Ryanair says connecting flights trial going very well

Ryanair's experiment with selling journeys involving connecting flights is going very well and may be extended to London's Stansted and Dublin airport within the next 12 months, CE Michael O'Leary said Wednesday. Ryanair become Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers by running a bare-bones operation, which included shunning trips involving a transfer to a connecting flight to avoid the risk of having to compensate passengers for missed connections. But O'Leary dropped his opposition in 2015 as part of the airline's efforts to expand beyond its traditional customer base to fill a rapidly growing fleet of planes. "The connecting flights trialled in Rome Fiumicino, which has been up and running for a month, is going very well," O'Leary told a news conference in Dublin. "We are seeing a big uptake on Italian domestic routes into Rome." The trial means, for example, that a passenger in Italy wanting to fly to London from a city with no direct Ryanair route can now buy one ticket and change in Rome, rather than flying via Rome but paying for two separate Ryanair tickets.<br/>