Product Description

The trade paperback of Ryanair, published in June 2004, has already sold nearly 20,000 copies and is in its sixth printing - testament to the fascination this maverick company has for both the business community and the general reader (and budget air traveller). In Ireland it has been a number-one bestseller (indeed, is still in the chart); here it is selling in significant quantities from airports and bookshops around the country. It remains the only book about the airline and its buccaneering chief executive, Michael O'Leary. With Ryanair continuing to expand, the battle for the low-cost airline market in Europe becoming ever more cutthroat, and O'Leary happy to do battle with everyone from airports (for their landing charges) to his own pilots (over pay and conditions) - and generate an endless stream of PR and news stories in the process - the B-format edition of Siobhan Creaton's book is fully updated to take account of all Ryanair's most recent history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36659 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
"'This savvy, hugely readable book is measured and fair-minded, regaling us with O'Leary's... verbal discretions without detracting from his achievements' - Financial Times"

Quentin Fottrell, Sunday Business Post
A dramatic story about the making of one of the world's most recognised brands.

Michael Skapinker, Financial Times
This savvy, hugely readable book is measured and fair-minded, regaling us with O'Leary's... verbal discretions without detracting from his achievements.

Customer Reviews

No miracle, just cost-cutting and luck
The essence of this book is a constant focus on the bottom line of the business supplemented by a large slice of luck. Firstly Ryanair managed to negotiate the lowest airport fees in Europe by buying up capacity at Stansted when the new airports partnering agreements with other airlines fell through. Strategically this set them up for the long term. Since then rigourous monitoring of costs such as only using black & white printers in their corporate headquarters through to only buying second hand aircraft (in the beginning at least) and using the same model of aircraft on all routes equals large savings in maintenance and overhead costs.
Furthermore most non-value added costs such as pension costs, uniform and training costs are passed to the employee rather than being paid by the employer. This is taking to the max the concept of the employee as just another factor of production and by removing the requirements for experience and career development from all roles O'Leary does not care about staff retention, not even as regards to pilots.
All in all there is a lot that any organisation can learn from the management of Ryanair in terms of controlling costs. If, however, you value your staff and need to retain them, and want to attract customers for reasons other than hilariously cheap prices, ignore this book.

Ryanair: how a small irish airline conquered europe
I have just read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have been fascinated and entertained by Michael O'Leary for many years now. This book was the first to go behind the scenes in Ryanair and showed how he operates with staff and his total ruthlessness and disregard for what people think of him.

It is a great read and the author had obviously done lots of legwork and has uncovered plenty of new information that vividly shows how Ryanair almost collapsed several times but survived and prospered under O'Leary's leadership.

I particularly enjoyed the interview with Herb Kelleher, the Southwest Airlines chief and the guru for all low fares airlines. He was so entertaining and obviously is enthralled by O'Leary.

It's a real page turner and provides lots of lessons for anyone in business trying to develop their company while keeping an eyes on their costs.

Intriguing, inspiring, and hilarious...a great book!
This is a great book that I couldn't put down until I read it entirely!
As a frequent Ryanair customer, saving big money every time I travel, I always tried to imagine how such a great airline could charge so little for airfare and continue to make a profit(or stay in business). As a school project (Economics) I chose to research Ryanair's success story and discovered this book. I even drove 4 hours (round trip) to get a copy! This book answered all of my questions and I am still fascinated with this company!
Regardless of Ryanair CEO, Michael O'Leary's 'colorful' personality and his ability to stir up the media, his tenacious efforts continue to drive the company to the top of the airline industry. Some of his comments, outbursts, and responses that are quoted throughout the book, had me rolling with laughter! The humble beginning Ryanair endured through the 1980's is a very inspiring story of persistence that brought radical changes to the way we travel today.
Not only is this a good read about this company, however anyone interested in overcoming great adversity will be inspired and motivated to never give up on their dreams.
A great book that is worth the money (as well as a 4 hour drive)!