Ryanair To Launch Hand Baggage Only Flights

Ryanair is getting ready for an October launch of its first ‘hand baggage only’ flights in a bid to eradicate the need for checked-in baggage. Ryanair aims to eliminate check-in bags from all of its flights, bringing down baggage handling costs and enabling them to continue offering cheap flights to customers. Ryanair’s deputy chief executive Howard Millar confirmed that the low cost airline is to initially carry out no-bag trials across a number of routes:

"We are going to trial them on routes where we have a lot of passengers who are business-type groups. So maybe the first flight in the morning has bags and the second does not. You just go straight through security and on to your flight."

Ryanair also insist that they may increase charges for the service which the budget airline claim will be far more punctual because of no baggage related delays.

"Maybe there will be a premium because the aircraft will turn around quicker."

Despite Ryanair's insistence that the service will be a success, there are many aviation experts that doubt the effectiveness a no-bags policy could bring, particularly on routes which are favoured by second home owners or for foreigners working abroad. Ryanair recently announced its lowest profits for 20 years, with last year’s profits of £348 million forecasted to become a loss of €60m in 2009.