Director Aisling Browne introduces her new two-part RTÉ documentary Turbulence, charting Ryanair's journey from a single‑route airline on the brink of collapse to one of Europe's most dominant aviation players. Featuring insiders, commentators and former staff, it lifts the lid on the airline's origins, its challenge to Aer Lingus, and its role in democratising air travel in Ireland.
From co‑founder Tony Ryan to current CEO Michael O’Leary, Turbulence explores their shrewd - and often ruthless - business strategies, the brand’s brazen advertising and marketing, and the future of low‑cost travel amid crises such as climate change.
As an elder Millennial, Ryanair has existed in my consciousness for almost my entire life. I don't recall ever noting the airline’s origins — the 1980s for me were about bicycles and bootskates. When I was approached by Allkind Media to direct a new two‑part series about Ryanair, my initial thought was that it would offer an interesting look into the backstory of an (in)famous Irish brand and the shenanigans that built it. We had endless Michael O’Leary schtick to play with, and a multi‑billion‑euro success story to cover.
But when we gathered the archive to tell the story of Ryanair’s first flight in 1985, I was struck by how different Ireland is today — how unrecognisable our day‑to‑day experience is compared with the economic and social stagnation of the time. There was a story here not just about a low‑fares airline whose name has become shorthand for "cheap", but about aviation’s role in a nation transformed.
As we mapped the story out, it became clear that Ireland’s trajectory has been in lockstep with Ryanair’s success: a scrappy underdog, underestimated by the wider world, rising to take its place among the best.
Justin Ryan (R), with maternal grandmother Jean O Sullivan
As a small nation, we embraced the EU and the opportunities that came with it — and so did Ryanair, which moved quickly to seize the market a borderless Europe created. We boarded cheap flights and explored our neighbourhood, bringing home new ideas, while Ryanair expanded into a Europe eager to connect.
Now, I don’t want to stand up in public and credit Ryanair as the root of Ireland’s metamorphosis. (Nor do I want to make a hagiography of a company that once charged me over €200 in excess baggage when I was emigrating post‑2008 with barely a bean in my pocket… it was my own fault; I hadn’t read the small print and assumed they’d be sound, like Aer Lingus. They were not.) Like it or not, Ryanair has been a vital tool in our rise. But Irish people are slow to champion what is perhaps one of our greatest successes — or we do so through gritted teeth, followed by a story of disgruntled grumbling.
What can’t be denied is Michael O’Leary’s laser focus on implementing staggering efficiencies across every operating system within the company, delivering cheap fares and access to Europe for the consumer, and delicious dividends for the shareholder. O’Leary and Ryanair have artfully and pragmatically bobbed and weaved every major punch thrown at them to build a phenomenal Irish success story.
To me, this is the crux of it: Ryanair is not a successful airline that just happens to be Irish. Irishness is in its very DNA — a frugal farmer at the market mixed with the shamelessness of a tourist tout. A cute hoor outsmarting every opponent: quick, determined and not to be underestimated.
Turbulence – The Story of Ryanair, RTÉ One, Monday 16 March - both episodes are available to watch on the RTÉ Player the same day.
