O’Leary pledge to complete Ryanair’s world domination

Michael O’Leary, who built Ryanair into Europe’s biggest discount airline over two decades, pledged to stay another five years and render its dominance complete as competitors exit short-haul flying.

Ryanair will seize on the likely failure of major carriers such as Air France-KLM Group to earn profits on short routes and the withering of networks at Alitalia in Italy, Iberia in Spain and SAS in Scandinavia, the 52-year-old chief executive officer said in an interview in London.

Mr O’Leary, who has regularly promised to quit Ryanair “in a couple of years”, will boost the fleet to more than 400 jets by 2018 and aims to double the company’s €8.65bn market value over the same period. That could pave the way for low-cost transatlantic flying as demand for wide-body planes eases, making them cheaper, he said.