Ryanair is one of the most popular airlines in Europe, mainly because of its low fares. Their business model is based on ‘Low cost’, for doing this, they use a series of strategies such as using only one type of aircraft, the Boeing 737, so all their pilots can fly all the aircrafts, also the maintenance is the same, therefore the costs are reduced.

Ryanair has more than 450 aircraft, to manage this fleet of aircraft, Ryanair uses a ‘Maximum Utilisation’ strategy, with the aim of reducing downtime between flights. It is not uncommon to be queuing to catch a Ryanair plane and see passengers getting off the same plane you are about to catch. To do this, the company uses advanced fleet planning tools.

Another curious fact about Ryanair is that they buy used planes and then modify them to meet specific needs, so they can buy cheaper planes, and it is not only because of the price, but also because new aircraft normally have a long waiting time before they are delivered. In addition, as I said you can configure the aircraft according to your specific needs, e.g. more seats can be introduced.

But talking about logistics, the most remarkable thing is:

– They schedule flights in advance and do it strategically, I mean, they only focus on profitable routes with high demand and use secondary airports, which allows them to reduce costs and offer cheaper fares.

– In addition, they have to manage the supply chain with their food and beverage suppliers. Ryanair has a ‘central purchasing office’, or in other words, the company has a supply chain management team that is responsible for coordinating the delivery of supplies to all the airports where the company operates, instead of each team ordering separately from suppliers, which would cause chaos.

– They also have a flexible crew model in which pilots and cabin crew work at different bases across Europe, ensuring that they are adequately staffed.

In conclusion, Ryanair is one of the most powerful companies in Europe, and this is achieved thanks to having all the processes and procedures well defined and studied.