Airline CEO Says His Company Can Offer Free Flights in 10 Years

An airline CEO sees a future where people may no longer need to pay anything for commercial flight tickets.

The statement came from Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, who said at a press conference in London on Tuesday, that his airline may soon offer free flights to its customers about ten years from now.

O’Leary made his pronouncements following record profits posted by his Irish company this year, according to The Guardian (via Mashable). Tax cuts across the industry have also been observed recently. Citing positive financial conditions brought about by the removal of several flying-related taxes, O’Leary said he is confident his company can pull it off.

Speaking at the Airport Operators Association conference, O’Leary said his low-cost carrier could make such a scheme possible by earning profits from shared airport revenue earnings with the airports that it works with.

“The challenge for us in the future is to keep driving air fares down,” he said. “I have this vision that in the next five to 10 years that the air fares on Ryanair will be free, in which case the flights will be full, and we will be making our money out of sharing the airport revenues.”

Huge price drops are nothing new to Ryanair, especially during the holidays. According to O’Leary, his airline can afford to offer such generous deals, since it already gained several offers from European airports.

Ryanair ticket prices have been getting cheaper recently, falling by around 10% from April to September this year. The trend is expected to continue by next year by up to 15%.

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