The head of Irish low cost airline Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, known for his extravagant and even shocking statements, has started to actively promote the idea of "standing seats" at company aircraft. O'Leary does not worry about the fact that European safety regulations require passengers be in their seats with their seatbelts fastened during take-off and landing. The businessman hopes that current rules can be reviewed and changed, KM.ru reports.
According to O'Leary, the airline intends to start selling tickets in the rear of the aircraft to travel standing up, reports Fontanka.fi. The head of Ryanair wants to remove seats from the rear part of plane to sell cheap tickets to travel standing up. Such tickets would be priced from 1.25 euros per ticket to European destinations. During take-off and landing , passengers will have to hold on to something not to fall down.
"If there ever was a crash on an aircraft, God forbid, a seatbelt won't save you.
Seatbelts don't matter," he proclaimed. "You don't need a seatbelt on the London Underground. You don't need a seatbelt on trains which are travelling at 120mph and if they crash you're all dead..."
O'Leary firmly believes that if the airline sells tickets to the seated part of the plane for £25 and to the standing part - for £1, then the standing tickets would be sold out instantly.
This, of course, does not touch upon either long-standing flights that take hours or the flights in the areas known for their turbulence, said Turist.rbc.ru. Today, most of the flights in Europe are short flights that last for one or 1.5 hours, without difficult landings.
Noteworthy, the ideas of standing tickets on planes appeared several years ago. European safety standards exclude this type of flight, and require passengers should wear seat belts at the time of take-off and landing. Michael O'Leary, whose low-cost airline has achieved a growth of 10 percent in the first six months of 2012 amid the general financial crisis and the decline in Europe, said that Ryanair was constantly searching for new ways of doing business. The authorities, as always, prevent innovations. "They're just idiots," the Irish businessman said.