ABSTRACT
Ireland was an unlikely source of contestability in European aviation in 1984. There was a long tradition of attachment to the national airline, Aer Lingus, as a symbol of economic nationalism. The airline controlled the regulatory functions of the Department of Transport, as is shown in Chapter 8.While there was growing consumer resistance to the perceived high levels of fares charged by Aer Lingus and British Airways it seemed powerless against the national airline and its hold over the Department of Transport. The Irish parliament, the Dail, had a strong tradition of party discipline with few cases in which the government did not get its way when proposing legislation. On 27 June 1984 however a parliamentary revolt against the Air Transport Bill set in train a policy change which led to the foundation of Ryanair. The first Ryanair route, fromWaterford to Gatwick, started in November 1985 and was followed by entry on Europe’s busiest route, Dublin to London, in May 1986. The consumer response to competition between Dublin and Londonwas overwhelmingly positive. Ryanair’s projected passenger numbers for 2008 are 58 million compared with 10 million for Aer Lingus, the previously protected national airline. In 2006 the Ryanair share of Europe’s low-cost airline market of 117 million passengers was 29.9 per cent. A parliamentary revolt in a country with under 4 million population gave Ryanair first mover advantage and had impacts throughout Europe.
