O'Leary suddenly gets all reserved

Passengers booking Ryanair between Dublin and Malaga and Gatwick can now pay a £10/€10 supplement to reserve a seat.

This is an interesting break with tradition - albeit a trial at the moment - for the airline's boss and "low-cost fundamentalist" Michael O'Leary that means it offers a "frill" not yet available on its local rival easyJet.

From 16 May, each seat in the front two rows and the two overwing exit rows will be available to book on these routes. This means that 24 of the 189 seats on its Boeing 737-800s can be reserved. When booking, just check the "reserved seating" box and then on the next page you can select your seat - suddenly the booking experience feels more British Airways than Ryanair!

The airline says that the trial results from passenger feedback surveys. But the reality is it looks like it could be a good ancillary revenue generator. If there is sufficient demand, then reserved seating will be rolled out on other, selected routes, says Ryanair.

In the latest Airline Business our annual low-cost carriers survey takes a look at the way the gap is closing between the no-frills and full service airlines.

And stay tuned for our low-cost airlines interactive special report - it will be on the airlines channel (flightglobal.com/airlines) to download from 26 April.