Fly U.S. to Europe for $12?

Huh? I like to think I’m a reasonably smart guy. No really – even my grandmum agrees.

But there’s clearly something I’m missing in the economics of Ryanair. Guardian Unlimited Travel is reporting that Ryanair is planning to offer one-way transatlantic flights between the United States and Europe for roughly $12US.

British Airways said: “It is not clear how Ryanair has calculated the ability to offer fares at $12 when taxes on routes to the US from Europe are currently in the region of $240.”

I guess I’m not the only one. I realize that under the “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” mantra mega-corporations will resort to just about anything to get their name in the paper. But I can’t imagine they’d resort to outright lies and blatantly exaggerated claims merely for publicity’s sake. Perhaps I’m being naive.

A few more details of what Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has in store (via fly away weblog):

• 6 US cities will be served.
• 12 US Dollars is the cheapest possible fare rate but it could go up through the sale of food, duty free goods and in-flight entertainment.
• 50 widebody Airbus A350s or Boeing 787s will be aquired to operate the routes.

In any event, this is definitely a story for budget travelers to watch closely.