Ryanair Holdings plc

Founded in Ireland in 1984, Ryanair began as a regional carrier and shifted to a low-cost airline model in the mid-1990s. It now operates through a group that includes Ryanair, Buzz, Lauda, Malta Air and Ryanair UK.

The group runs a point-to-point short-haul network built around high aircraft utilisation, low operating costs and largely direct distribution. It earns revenue from both tickets and ancillary products such as priority boarding, reserved seating and onboard sales.

Ryanair is particularly strong at scaling traffic while maintaining low unit costs. In FY26, it carried a record 208.4 million passengers and generated €2.26 billion in profit after tax, while its graduate programmes offer rotations across finance, commercial, legal, sales and marketing, operations and technology.