Ryanair

Ryanair was founded in 1984 by Tony Ryan — an Irish aviation entrepreneur who had built the aircraft leasing company Guinness Peat Aviation — with the support of the Ryan family. The airline launched service on July 1, 1985 with a single 15-seat Embraer Bandeirante turboprop operating between Waterford and London Gatwick. In its early years, Ryanair operated as a conventional full-service carrier competing with Aer Lingus and British Airways on the London-Ireland corridor. After accumulating significant losses, the airline underwent a radical transformation in 1991 under the leadership of Michael O'Leary, then CFO, who refashioned Ryanair after the Southwest Airlines model — ultra-low fares, no frills, high frequency, and high aircraft utilization.

The transformation was extraordinarily successful. The European Union's deregulation of its aviation market in 1997 was the catalyst for Ryanair's explosion: freed from route and fare restrictions, Ryanair began launching routes across Europe at base fares that were fractions of what incumbents charged. The airline listed on NASDAQ in 1997 and on the Dublin Stock Exchange. Ryanair's expansion was relentless — bases opened across Ireland, the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and eventually virtually every European country.

The acquisition of Buzz (from KLM) in 2003 and various other strategic moves expanded the network. Ryanair Holdings was established in 1996 as a holding company and today encompasses Ryanair DAC, Buzz, Lauda Europe, Malta Air, and Ryanair UK as sister brands. In 2019, Ryanair became the first airline in the world to carry over 1 billion passengers on a cumulative basis. The 200 million passengers milestone in 2024/25 — achieved on March 26, 2025 in Madrid — was certified by the airline as a historic European aviation record.