Ryanair no longer cheapest lowcost carrier in Europe

The cheapest airline in Europe - that's how Ryanair presents itself to its customers. But is there any truth to this? Whichairline.com researched this and found that the Irish carrier no longer is the cheapest in Europe. As a matter of fact, as many as three airlines are cheaper than Ryanair! The airline currently at the top of the 'cheap list' is the Turkish company Pegasus Airlines, a code-sharing partner of KLM.

Whichairline.com looked at average ticket prices including all surcharges. They found that that Pegasus' average ticket price is 63 euros, which makes them cheaper than their competitors. The second cheapest airline, with an average ticket price of 76 euros, is Wizzair. Blue Air came in at a close third, with an average of 82 euros.

Whichairline warns travellers who are thinking about booking their trip with Ryanair. The ticket price seems very cheap, but what's often not taken into account are the wide array of surcharges, such as baggage fees and travel insurance, that Ryanair adds to their flat rates. It turns out these fees are much higher with Ryanair than they are with other airlines, which means the prices seem low but often aren't. According to Whichairline, Ryanair is very successful at hiding these additional expenses for potential customers.

Whichairline found the highest ticket price with Thomas Cook. The average ticket price with that airline comes at around 207 euros. This was followed by Wowair with an average price of nearly 190 euros. But Jet2 also turned out to be quite expensive: an ticket with that carrier will cost you nearly 160 euros on average.

Written by: Team Flight-Delayed.co.uk