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Knock them out: Ryanair competitive strategy

Introduction

The purpose and scope of the essay is to critically evaluate and analsye Ryanair operations, strategies and the environment. This would be achieved by identifying and assessing their business level strategies using strategy clock, Porter's generic strategies and Porter's five forces. The market will be ascertained through PESTLE and SWOT analysis. Equally important, service quality is experimented using quality gurus such as Deming (1986) and Parasuraman (1994).  Other essential operations principles that would be assessed include corporate governance and stakeholders. Recommendations are provided to enable the company improve sustainability and profitability (See appendices).  

 Ryanairs background

Ryanair was established in 1985 by the Ryan family with £1 share capital and 25 staff. Operation started with daily flights from Waterford in the southeast of Ireland to London on 15 Bandeirante aircraft (Ryanair, 2010). In 1987, the company acquired their first jet aircraft and as a result increased their network with 15 scheduled routes from Dublin to Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and opened new routes from Luton to West of Ireland. Consequently the number of passengers increased to over 600,000, but the company soon faced intense price competition with Aer Lingus and British Airways resulting to £20m loss. During the 1990s, Ryanair decided to restructure the company by copying Southwest Airline low fares model (Ryanair, 2010).

 Aims and objectives

Ryanair aims to have the lowest fares of any European airline without making concessions to their business model (low fare and differentiation strategy), uphold a high level of growth, to surpass other carriers in terms of service quality and continual application of current strategies for the foreseeable future (Alle & Schmitz, 2004).

Ryanair core operation

The company operates in a commercial or civil aviation industry, providing short-haul, point-to-point routes with short-haul flights serving in 84 locations in the UK, Ireland and continental Europe. Ryanair operates Boeing 737-800 NG, traffic grew by 15% to 59m passengers. In 2009, the company said that passenger numbers for June were 5.84m up from 5.17m in June last year. In the 12months to the end of June 60.2m passengers were carried (Mulligan, 2009). The figures show an expansion in operation as well customer loyalty.  However there have been critiques on the way the company operates, for example in 2005 the Advertising Standard Authority received 192 complaints about an advert for Ryanair which referred to the London bombings according to BBCNews (2005).

Appelbaum & Fewster (2004) describe commercial aviation as an extremely competitive, safety-sensitive and high technology service industry. Jiang (2004) perspective about this industry is slightly different; the theorem said that, one of the most striking features of this industry is the new concept of flying for passengers. This was introduced by LCC (Low cost carriers) who offer low price (s) but with new product (no frills, no drink, no free food, no spacious seat and no travel agencies bookings. Ryanair focuses mainly on on-line operations, but there are agents that can be contacted by telephone (Ryanair, 2010). On-line operation is clearly becoming more popular even with supermarkets. This is as a result of innovation in technology to create efficiency and at the same time low overheads such as labour costs. On-line operation can be beneficial to the company because it allows a company to serve customers in various locations of the world eliminating the need for labour mobility. Nonetheless, the disadvantage of on-line operation is that competitors can at any time monitor Ryanair strategies in order to compete with price differentiation. Therefore, there has been high competition between LCC and full service carriers (Jiang, 2004).    

 According to an article by the Economist (2006), Ryanair is Europe leading low-cost airline which offers flights at rock-bottom prices. The company considers itself the lowest fare offer in every market, moving to a single aircraft fleet type, high frequency, eliminating free drinks and expensive meals on-board but providing customers with lowest fares from £99 to £59 return. Ryanair major competitors are British Airways, Air France, KLM, Alitalia-Linee, easyJet Airline, Lufthansa, bmi, Aer Lingus Group plc, Austrian Airlines Group and Iberia (Data Monitor, 2008). However, an intense competition was with Aer Lingus which moved to a low-fares strategy in 2002 on Irish routes. The company believes that, they are leaders in low-cost fares because they respond to their competitors and focus on reducing operating costs, for example, MyTravelLite started competing with Ryanair in 2003 on Birmingham to Dublin route. Ryanair responding by setting competing flights on some of MtTravelLite routes until they pulled out (Ryanair, 2010).  A report by Mintel Oxygen (2008) highlight that, low cost airlines have been the drivers of growth in intra-European travel over the past decade. However, it seems that the airline sector is reaching maturity and the growth is likely to slow down in the future after a period of rapid expansion. It was added that, low-cost business model is geared to short-haul routes which allow a fast reverse of aircraft (Mintel Oxygen, 2006).

