Ryanair is in talks with International Airlines Group and Aer Lingus about providing transfer connections for their long-haul services. The news was confirmed by Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary in an interview with Reuters. "What we see over the next five, 10 years is that we become a feeder for other long-haul airlines," O'Leary said. "The advantage for them is they would get much cheaper short-haul feed than they would from anybody else, but what they have to get themselves mentally over is that they would have to take responsibility for missed connections."
Such a move makes a lot of sense for both parties but has until now been shunned by Ryanair due to the costs of compensating passengers for missed connections. It seems in any deal, Ryanair is seeking to shift that responsibility to the long-haul service provider.
Ryanair is also in talks with TAP, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Virgin Atlantic for similar interline agreements.
IAG however has denied the airline group has held any formal discussions with Ryanair.