he said: “We really need to see some action from Minister [Eamon] Ryan, in particular, in terms of actioning the recommendations from the Aviation Taskforce report that’s sitting on his desk.

“We think if the Government was to push on and to incentivise tourism recovery here, that our growth would be far greater.”

I think there will be a dramatic recovery in holiday tourism within Europe next year

MICHAEL O’LEARY PREDICTS FLIGHT COST INCREASE YESTERDAY