Ryanair explores ‘standing room only’ idea

RYANAIR has approached plane maker Boeing about the possibility of providing standing room or stools in place of traditional seats on board its aircraft.

The airline, which is hoping to squeeze more passengers on board, said those standing or using the stools could fly for free.

It said if Boeing comes back and says it is possible to replace four rows of seats with stools or standing space it will prepare a proposal for the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) seeking approval.

However, the IAA said it would have no say in the approval of such measures, adding that Ryanair would have to get approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

A spokeswoman from EASA would not comment on the issue yesterday.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “Why is this any different to what happens on trains where you see thousands of people who cannot get a seat standing in the aisles, and it happens regularly on the [London] Underground.”

Ryanair’s move follows a report that Chinese carrier Spring Airlines is looking into operating flights with standing room only cabins.

The idea for standing room was first highlighted by Mr O’Leary in 2006, when it was reported that Airbus had been pitching the standing room only option to Asian carriers.

Ryanair estimates space could be made for up to 10 more passengers per flight and costs could be cut by 20%. It said it would only provide the service on flights less than one hour.

Earlier this year Mr O’Leary suggested passengers could be charged to use toilets on-board. It also announced plans to make passengers carry their luggage up to planes.

Meanwhile Ryanair said it is now twice the size of British Airways (BA) adding that it carried twice the worldwide traffic of BA in June as passenger numbers hit 5.8 million while BA carried 2.9 million passengers.