Ryanair

History

Ryanair was incorporated on 28 November 1984 by Christopher Ryan, Tony Ryan (founder of aircraft leasing giant Guinness Peat Aviation), his son Declan Ryan, and Liam Lonergan, launching its first flight on 8 July 1985 between Waterford and London Gatwick with a single 15-seat turboprop. After early financial troubles nearly ended the airline, a 1991 reinvention led by Michael O'Leary around the Southwest Airlines low-cost model transformed it into Europe's original ultra-low-cost carrier, and it listed on the Dublin and NASDAQ stock exchanges in 1997. Through the 2000s and 2010s it expanded relentlessly across an enlarged European Union, standardizing on the Boeing 737 and building a network of secondary-airport bases, while restructuring under the Ryanair Holdings plc umbrella to include subsidiaries such as Ryanair UK, Malta Air, Buzz, and Lauda Europe. It remains headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, and is today Europe's largest airline group by passengers, fleet size, and flights, continuing to expand with the custom-built Boeing 737 MAX 8-200.

Current Operations

Ryanair Holdings operates a fleet of roughly 650 aircraft, almost entirely Boeing 737-800s and 737 MAX 8-200s, flying more than 3,500 daily flights to around 230 airports in over 30 countries across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Its main bases are Dublin, London Stansted, and Milan Bergamo, and it sold over 200 million tickets in its most recent full financial year, cementing its position as Europe's largest airline by passenger volume. Recent developments include a major CFM International engine and maintenance-services agreement (2025-2026), a resolved multi-year legal dispute with Booking Holdings over ticket resale, and a shift toward fully digital, app-based boarding passes. The group continues to grow through its low-cost subsidiaries Buzz, Malta Air, Lauda Europe, and Ryanair UK.

Last verified 2026-08-22· Source: airline public disclosures, company press releases & aviation-industry reporting.

Serves These Profiled Airports45

Sample Routes8