Ryanair CEO says airline contemplating order for ‘up to 300 aircraft’

If Ryanair gets permission to fly with on pilot, I will never fly with them again.

THe idea of one pilot demonstrates a complete disregard for common sense. I may pass hundreds or perhaps a thousand cars on the road every day but the consequence of my death at the wheel are far less severe than the death of the pilot. Of course many have no common sense so I suspect Ryanair will have no problem filling the plane.

What an asinine idea from yet another uninformed know-it-all. The computers do not fly it aircraft, air traffic controlers do not fly the aircraft and thank God neither do airline execu-thieves! Pilots fly the aircraft, and it takes two to do it safely.

The mere fact that you are talking about this plays into MOL
hands. Just ignore all this rubbish and he might (hopefully) go away

Unfortunately, as long as the "cheapest price possible" mentality exists, this airline will never go away. The idea of one pilot flying a plane is absolutely spine-chilling - I'm not a pilot, but even I understand that in an abnormal situation it can get pretty busy up there. Mr. O'Leary has, once again demonstrated his contempt for his customers, and his total disregard for even the most basic comforts for them.

"The Advanced 737 Product Development team is clearly a lot farther along than many give it credit for and there is a very big chance that Ryanair, not Southwest Airlines will make a splash first for the 737X.

Critically, airlines seeing a lack of Boeing movement to follow suit will further reinforce the view that doing nothing has greater chances of the 737X being realised, leapfrogging Airbus by a wide margin and it is clear from the remarks made by CFO James Bell that customers aren’t as keen on the “new engine/old airframe” combination."

Source:

http://www.fleetbuzzeditorial.com/2010/09/09/737x

Not sure how much of this is accurate, but it would make sense that Ryanair is back in the mood/game for new jets.

What would be interesting is if MOL pushed for a single pilot type certification for 60 min routes on any new narrow body. I still think, as I suspect many do, he is way out on a limb on that score!

One Pilot.
well i am for it, why nut if enough emergency points will be implaced. i myself flew on a 737 500 froma destination in asia to another. during take of and landing a flight steward sat up front to feed him some data otherwise non of us felt unsafe, we had to decide eiter one up front or overnight stay I am for it any my friend O larry will go for it
imagine they will be able to sell one first class seat,,,,,

An how much more free publicity has Ryanir got from this? To O'Leary all publicity is good publicity. Long may he keep spouting, this industry takes itself far to seriously. Like Spirit with the bag charge, if you do not like the proposition pay more and fly with someone else.

Saving a fortune and maybe killing a couple of hundreds of passengers, if bad happens! This shows a complete contempt for the paying passengers. 60 mins flight; rubbish! If you drive 50m (US) to the baker, you MUST have your seatbelt ON ! It has nothing to do with short leg, ANY leg or drive taking off, 2 pilots and belts ON ! Computers have to be fed and when bad happens, I can ashure you, that one pilot and a "bloody" computer is NOT enough !
Mr O´Leary is full of ideas, however this one he probably had in a bad dream.

Pretty sure it was actually the manufacturers who walked away fromthe negotiations table. Wish this jerk would leave us all alone!

Two decades ago there were three officers in the flight deck. There were at least four officers on ship's decks. Nowadays there are two officers on a flight deck, and one officer and his computers on a ship's deck. The idea of 1 pilot on a flight deck is not as crazy as it looks. The senior flight attendant could be trained for emergency situations in cockpit. That certainly reduces the cost. On the other hand many co-pilots usually trade most of their wages for flying hours. Would having one cockpit Officer make that much of an economic sense? I am not sure.

300 Aircraft?? He must be thinking UAVs!

Does the public realize this is the attitude MOL has regarding ALL aspects of safety? This might sound like comedy, but it is no laughing matter.

I don´t care if the flight is 10 minutes long, I would love to see a single pilot handle a 737 engine failure at v1 - fly, navigate, communicate, and then turn back around for a safe landing - all by himself. Challenging enough for 2, let alone for 1 pilot.

Flying an airplane with one pilot is so RIDICULOUS, that it's not even worth spending amy reasonable time in commenting.

