Weeks after announcing it’s to sponsor a professor at Trinity College Dublin, Ryanair has become the exclusive partner of the EU Erasmus Student Network, offering Erasmus students fare discounts, free bags and tailored travel offers.
The new deal was announced in Brussels by Trinity College alumnus Michael O’Leary, who was having a busy day with the launch too in Madrid of the new tie-in with Air Europa. The Ryanair CEO has been courting the Millennial market of late, and gave career advice to youngsters at a TCD gathering last year, where he urged students to nurture their ambitions and drive. “Don’t p*** it away on doing drugs and riding each other,” he warned them, adding: “You have the brains and the ability to conquer the world.”
The 30-year-old Erasmus programme allows university students across Europe the chance to study in a different European city for a year. It aims to facilitate cultural and academic exchanges and boost language skills in 37 countries. Over three million students have benefitted under the Erasmus programme to date.
Ryanair said the partnership would give Erasmus students:
- 15pc off flights on the Ryanair.com website
- A free checked-in bag with every flight booked
- A dedicated Erasmus Students booking portal
- Community forum to share travel hints & tips
- Weekly travel offers to enable Erasmus students more easily move across Europe
- Tailored Ryanair in-journey offers on the mobile
Michael O’Leary said: “Ryanair has been a driving force of European integration over the past 30 years, providing young people, and especially students, with the freedom to fly across Europe on the lowest airfares. We are pleased to partner with the Erasmus Student Network, the latest initiative delivered under Year 4 of our ‘Always Getting Better’ programme, which will offer university students across Europe a range of exclusive flight offers, free bags and tailored discounts to suit their budget, and allow them to save even more while they travel on Europe’s biggest airline with the widest route network and the lowest fares.”
The President of Erasmus Student Network, Safi Sabuni, said: “The Erasmus Generation is a generation of Europeans that are perennially curious, open-minded and full of wanderlust. This is made possible not only through the success of the European project and initiatives such as Schengen and Erasmus+, but also thanks to companies like Ryanair – without which it would be much harder to travel around Europe. We are very excited about this partnership and look forward to a fruitful collaboration.”