Strategy is what springs to mind with Ryanairs low-fare model adaptation which clearly has strengthened their financial health. Khalifa (2008) said that, many theorists have been unable to precisely explain the concept of strategy literature and its impact on organizations. The theorem advocate that, strategy combine insights from two main perspectives in the field of strategy: the mechanistic and the organic. Mintzberg & Waters (1985) dimension of strategy is different from other theorists of strategy according to Khalifa (2008) who believe that, the two theorists organized their conceptualization of strategy around the dynamics of intention behaviour continuum. Continuum of internal-external context was added by Mintzberg (1987) in his survey of prevailing concepts of strategy.

Interestingly, Davies (2000) defined strategy from a historically point, that is, strategy "strategos" from Greek means general. From a business perspective, strategy is a design or plan to enable an organisation achieve policy aims and objectives. Khalifa (2006) presented a different approach, the theorist believe that the general purpose of business strategy is the ongoing delivery of a flow of unique or superior customer value, profit for shareholders and development for the organisation. Davies (2000) added that, strategy determines what resources are required to achieve the organisation aims and objectives and how the resources are used. He added that, the definition of strategy can be applied to corporate strategy. Corporate strategy refers to strategy used to achieve corporate aims and objectives, basically achieve corporate policy (Davies, 2000). Ryanair strategy was adopted from Southwest model (introduced in the USA in 1971), this strategy is to offer low-cost flights to customers. The low-cost model has low fares, high frequency flights, point to point service, no free meals or drinks on board, no seat assignment, short flights and flights to secondary airports (Emerald, 2006). Porter (1996, cited in Jiang, 2007) defined low-cost as performing activities differently from competitors and providing coherent set of key activities that reinforce each other to achieve such position in a sustainable way. The model adapted means that, Ryanair is creating an edge to defend competitors as well as securing customers. However, it can be said that, making a competitive advantage move should not always be about low prices but making quality product and service and offering customer value for their money.

Cliff Bowman's framework known as "strategy clock" assist organisations to analyse their competitive position using the six strategic options in comparison to the competitors. The model can examine the competitive advantage of Ryanair amidst the difficulties the company faced in 2004. In 2004, the company was in a dilemma after its employees were looking to join employment unions. The international transport workers organised a website called "ryan-be-fair" and pressure was on the company to change its ways (Guardian, 2004). Like Porter's generic strategic, strategy clock are classified into eight options: low added value, low price, hybrid, differentiation and focused differentiation. Ryanair is inevitably implementing cost leadership and differentiation strategy in comparison to its bigger competitors including Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France and EasyJet. For example, the company sells seats on one way basis, fares for conscious leisure and business travelers and fares are set on the basis of the demand for particular flights (Data Monitor, 2008). Based on Michael Porter generic strategy theory the company major advantage falls into cost leadership and differentiation.

Cost leadership calls for low cost producers in an industry such as Ryanair which fares are sold at average industry prices to earn a profit higher than its competitors and targets a broad market. Porter added that cost leadership is achieved through: improving process efficiencies, making optimal outsourcing and vertical integration, gaining unique access to a large source of lower cost materials (Porter, 1998).  However, in the event of price war the company can maintain some profitability while the competitors suffer losses. He added that, even without price war as the industry matures and prices decline, the company that can offer cheaply will remain competitive and profitable for a longer period of time (Porter, 1998). As a general view, acquiring low cost can be unrealistic if the company has no defined objectives. Objectives can be viewed as a process in order to have aims or goals. Therefore to the successful with a low cost strategy, the company should have a considerate market share, have access to materials and other necessary inputs. Although this strategy can easily be implemented by competitors, it can also be important in terms of sustained access to inexpensive capital and close supervision of staff. Cost leadership could mean that the company has no or less customer loyalty because of customers' perception of low price.

