
Ryanair bag size crackdown coming as €1.50 staff bonus could be raised
It is reported that the bonus is capped at about €80 for each staff member per month. Passengers are charged a fee of up to €75 for bringing luggage that is larger than they paid for while booking their journey.
Ryanair currently includes a small carry-on bag - capped at a size of 40x20x25cm and weight of 10kg - with every ticket. Passengers must pay a fee if they want to bring larger luggage, or if they want to bring multiple bags.
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary said today that summer fares would, on average, be the same rate as 2023 - but added that he expects a boost in profitability for the airline by "controlling costs".
Members of the European Parliament are pushing for airlines to allow passengers to be allowed to bring on free an on-board personal item and small hand luggage. However, Mr O'Leary predicted the proposal will not come into law due to a lack of space.
Speaking to the business news on RTE's Morning Ireland, he said: "We're flying largely full flights, about half the passengers can bring two bags and the other half can only bring one - because that's all that fits in the plane.
"We're already struggling with that amount of baggage. That's one of the reasons we are so aggressive about eliminating the scourge of passengers with excess baggage."
Mr O'Leary said more than 99.9% of passengers comply with baggage rules, with "sizers" located within the airport.
He said: "We are happy to incentivise our (staff) with a share of those excess baggage fees, which we think will decline over the coming year or two." The chief executive added: "It is about €1.50 per bag and we're thinking of increasing it, so we eliminate it."
Meanwhile, Mr O'Leary predicted that US President Donald Trump will "chicken out" of introducing increased tariffs for Europe on August 1.
Asked if he anticipated tariffs applying to Boeing aircraft being delivered to the airline, he said: "Trump will probably chicken out again, I suspect the August 1 will get moved to September or October. We have taken delivery of five aircraft in the first quarter but no tariffs applied to those aircraft
"There is a risk of tariffs being introduced by the Europeans or the Americans in some tit-for-tat in August, September or October – but Boeing will have to pay those tariffs."
Mr O'Leary said Ryanair would work with Boeing to ensure no tariffs are applied to commercial aircraft, which he said would be bad for the manufacturer's exports to Europe as well as Airbus's sales to the US - as well as the Irish aircraft leasing industry.
He added: "There's increasing optimism, though, in Washington that commercial aircraft will be exempt from any tariffs – if Trump ever gets around to actually imposing tariffs."
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
UK prime minister and US president to discuss Gaza
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to raise the prospect of reviving ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas when he meets US President Donald Trump in Scotland. The prime minister will travel to Ayrshire, where the US president is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for wide-ranging discussions on trade and the Middle East as international concern grows over starvation in Gaza. The two leaders have built a rapport despite their differing political backgrounds, with Mr Trump praising Mr Starmer for doing a "very good job" in office ahead of their talks. But humanitarian conditions in Gaza and uncertainty over US import taxes on key British goods in America threaten to complicate their bilateral meeting. Peace talks in the Middle East came to a standstill last week after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams from Qatar, with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for a "lack of desire" to reach an agreement. Since then, Israel has promised military pauses in three populated areas of Gaza to allow designated UN convoys of aid to reach desperate Palestinians. But the UK, which is joining efforts to airdrop aid into the enclave and evacuate children in need of medical assistance, said that access to supplies must be "urgently" widened. During discussions with Mr Trump, Downing Street said the prime minister will "welcome the president's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza". "He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long," it said. The leaders will also talk "one-on-one about advancing implementation of the landmark Economic Prosperity Deal so that Brits and Americans can benefit from boosted trade links between their two countries", it added. The agreement signed at the G7 summit last month cut trade barriers on goods from both countries. But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25% rather than falling to zero as originally agreed. Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50% - the US's global rate - unless a further agreement was made by 9 July, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America's trading partners. But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel. Downing Street said both sides are working "at pace" to "go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic" and to give UK industry "the security it needs". The two leaders are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which Number 10 said would include "applying pressure" on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the invasion, before travelling on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen. It comes after Mr Trump announced he had agreed "the biggest deal ever made" between the US and the European Union after meeting Ursula von der Leyen for high-stakes talks at Turnberry yesterday. After a day playing golf, the US president met the president of the EU Commission to hammer out the broad terms of an agreement that will subject the bloc to 15% tariffs on most of its goods entering America. This is lower than a 30% levy previously threatened by the US president. The agreement will include "zero for zero" tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals, as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars (€638bln) over three years. Speaking to journalists yesterday about his meeting with the prime minister, Mr Trump said: "We're meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it's been a great deal. "It's good for us. It's good for them and good for us. "I think the UK is very happy, they've been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it's a great trade deal for both, works out very well." Mr Trump said he thinks discussions will feature "a lot about Israel". "They're very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen," he said. "He's doing a very good job, by the way," he added.


Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Trump's deal with Europe sucks for Ireland and what the EU is importing
Europe is poised to embrace a surge of American vehicles and energy following Brussels securing an eleventh-hour trade agreement with Donald Trump, barely averting a transatlantic trade war. The pact, revealed on Sunday, means the European Union will now encounter a uniform 15 per cent levy on exports to the United States—cutting in half the 30 per cent rate previously threatened by the former president. In return, Mr Trump stated the EU had consented to eliminate tariffs completely on US goods entering the bloc. Nevertheless, in stark contrast to the EU's negotiations with the UK over Brexit, where complex matters such as implementing trade obstacles across the Irish Sea arose, this time Ireland's interests appear to have been relegated to the lower end of the bloc's priorities. How significant is Trump's agreement with Europe? Under the arrangement, the EU will purchase $750bn (£558bn) of energy from the United States and pledge an additional $600bn in investments into the world's largest economy. "We are agreeing that the tariff straight across for automobiles and everything else will be a tariff of 15pc," said Mr Trump, who has consistently advocated for Europe to purchase more American oil and gas. "We have the opening up of all the European countries, which were essentially closed. You were not exactly taking our autos, you weren't exactly taking our agriculture. Now it is open. "It is open for our companies to go in and do a good job." Europe is set to welcome a wave of American cars and energy after Brussels clinched a deal (Image: Getty) Mr Trump stated the agreement would provide Europeans with enhanced access to US pickup trucks and SUVs, with commerce between the two economies now poised to grow. "They [Europe] are going to make a lot of money with this," he said. "I think everybody is. And it is going to bring a lot of unity and friendship." Financial markets have been rattled in recent months by Mr Trump's fluctuating trade policies, with the tariff standoff generating uncertainty for global investors and governments. What does Trump hope to achieve with his Europe trade deal? Ms von der Leyen said the objective of the agreement was to "rebalance" trade flows between the two sides. "The starting point was an imbalance, a surplus on our side and a deficit on the US side, and we wanted to rebalance that," she said. "We wanted to do it in a way that trade goes on between the two of us, across the Atlantic. "The two biggest economies should have good trade flowing: rebalance, but enable trade on both sides, which means good jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, which means prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. That was important to us." The agreement excludes steel and aluminium, which will still face higher tariffs of 50 per cent when exported to the US. British exports of the same materials face a reduced tariff of 25 per cent. Bad for Ireland: drugs firms left out of deal This exclusion could prove a major blow to Ireland, which depends heavily on its pharmaceutical exports. "We have to have them made in the US," Mr Trump declared. "We want them made in the US. Pharmaceuticals are very special. "We can't be in a position where we are relying on other countries. Europe is going to make pharmaceuticals, drugs and everything else for us too, a lot, but we are going to make our own." The Irish government has voiced concerns that looming US tariffs could deal a major blow to the country's pharmaceutical sector, which employs around 45,000 people. Ministers are particularly worried about the impact on multinational drug companies based in Ireland, following signals from Washington that the pharmaceutical industry may be the next target in a broader trade clampdown. While the EU's new trade agreement with Donald Trump excluded pharmaceuticals from immediate tariff hikes, the US has made clear that it still plans to address the sector in separate talks. Claus Vistesen, from Pantheon Macroeconomics, stated that the agreed 15 per cent tariff was less severe than many feared, and unlikely to alarm financial markets-but he warned it would still dent both the EU and US economies. "Trump is finding a middle ground," Mr Vistesen commented. "He is still shooting himself in the foot. US consumers will pay higher prices, and growth in trading partners will be lower than it would have otherwise been."


RTÉ News
4 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Train derailment kills three in Germany
Three people have been killed and several others were injured when a regional passenger train derailed in a wooded area in southwestern Germany, police said. About 100 passengers were aboard the train, when the incident occurred at around 6:10 pm (5:10pm Irish time) near the town of Riedlingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg state. Contacted by AFP, police initially said four people had been killed before correcting their statement to three victims. Authorities declined to elaborate on the number of injured or how seriously hurt they were, but tabloid Bild cited emergency workers saying there were 50 injured. German rail operator Deutsche Bahn confirmed several deaths and numerous injured. It added that two train carriages had derailed "for reasons yet unknown". Authorities were currently investigating the circumstances of the incident, the operator said, and traffic had been suspended over a 40km stretch of the route. German media reported that a landslide might have caused the incident as severe storms swept through the region, according to weather services. The passenger train was travelling from the German town of Sigmaringen to the city of Ulm when it derailed in a forested area. In a post on social media, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed his condolences to the families of those killed. He added that he was in close contact with both the interior and transport ministers, and had asked them to "provide the emergency services with all the support they need". Footage from the scene showed yellow-and-grey-coloured train carriages lying on their sides, as firefighters and emergency services tried to get to the passengers. According to local TV station SWR, helicopters arrived shortly after the incident to transport the injured to hospitals in the area, and emergency doctors from nearby hospitals were alerted. German transport is regularly criticised by passengers for its outdated infrastructure, with travellers facing frequent train delays and various technical problems. The government has pledged to invest several hundred billion euros over the next few years, in particular to modernise infrastructure. In June 2022, a train derailed near a Bavarian Alpine resort in southern Germany, killing four people and injuring dozens. Germany's deadliest rail incident happened in 1998 when a high-speed train operated by state-owned Deutsche Bahn derailed in Eschede in Lower Saxony, killing 101 people.