Ryanair is one of the main protagonists in the european low-cost battle. Since their launch in 1985 they increased their annual traffic from under 700,000 to over 15 million passengers. Along the way Ryanair changed the face of air travel in Europe, and made it possible for millions to fly at affordable prices. Initially a traditional carrier Ryanair was experiencing losses by the start of the 90’s, that’s when a new management team decided to re-launch the airline as a no frills operator closely following the example of the successful Southwest Airlines in the US.