Differentiation is for the development of a product or service that offers special attributes that customers' value. In the case of Ryanair, differentiation can be low-cost focused, that is, concentrate flights in Europe region only. Porter (1998) argued that focus strategy have lower volume and low bargaining power with suppliers, on the other hand, differentiation focused strategy may be able to pass higher costs on to customers. The risks of focus strategy are imitation and changes in target segment, focusers may carve out sub-segment that they can provide better offers (Porter, 1998).  Research has suggested that, differentiation strategy is likely to generate higher profits than low cost strategy because it creates a better entry barrier. However, a low cost strategy could increase market share through reduction in production costs and increasing capacity used. Voskanian (2008) said that, achieving and sustaining low price as a competitive advantage can only be dependent through low costs. As described earlier, Ryanair is the leader of low-cost flights; therefore it can assume that the company has a market share economy of scale (EOS). Economies of scale is argued to be an essential determinant for cost efficient production and that without sufficient EOS high levels of flexibility cannot translate into world competitive production (Husan, 1997). Voskanian (2008) add that, price leaders have low-cost production through value chain. This can be achieved by acquiring low cost materials through quantities purchased and efficiency achieved. The theory critique this model by suggesting that, customers will perceive products or service of low-cost strategy a low value. Ryanair believes that price does not equal quality and they have implemented a trend to release customer service statistics to reassure customers. Edward Plaisted CEO of Skytrax explained that, low-cost does not guarantee success because four to eight new carriers run out of business due to their inability to keep the strategy model running. Nevertheless, Kerensky (2007) provided evidence that the number of low-cost carrier booking is growing. The low-cost sector accounted for the highest flights scheduled in July 2007, according to OAG quartley airline traffic statistics (Kerensky, 2007).

Ryanair efficiency in dealing with customer complaints is high according to their customer statistics, however, the complaints per 1,000 pax increased from 2008 to 2009. This can be seen as unrealistic results or a disproportion of this survey. A report by global flight information company OAG in 2006 identified forty low-cost airlines in Europe. The report revealed that Ryanair was carrying more passengers per month than British Airways (Kerensky, 2007). The increase in passengers flying with Ryanair could be as a result of their strategies (cost leaders and differentiation), or service quality as table 1 shows efficiency in dealing with customer complaints. Carr et al. (1995) said that, quality is an objective that is important and widely recognised through the world, but that low quality service providers are unlikely to survive due to increasing customer demand and the removal of trade barriers. Parasuraman et al. (1985) gap model of service quality conception is based on perceptions. Samson & Parker (1994) explained that, the gaps between service providers and customers is in fact based on expectations and perceived results of the model. Basically, the model interprets that the company has met all appropriate service standards to meet customers' expectations.  However, a survey by Nowfly an online comparison website shows that Ryanair charges more than its competitors in all categories expect for spirits which are not offered on-board. Ryanair charges 35% more for tea and coffee 30% more for sandwiches then 50% more for a small bottle of wine than its competitors (Telegraph, 2009). Therefore, it can be assumed based on these findings that passengers increase is base on the two factors: ability to offer low prices on flights and customer perception of the company (offer lower prices). As a general not, customers make buying decision only if they believe the price equals the values of the service or product. Therefore, the company should adapt relationship marketing which would enable them retain customers. Sheth (2002) said that, relationship marketing has become popular due to the shift in focus from customer acquisition to customer retention.

As mentioned earlier, it is clear that Ryanair has low-cost strategy on bookings but obviously charging higher in other areas such as in-flight services. Peterson (1999) identifies elements such as determining the needs of customers, developing a process which is able to produce the product or services and optimising the process as vital to organisations.

There are differences between Ryanair and its competitors in terms of services and how they are delivered. Ryanair pledges simply to get passengers from point A to B safely and at lowest price. Some seats are sold as little as £1 or € 1, however, if flights are delayed, passengers should not expect free refreshments (Emerald, 2007). In addition, the airline treats its employees differently, for example, their working hours often get close to the legal limits and their trade unions receive no official recognition. Like Ryanair, Emerald (2007) said that, "Southwest Airlines" has some of the most productive employees in the industry as well as an impressive customer service record and employee satisfaction. Southwest airline believes that customers deserve respect, fun and dignity but that their employees come first. This is because employees would treat customers the way they are been treated (Emerald, 2007). Southwest employees are rewarded according to their teamwork, flexibility and willingness to provide good customer service. Superior performance ratings and the recognition that goes with them – must be accompanied with actual examples of this behaviour in action (Emerald, 2007).

