Ryanair’s new cooperative approach to competition

Ryanair's Michael O’Leary wants airlines to sell competitors’ tickets on their sites to eliminate the need for OTAs.

Ryanair wants to sell flights on other airlines on its site

…when asked for an update on the price-comparison feature of the new site, O’Leary reveals:

“We’re keen that the major airlines in Europe would offer price comparison on each other’s web sites. We’ve written to their chief executives of Europe’s other big four airlines asking them to reciprocate.

“We would show their prices, they would show ours.”
…
“Given that we’re essentially full most the time with a load factor in the nineties, it’s not like we can take a lot of passengers from them.

“In fact, we may spill some traffic to them when Ryanair flights are full.”

And WHY would this be good for Ryanair or other airlines?

“It’s something the airlines could and should be working on together. It makes no sense to have third party price comparison sites out there – if the airlines were competitive and had a competent digital offering then these parties shouldn’t exist.”

Ryanair clearly has no love for OTAs or metasearch sites.

And those sites aren’t happy to hear it.

O’Leary’s new position on metasearch has already angered some its leading players, including Momondo Group CEO, Hugo Burge.

He says the Ryanair boss’s claim that the model shouldn’t exist is “extraordinary”, adding:

“Third party meta search sites like Cheapflights ensure customers have a transparent view across the market and are thoroughly informed when booking travel.

“Customers put trust in third party meta sites because they know they are independent, so to suggest they are unnecessary is surprising.”

Assuming that other airlines did get on board and list each other’s rates to compare, would that remove the need for travelers to use OTAs?

So far no other airlines have accepted the offer to cross-sell on a competitor’s website.

What do you think? Would this kind of cooperation ever work in the airline industry? Could it work for hostels?