Ryanair

Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline headquartered in Swords, near Dublin, founded in 1984 by the Ryan family together with Christopher Ryan and Liam Lonergan, originally operating a single small route between Waterford and London Gatwick. Under the long leadership of chief executive Michael O'Leary, the airline restructured itself in the early 1990s around the low-cost, no-frills model pioneered by Southwest Airlines, and it has since grown into the largest airline in Europe by scheduled passengers carried. Ryanair is known for its extensive short-haul network to secondary European airports, its use of a single aircraft type (the Boeing 737), and a business model that relies heavily on ancillary fees for baggage, seat selection and other extras alongside low headline fares.