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and stakeholders

Worthington & Britton (1997) described corporate responsibility as the purpose of business and the knowledge and abilities of those that run the business. Ryanair devotion is to make profit and this is done through the reduction of costs wherever possible. Therefore, it is important to administer their operation and the impact on the environment. However, most commentators agree that business will not generally behave in socially responsible manner out of altruism, but there are advantages to businesses for making efforts towards social corporate responsibility (Worthington & Britton, 1997). Some advocates have extended areas relating to CSR including plant closures, corporate ethics, employee relations, human rights, community relations and the environment (Moir, 2001). In 2010, the aviation watchdog revealed that Ryanair and easyJet were subject to the most complaints from British airline passengers in 2009. The complaints were linked to cancellations, missing bags and denied boarding (Guardian, 2010). Although Ryanair statistics (see Table 1) shows that baggage complaints per 1,000 pax has dropped from 0.49 to 0.37 from 2008 to 2009 respectively. EasyJet had the most complaints with 719 and Ryanair following with 673. It was also noted that Ryanair complaints have risen by 70% since 2005 and the Liberal Democrats said that the numbers proved service standards is a casualty of lower fares (Guardian, 2010).    

Fredrick (1986) developed the CSR analysis to include an ethical base to managerial decision taking in the form of corporate social rectitude and terms this CSR3. The theory claims that the study of business and community needs an ethical anchor to allow a systematic critique of business's impact upon human consciousness and human continuity. As a general perspective, hidden charges are considered unethical because potential passengers are allured to book tickets at the showed price but charged higher at the purchased stage. Ryanair again faces another dilemma in 2010 with hidden charges claims. The company introduced a dynamic currency conversion which can add £6-£7 to each £100 booking. Guardian (2010) proved this by purchasing a single flight from Ancona in Italy to London through Guardian Money. The price quoted €65.50 and a guaranteed price of £60.92 was offered. Guardian Money decline the guarantee, they received a warning "you will not receive a guaranteed rate from your bank". This price was later compared with Nationwide which was going to offer £57.16 this is £3.76 less that Ryanair offered (Guardian, 2010). In addition to Fredrick (1986) neo-classical approach, the theorem identifies stakeholder theory as an integral aspect of CSR. According to Lepineux (2005), stakeholders are groups or individuals whose welfare is inextricably linked with the operation of a company, whether a business or an educational institution. If the company's action can have either a positive or a negative impact on the quality of a group/individual's life, then the group or individual is a stakeholder of that company (Lepineux, 2005). 

Stakeholder theory is described by Worthington & Britton (1997) as the number of groups that a business is answerable to when pursing stated aims and objectives. Therefore, it is vital that Ryanair takes critical consideration of its stakeholder's interest. All stakeholders listed on the diagram above are vital; however, the key stakeholders to the company are shareholders, government, passengers and suppliers. Donaldson & Preston (1995) argue that, an organisation is a social entity which affects the welfare of many people. Stakeholders can be instrumental to corporate success and have moral as well as legal rights and their claims should be considered by corporate leaders. Spitzeck (2009). An organisation such as Ryanair belongs to stockholders and their interest must be met (generally to maximise return on investment) (Chilosi & Damiani, 2007). Shareholders have different time horizons, subjective discount rates and propensities to risk (Chilosi & Damiani, 2007).  In 2009, the Irish government rejects Ryanair's one billion dollar bid to takeover Aer Lingus. EUbusiness (2009) revealed that the Irish government owns 25% stake in the carrier. It added that, Ryanair offer was perceived by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey as undervalue to Aer Lingus which would have created a monopoly hence, bad for Irish consumers (EU Business, 2009). 

As explained earlier Ryanair disregard their employees' compare to Southwest airline. Also, the company is in major dispute with its operation being socially irresponsible. In 2009, the Central London County Court found Ryanair had acted unlawfully and was fined £1,136 after being sued by a passenger who claimed that, the company charged him (Bob Ross: a passenger suffering from cerebral palsy and arthritis) £18 for a wheelchair (Ethical Corporation, 2009). However the company is appealing against the decision. Another important example of Ryanair's unethical practices is the probe over their advert in 2008. The company faced probe by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after a string of complaints and the rules have been breached seven times in two years (BBC News, 2008). The Standard Advertising Agency claimed that flight availability at advertised prices and prices that omitted taxes and charges mislead customers. Once again, the company is ruling against this claim to (OFT) (BBC News, 2008).

