Kell Ryan has over forty years of extensive airline experience with a comprehensive knowledge that spans the aviation field, mainly with Ryanair, including operations, customer service training, marketing, sales public relations and media communications.
Kell spent the first 24 years working for the Irish national airline Aer Lingus where he was responsible for all operations, passenger and other airline handling contracts at London Heathrow Airport. He also held positions of Director Ground Operations, Customer Service, Sales and Marketing/PR.
He joined Ryanair in its embryonic stage. The company was conceived and financed by Dr T.A.Ryan, Kell's older brother. Working unrelentingly to revolutionise and change air travel within Europe, Ryanair's business model has made air travel affordable to all and changed the way people fly and even the way society works. Kell Ryan headed the major and crucial transfer of establishing the airline to the then little known airport Stansted and then spent several years primarily promoting and marketing Ryanair within Europe. It is a source of great pride to him that he was a pioneering member of a team that has changed travel within Europe to the extent that in 1985 Ryanair carried 5000 passengers and in 2008 it carried 55 million passengers. It is the largest low cost airline in Europe and expects to carry 70 million passengers by 2012.
Kell now chairs and is involved with many tourism forums in Europe. A strong advocate of higher education, he is currently involved with universities in Ireland, England, Germany and in the United States of America where he is also on the advisory board for the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
Kell takes great delight in passing on his knowledge and enthusiasm of Aviation and Tourism and an insight into Ryanair's success on changing aviation in Europe, how it managed change, company culture, leadership, motivation and most importantly of all for any company the unrelenting control of costs.
Ryanair's business model for revolutionised air travel in Europe is a fascinating one. This industry had not changed in 75 years and he outlines the methods the company initiated to become the first low cost carrier in Europe and now the largest. Dozens of airlines have tried to emulate Ryanair but none have achieved the same success.
As an international speaker Kell has addressed companies in both formal and relaxed venues with numbers ranging from 25 to 500 delegates. NCR, McKinsey, The Retail 100 Club (UK’s top CEO and CFO), Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, McKinsey, Fujitsu, Lloyds bank, Tetra Pak and the senior officers of USAF in Europe are among the companies who have benefited from his vast knowledge.
Ryanair has been one of the great business success stories of the past decade. With forty years of business experience, Kell Ryan has developed a comprehensive knowledge of the key areas, spanning customer service, training, marketing, sales, operations, and media communications.