Low cost airline Ryanair has launched a corporate jet charter service using a Boeing 737-700 for group hire. The jet offers 60 business class reclining leather seats, a range of up to six hours and fine dining facilities, and will be crewed by Ryanair flight and cabin personnel. Head of communications Robin Kiely says that the aircraft is ideally suited for sports teams and other group travel.

London Executive Aviation MD George Galanopoulos welcomes the move but suggests that Ryanair will not be targeting the traditional business aviation customer: “The portrait of the potential business aviation customer is changing and we naturally welcome any opportunity for new users to enter the market; once people fly privately, they generally do so again and again.

“However the large groups Ryanair will be targeting, who would be comfortable travelling in this way, would not be the customers who usually fly with Europe's prestigious private jet charter operators. We hope that the company understands the essential part that luxury, efficiency and unrivalled customer service play in the private aviation industry.”