Voice Of Post

Ryanair $15 flights, Dreaming of a European vacation? It may pay to wait a few years. Europe's biggest budget carrier Ryanair (RYAOF) is planning to launch cheap transatlantic flights by 2020.

The airline is in talks with manufacturers over a long-haul fleet. If they secure the aircraft -- likely provided by Boeing (BA) and Airbus (EADSF) -- Ryanair plans to offer budget flights to Europe from up to 14 American cities.

"European consumers want lower cost travel to the U.S.A. and the same for Americans coming to Europe," head of communications Robin Kiely said. "We see it as a logical development in the European market."

Tickets would start at £10 ($15). But don't get too excited by the rock bottom fare: passengers will end up paying much more than that.

Passenger taxes add about $200 to a flight from the U.K. to the U.S. And there are "extras" charged by the airline, such as fees for baggage or reserving a seat.

Like other no-frills carriers, Ryanair drives profits by charging passengers for services not included in the ticket price.

The Irish airline has long talked about pushing into the lucrative U.S. market, but it's not the first to spot the opportunity. Norwegian Air launched a low-cost service in May.

Last month French airline La Compagnie unveiled plans for cheap business flights from New York to London. At $2,200, its offer undercuts the majors such as American Airlines (AAL) and Air France (AFLYY) by more than half.

But the route has seen many try and fail. Three business class operators -- Eos Airlines, MAXjet and Silverjet -- had all collapsed by 2008. A fourth, L'Avion was sold to British Airways.

Ryanair $15 flights, Europe's largest discount airline says it will begin flights to the United States and plans to sell some seats for less than $15 each way.

The board of Irish-based Ryanair on Monday OK'd adding trans-Atlantic flights. That ends years of speculation about when the airline might eventually turn its sights to North America, though the actual launch of the service will take several years to get off the ground.

"The board of Ryanair have approved the business plans for future growth, including trans-Atlantic," the company says in a statement quoted by Ireland's RTE News. "European consumers want lower cost travel to the U.S. and the same for Americans coming to Europe. We see it as a logical development in the European market."

The Financial Times of London says Ryanair's lowest one-way fares between the U.S. and Europe would cost as little as £10 – or just under $15 at current exchange rates. "Other one-way tickets would be priced at £99 or more, and the airline would fill up to half its jets with more expensive premium seats," the Financial Times writes, citing Ryanair marketing chief Kenny Jacobs.

Still, despite the approval from Ryanair's board, the launch of U.S. flights is not imminent. The BBC says "it could take up to five years to become a reality."

"It's dependent on attaining viable long-haul aircraft and we estimate that's four to five years away," a Ryanair spokesman tells the British broadcaster.

Ryanair says it hopes to fly to as many as 14 U.S. cities from about the same number of bases in Europe. The Irish Times reports "Chicago, Boston, New York, London, Berlin and Dublin are understood to be among the cities included in the plan."

Ryanair's decision to OK trans-Atlantic service comes as other European low-cost carriers have begun to enter the market. Norwegian Air has been among the most aggressive, opening a number of new routes between the U.S. and Europe.Ryanair, however, is a dramatically bigger player.

"We've seen what others have done, we've listened and observed what's gone on in the past 12 months and now have a better view on how we'd like to launch it and market it, and what the product would look like," Jacobs, the Ryanair marketing chief, says to the Financial Times.

Jacobs described Ryanair's North America plan as part of an ambitious growth strategy that would differ from Norwegian's because "we're a bigger business -- a bigger brand with more traffic and a much more efficient cost model."