Ryanair offers sale and cheaper seats

DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Irish budget airline Ryanair said Monday it will sell 1 million plane tickets for $12.64 as a promotion meant to celebrate its recent quarterly results.

The flights include "every seat, every flight (Monday to Thursday plus Saturday), across 250 routes for travel in late November, early December 2008 and January," the airline said.

In addition, the airline announced it expected to offer fares for flights from Europe to the United States for about $12.50, the Daily Mail reported.

The carrier's half-year profits fell to $271.9 million, down 47 percent, the company said Monday. However, "we will continue to respond with lower fares and aggressive price promotions to keep Europe flying and to maintain our leading load factors," the company said in a statement.

Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary said oil prices were the key to the company's profits. "'If oil prices remain at approximately 80 dollars a barrel next year then our earnings will rebound strongly," he said.

He also said the airline expected to purchase about 50 planes next year. "We'll just have to keep flying more aircraft, opening up more routes and offering people more cheap flights,' he said.