Ryanair boasts that all of the airports it serves are linked to the main destination via bus or train. On Apr. 9, the bus ran late, leaving passengers booked on a morning flight to Dublin stranded for three hours until the next plane out. The low cost of a Ryanair ticket is what makes such hassles tolerable. To keep delivering on price, Ryanair tries to remove at least one layer of cost from its operations each year. O'Leary isn't content just to save money, though.
Every potential expense is treated as an opportunity to make money.
Even water will set you back a few dollars. O'Leary nurtures his reputation as a Robin Hood of the airlines, fighting Europe's big national carriers on behalf of the little guy. Truth is, he now lives like a lord, raising Aberdeen-Angus cattle and thoroughbred horses on his spread in Mullingar, County Westmeath. It wasn't always that way. The eldest of a family of six, O'Leary grew up on a farm in the Irish midlands.