08-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
40 years on: The first 15-seater flight, how Ryanair sold itself as the ‘low-cost' airline from the start and the controversies along the way
At 8.30am on July 8, 1985, a 15-seater Embraer Bandeirante turboprop aircraft with a full complement of passengers took off from Waterford airport to London Gatwick on the inaugural flight of a new Irish airline called Ryanair.