RYAN EUROPE:
the link as generator of the territory

type: territorial planning research
location: European Union
year: 2005 -
client: Self funded
status: on-going research project
project team: Mariano Arias-Diez, Roman Cordero, LA76

DESCRIPTION:
Europe is becoming day by day smaller, distance is not today anymore a problem low-cost budget airlines are now opening new mobility patterns, generating and enabling links between other cities in other countries in all over the european territory. through all airlines, we choose ryanair as a case study, because, besides being the most popular in europe, is the company with more destinations. taking every principal airbase in 7 countries in which the airline operates, we analyze factors such as: time, money and distance. Which are the factors that allow ‘the tourist’ to visit other places and at the end, demonstrate that destinations today are just as metro stops.

The study graphs different factors to measure the mobility of users:
BASE AIRPORTS: the ryanair "base airports"
MONEY vs DISTANCE: How much money takes you where
TIME vs DISTANCE: How fast you get from here to there
TRAFIC IMPACT: Growth of airports (and cities) after the arrival of ryanair.

"traveling is not anymore a special event,
is now part of our daily routine"

There are very few factors that are shaping up the new(united) european identity, the new policies of mobility are generating a new phenomena of interaction between europeans that might be more tangible in a near future, young generations are the main target of this new identity policies.
Still other factors maybe even more social related and less planned, are the real generators of what will become the european identity in the future, this generators are:

- the low-cost airlines
- the erasmus program
- the champions league.