Ryanair is the airline founded in 1985 and headquartered in Dublin.
The carrier began as a small regional airline operating between Ireland and the United Kingdom. Under Michael O'Leary's leadership, it adopted a low-cost model emphasizing high aircraft utilization, dense seating, direct online sales and flights to many secondary airports.
Ryanair's first route connected Waterford in Ireland with London Gatwick. The airline later standardized much of its fleet around Boeing 737 aircraft, simplifying training, maintenance and operations.
Ryanair is sometimes confused with easyJet because both became major European low-cost airlines. Their histories differ: easyJet was founded in 1995, a decade after Ryanair, and began operations from London Luton.