Normally only too keen to seek publicity, Ryanair was not represented at the SkyTrax awards, winning the European ‘Low-Cost’ airline award.

Nor was Southwest for North America.  Does this tell you something? The airline has also quietly returned to the UK domestic scene reintroducing Edinburgh to Stansted from 31 October with up to 14 return flights per week.

Ryanair’s achievement has been astonishing over the last 35 years, the largest exploiter of Europe’s ‘Open Skies’ policy, and only too keen, certainly in the early days, to grab with open hands any offerings from airports and governments.  Travellers needed to check if an airport was near the city or town Ryanair said was a destination.

It’s rare for a Prime Minister to praise an airline but Leo Varadkar (An Tánaiste) has done so in a statement backing the carrier: “Ryanair is one of the world’s most innovative airlines and a formidable Irish company. It democratised foreign travel across Europe, making overseas holidays affordable for millions of people. We can be proud of Ryanair as an Irish company and as a driving force for change. They led the way within the EU with online booking and check-in, digital ticketing, and radical new pricing models. As an island, we rely heavily on our connectivity with Europe and the inbound tourism it brings. There’s more good news today with Ryanair’s commitment to grow its Irish passenger numbers to 30 million per annum, to create over 2,000 new high-skill jobs in the seven Irish airports it operates into.”

www.ryanair.com