Ryanair is recognised throughout Europe as an Irish airline. But is it?
It is clear that Ryanair's largest base, with the most routes, is London Stansted Airport. Its Stansted based pilots and cabin crew receive a low basic salary, taxed in the UK and duty pay, taxed in Ireland.
This results in the UK government receiving a very small tax payment when compared to other UK-based employees on the same gross income. This is what attracts so many employees to it, because their take-home pay is greatly increased by paying less tax. Is this fair?
They are operating foreign-registered aircraft from the UK and not contributing to the UK tax system at the same level as everyone else. So what is there to stop major European airlines from doing the same - and why don't they?
British Airways runs Deutsche BA but operates on a German air operator's certificate, uses German-registered aircraft, employs mainly German staff and pays German taxes. KLM operates KLM UK and Buzz on the UK register and Easyjet operates its Swiss division on the Swiss register. So why does Ryanair not have to?
It is my opinion that Ryanair is in fact a UK airline based at Stansted and the UK government should look more closely at it.
Dominic Sanderson
Colchester, UK
Source: Flight International
