Ryanair heralds new era of ease with update to mobile app

29 Aug 2014

Ryanair's chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs shows off the new app

Low fares airline Ryanair has made it easier to book flights and choose seats via smartphones with a new update to its iPhone and Android app.

The new app allows people to create a ‘My Ryanair’ profile which they can then use to select flights from 1,600 routes, book their flights, choose allocated seats, manage their bookings, add baggage, book hotels and cars, and download mobile boarding passes.

The app also provides live flight information and allows customers to avail of the airline’s new Business Plus service.

The company has been investing heavily in its digital strategy over the past year and in April announced 200 new digital jobs at its head office near Dublin Airport.

The company recently began describing itself as a technology company with an airline bolted on.

Ryanair’s digital future

Ryanair has been involved in online initiatives with search giant Google and in recent weeks revealed it now accepts payments through PayPal.

In July, the company launched its mobile app to allow customers to manage bookings.

In recent weeks, the company appointed John Hurley as its new chief technology officer.

“The response to our new app has been hugely positive, with over 2m downloads to date,” said Ryanair’s chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs.

“Our latest version offers customers a smoother booking process, access to our new Business Plus service, and clears old boarding cards from the system.

“We are working hard to continue to improve our app with further updates that will make it an even more useful travel tool.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com