Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, expects that the Irish airline will be operating one in four European short haul flights within the next decade as it increases passenger numbers to 160 million a-year.
Speaking at the FVW travel conference in Germany on Thursday, Mr O’Leary told reporters that the carrier intends to grow across all European markets.
“We’ll go to a 25 per cent market share over the next eight to 10 years,” he said.
The continent’s biggest travel market, Germany, will play a big part in the expansion.
Ryanair has said on several occasions that it plans to grow its share of that market to 20 per cent from 5 per cent as rivals such as Lufthansa, AirBerlin and German Wings retreat.
Bookings on its recently-launched Cologne -Berlin route have been “phenomenal”, according to its chief executive.
Merrion Stockbrokers’ analyst, David Holohan, noted that Germany holds part of the key to the airline’s growth plans.
“If they can crack Germany, then it’s doable,” he said. “Given the size of the fleet that they will be running, that shoul be readily achievable in 10 years.”
The airline intends to grow passenger numbers from 100 million a-year to 160 million between now and 2024.
It is taking delivery of 380 Boeing craft over the next nine years. Just over 12 months ago, it received the first of 180 737s that it ordered from the US manufacturer in 2012.
