Ryanair is not interested in acquiring Thomas Cook’s air divisions, the executive officer of the group holding company Ryanair DAC, Michael O’Leary, said at a press conference in Vienna.
For his part, Ryanair Marketing Director Kenny Jacobs called in Brussels for airlines to be submitted in Europe to a “stress test”, like the one imposed on banks following the financial crisis in 2008, to avoid new bankruptcies in the sector.
The British travel company Thomas Cook was declared bankrupt early this week, and new owners are being sought for its air operations, such as Condor in Germany and Ving, its Scandinavian subsidiary.
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While Ryanair is not lining up to buy out any of Thomas Cook’s companies, it has reportedly shown interest in taking over some of its slots in the United Kingdom, according to information provided by Jacobs at his press conference in Brussels.
Ryanair’s flight programme for next summer is not expected to change, nor does the carrier plan to change its strategy or model following the collapse of the British travel company. It has no intention, for example, to sell all-inclusive packages. Jacobs stressed that Ryanair was an airline and air travel remained its focus.
It has no intention of moving away from that but has to adapt to the new consumption modes of passengers, who reserve, on one hand, a low-cost ticket and, on the other, their accommodation.
Proposing the introduction of stress tests for airlines, he said that would reveal the extent to which they can resist stress factors and avoid new bankruptcies in the sector, which has been rocked by failures in recent months.
The Brussels Times
