No-frills Irish carrier Ryanair confirmed Tuesday it will begin trans-Atlantic flights to 14 cities in the United States, with fares starting at $15.
Don’t reach for your credit card yet. Flights will not start until 2020, and the fare is a promotional rate. Even if you do score one of those $15 tickets, Ryanair is known for charging extras for basic services, and there are taxes on airfare.
“The board of Ryanair approved the business plans for future growth, including trans-Atlantic,” the company said in a statement. “European consumers want lower cost travel to the United States and the same for Americans coming to Europe. We see it as a logical development in the European market.”
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Ryanair, which is Europe’s largest discount airline, did not name the US cities it plans to service. But The Guardian reported the list includes Boston, New York, Chicago, and Miami, with flights departing from London’s Stansted airport. If The Guardian is correct, Ryanair would join Icelandic discount carrier Wow Air, which recently began offering bargain flights to Northern Europe from Logan.
“It would generate new demand. If you can fly people across the Atlantic for a relatively small sum, a lot of people would fly out for a long weekend,” Gert Zonneveld, an analyst at the investment firm Panmure Gordon told The Guardian.
Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Muther