I am a senior Captain, an instuctor at that, and I don't mind saying how many times my junior saved the day. Flying involves many split second decisions. We don't always get it right. A consensus on the flight deck (synergy) is what often saves the day.

Because the manufactures never designed current aircraft to be single pilot, you won't see it with the current commercial fleet. But to be so bold to say never, shows lack of understanding on how the world works. Big money gets what big money wants. If the airlines want an aircraft thats single pilot rated (like the Citation I/II SP,) they will get it. The unions, who have a big money lobby also, will keep at least one pilot in the aircraft to start, but who knows about further down the road. The military is already using UAVs and once the tech is tried, tested, and measured a success, its only a mater of time before it hits commercial aircraft. You'll have Central Flight Centers that monitor and react whenever something goes wrong. Having a dedicated "Oh crap" pilot might actually be safer if that's what they train for day in and day out.

I'LL stop flying them if they blend the worst of both worlds, the result being a unipiloted Airbus. Y'all might as well just write out your last will & testament right now, & name your next of kin.

why not use the FO as an FA after TO and before landing? Get the gear up then go serve drinks? Or he could sell tickets for the lav ...

Think of how much money he could charge for that empty seat on the flight deck...

I wonder where he wants to take 300 new aircraft.His plans change like the wind! Really weird.....i wonder how he can be so successful! I haven't flown Ryanair for 2 years because it was soooo expensive most of the time i wanted to fly.

or perhaps he has no intention of buying these planes. maybe the point is to talk up the dividends and bring a rise in the share price?

just a theory. cos he seems smart enuf to think about the C-series himself.

Mr O'Leary is a genius at manipulating the media and deceiving his shareholders...however if he is seriously considering 1 pilot ops Ryanair should have their operating licence revoked permanently.
With regard to Ryanairs profitiability..it is simply unsustainable to operate long term with the prices he offers and once he has eliminated the competition- passenger choice and basic customer service will undoubtedly be severely compromised.
Its also only a matter of time before Ryanair have a major incident as a result of O'Leary's cavalier attitude to safety.The only reason it is so safe in modern times is due to a very wise system of learning from operational problems which Ryanair are actively seeking to dismantle. The line between genius and insanity is very thin and Mr O'Leary often seems to be on the wrong side which is a great shame...

Re one pilot, the Australian transportation board is now confirming that QF 32 survived only because there were, strictly because of dumb luck, five cockpit crew instead of the usual three.

Re 300 planes, I think MOL senses that both B and AB are in the mood to lower prices because of the CSeries types that are on the way, AB needs a solid launch customer for the A320 NEO, and B needs to keep the 737NG/incrementally Improved selling until it delivers a clean sheet design. B must have been discounting the 737s to get the huge orders they've gotten this year, and AB is probably discounting the A320 to gset it back up to its old mkt share,

In any case, MOL is face with the same uncertainties as every other customer for these narrow bodies: His decision depends on whether B decides to deliver a good clean sheet replacement for the 737 by 2020, and its production rate will be for the first five years or so. If that rate increases up to 550-600/year by 2025 (AB and B are talking right now about producing their current planes at these rates), then he will continure to go with the 737 because it will be cheaper than the NEOs and B's new plane will obsolete them. If their are no answers now, orr if MOL and others simply to do not trust any prediction of delivery date and prodution rate for the clean sheeter B may make, amy , then perhaps MOL goes with the NEO. He has said he will consider adding an aircraft type. He may however be caught in a box of Boeing's making: If buys NEOs big that will motivate B to go clean sheet by 2020, thus negating the NEO advantages.

Don't be stupid. This is an aircraft, not a car or a bus. What if some thing was to happen to the pilot, who would fly? Everybody can drive, but only a handfew can fly an A/C.

One pilot should be introduced for short-segment, small, modern, well-equipped aircraft, with the following condition:

Automated emergency landing controls, and at least one cabin member--not a full pilot--trained to execute or monitor a partially automated emergency landing, to communicate with ATC, and the ability to do limited piloting to choose the proper airport and runway for the partially automated landing.