Like Ryanair, easyJet published a variety of information in their recent CSR report including annual CO2 emissions per passenger-kilometer, but did not publish their total annual fuel consumption or CO2 emissions (Parliament, 2010). This can be misleading because kgs of CO2/ passenger-km is only a relative not an absolute measure of how much carbon dioxide is being emitted. Nevertheless, the report highlighted that, easyJet CSR was much focused on efficiency and there is no doubt that new aircraft use less fuel per passenger (Parliament, 2010). Data Monitor (2008) said that, Ryanair achievement to high assets utilisation and on-time performance would not be affected by the weak economic outlook in the UK and Ireland.

Below is a table illustrating the company strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats:

Table 2:  SWOT analysis

Strengths

• Business strategy
• Robust route network
• Leading low-cost airline
• Strong revenue growth

Weaknesses

• Reduction in margins
• Weak employee relations
• Fluctuating cash flows.

Opportunities

• Positive outlook for the European on-line travel market.
• Accelerating UK airlines industry
• Growing European airlines industry.

Threats

• Slowdown of the UK and Ireland economy
• Strong competition
• Security threats
• Increase aviation fuel prices
• Denied boarding compensation by EU regulation.

 Source: Data Monitor (2008 & 2009). 

One of the company strengths as listed above is "leading low-cost airline" which gives the company a first mover advantage and this achieved through low-cost and benefits from low airport charges (Alle & Schmitz, 2004). The company has been reporting strong revenue growth during fiscal year ended March 2007 an increase of 32.2% over 2006. Also, the extremely strong business strategy focused on its objectives helps to firmly establish the company as Europe's leading low-fares scheduled passenger airline. Data Monitor (2008). However, the company is weak in employee relation and committing to CSR. In 2006, Ryanair workers in Girona airport went on a series of one-day strike called by the Spanish CCOO trade union to protest about the working conditions of Ryanair ground staff in Spanish airports (Data Monitor, 2008). In addition, the company is small in size compared to its competitors and they take advantage of access to financial, technical and human resources. For example, Air France offers maintenance and other air-transport related services including charter services which generated $31,595.9m revenue in 2007 (Data Monitor, 2008). Opportunities within Ryanair are vast, the company is aiming to enlarge their destination in EU in order to double their market share. There are opportunities from less exposure to geopolitical risks which are beneficial. What is more, the recent economic downturn has had no impact on Ryanair as their corporate culture is to attract their competitors' customers through lower fares (Alle & Schmitz, 2004).

Based on the graph above, it is clear that the company is not in any form affected by recession. Another opportunity is the global airline market which witnessed stronger growth during 2001 to 2005, $318.6 billion was generated in this industry in 2005. It is worth exploring because it has been estimated to reach a value of $475.3 billion by 2010 an increase of 49.2% from 2005 (Centre-for-Asia-Pacific-Aviation, 2009). The increase could be as a result of globalization and less restrictions in people's freedom of movement. With LCC strategies, people are finding cheaper to travel to short-haul destinations and it is of course, faster to travel by air than other means (Data Monitor, 2008). Despite the growth and promising development or expansion, there are threats that could affect the company's sustainability. According to DataMonitor (2008), the rising oil prices globally, the aviation fuel has gone up substantially in the past few years. Air Transport Association averaged the jet fuel cost as $70 per barrel or $1.67 per gallon in 2006, a 90% increase from 2001 (Data Monitor, 2008). In 2008, Ryanair warned that its profit could be slashed by half in 2009 due to high oil prices, declining consumer spending and the weakening pound. Equally important, the company shares tumbled on the stark profits warning, easyJet was also hit down by this (Walsh & Milmo, 2008). Other threats include dependency on economic cycle, increase of low fare competition, the company identified limited growth in South European market and that customers can be very price sensitive.       

PESTLE Analysis

Ryanair PESTLE analyses are those external factors that could hinder their operation which would be analysed based on the research for this essay. PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Legal and Environment. From the examples provided earlier, political factor affecting Ryanair is the pressure from trade-unions in Europe. Some have form trade-union in certain countries which gives the company pressure operating there. EU expansion can be a big political factor that could affect the direction and strategy planning of Ryanair. The enlargement is positive as it increases the flow of migration, thus increasing the company passengers. Also, the tighten security measure after 9/11 and 07/07 may have increased their security system. This could increase costs because it has to be regularly monitored and maintained.

