Budget carrier Ryanair in plan to lure more business customers

By Sarah Young

LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - Ryanair, Europe'slargest airline by passenger numbers, said it was stepping upits assault on rivals outside of the budget sector with plans tolure more business customers.

Since last September Ryanair has gradually been turning itsback on its "abrupt culture" in a bid to woo new passengers fromhigher-cost rivals and fill hundreds of new planes.

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said the airline would lurebusiness customers by flying to more convenient airports,so-called "primary" airports, in a move which emulates low-costrival easyJet.

"We're talking to primary airports today that we don'talready fly to in Italy, Spain, Germany, Finland, Sweden,Norway, Denmark..and there's a few others," he told reporters ata press conference on Wednesday.

The company also has plans to offer customers a new servicein May.

"You're a business person, you have different needs. You maywant to fast-track through security. We're going to have aproduct that's going to allow you to do that," he said.

Ryanair said improvements to its website and a policybrought in earlier this year of allocating seats on flights werealready boosting advance bookings. For May, June and July, theyare running five percentage points ahead of where they were in2013, O'Leary said.

easyJet has attracted more business customers sinceintroducing allocated seating 18 months ago, and by offeringmore flexible ticketing, encroaching into the traditionalterritory of legacy carriers such as Lufthansa.

Ryanair's O'Leary, known for his brusque personality andexpletive-filled rants, on Wednesday dismissed questions abouthis suitability to lead the new customer-friendly Ryanair.

Further in the future, the Irishman is continuing to explorehis long-stated plan of taking the Ryanair model to compete inthe trans-Atlantic market.

"We're actively looking for aircraft. Not as Ryanair but asa sister company," he said, adding that the company was talkingto planemakers Boeing and Airbus but theshortage of longhaul aircraft meant that any developments werefour or five years away. (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)