A lift-off achieved against all the odds
Following the airing of a major RTE television documentary on Tony Ryan, his friend and business associate recalls how the late aviation tycoon snatched victory from the jaws of defeat
Tony Ryan created new paradigms in aviation through the aircraft operating lease and the creation of Ryanair as not just a low-cost operator, but the lowest-cost operator in the world. Forty years ago, when Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA) was founded, the aviation world consisted of national airlines owned and controlled by governments operating as a cartel where everything from price to route allocation was regulated.
Airlines purchased their planes from a small number ...