The air tax rise in 2006 may not affect Ryanair an article by BBCNews (2006), rising taxes will only hit poorer people since Ryanair claims to offer low-fares. It can only be predicted that, the average population is on moderate wage, that is, reasonable wage and can afford to go on vacation. Therefore, the rise would have no significant effect on the company. Although, the company predicted a 20% fall in Ireland due to a €10 tax introduced, UK has a £1 tax increase. For Economic factors, there is unstable fuel price that could affect the company operating costs. It can be said that, the biggest costs for any airline is fuel. Arnott (2009) said that, the start of April 2010 will see the rise in fuel duty in line with inflation due to the re-introduction of the unpopular fuel price escalator in 2008 budget. The rise in fuel prices means that operation costs would increase therefore pushing prices to increase and relatively affecting the company growth and profitability. Due to this, Ryanair has warned that profits will be at the lower end of market expectations as it continues to cut fares to lure cash strapped fliers (BBC News, 2009). Social factors link with political and economic in terms of stable development that would allow a more sociable lifestyle. The enlargement of EU for instance has increase the number of people moving from region-region to work, for graduation trips, backpackers, or leisure. Clearly the enlargement has affected Ryanair by providing the bases to attract a wide demographic of prospect. Rita (2000) proposed that, tourism is the economic machine for developed and developing economies around the world. Tourism supports 200m jobs and 11% of global GDP (Rita, 2000). This shows high impact of tourism industry on economic level but it doesn't provide the impact on individuals' lifestyle and standard of living. Rita (2000) added that, EU tourism has an enormous capacity to provide new opportunities to satisfy important political objectives such as economic growth, employment, wellbeing of population and regional development. The effect of this capacity on Ryanair is that, it could increase their operating market, segmentation and productivity. Also, the company low-fares strategy means they can fly frequently because there is demand.  

Technology expansion has enabled the company change their market focus from third-party agents to on-line bookings. Butel et al (1998) described technology as the processes in the transformation of a company inputs to outputs and concerns all the primary and support activities in Porter's values chain. This has increased the competition level between airlines, consequently driving Ryanair to further reduce costs in order to remain competitive in the aviation industry. Ryanair admitted that in order to keep costs down all aircraft are made by Beoing (BBC News, 2009). Legal factors can affect the company's image and reputation. Ryanair is currently facing a legal battle due to a complaint field with the European Commission in December by Air France. Air France claimed that Ryanair receives €660m in public funds from local authorities in Europe every year. Air France insists that Ryanair made a whacking de facto loss in 2008 and 2009 (Lichfield, 2010). Ryanair dismissed the claim, pointing high surcharge airlines like Air France can not compete with them so they complain. Also, the company claims that the money is paid to them for creating new regional air links and for marketing local attractions. Nevertheless, this is an illegal public subsidy, if the company is found guilty of this offence; it would be detrimental to their current operations and future plans (Lichfield, 2010). Even worse, if taken to the International Aviation Authorities, the company may be forced to account for their transaction both inflow and outflow. Again, this is a negative symbol on their image and reputation.

Researching the business environment can be costly and time-consuming and the information can be unreliable, unpredictable events and the precise impact is difficult to estimate (Butel et al., 1998). It can be assumed that, many people are becoming more concern about global warming and its effect on the environment. Butel et al (1998) note that, environmentalism has moved up the political agenda in many western countries. A firms activities are constrained by number of laws that protect the environment. In the UK, the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ensures that a company may have to reposition their processes or products and whole way of doing business. Environmental campaigner's "Friends of the Earth" have criticised Ryanair in the way it operates. Michael O'Leary CEO of Ryanair said that, environmental issues have nothing to do with him, adding that the company intended to increase its emissions of carbon dioxide (Clark, 2005). In 2006, Ryanair invested some €17bn on fleet replacement and expansion programme which allegedly started in 1999. In addition, they invested in the latest aircraft and engine technologies to reduce fuel burn and CO2 emissions by 45% (Ryanair, 2008). There is evidence of the company implementing certain policies to reduce pollution. However, it is not clear why O'Leary opposed interest to environmental pollution. Despite their environmentally friendly strategy, the company has been diminished by bad publicity as explained above. Thus Ryanair should adhere to good business practice for sustainability and high performance.  

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