Ryanair seeks to save its customers money with roaming app

Leading European budget airline Ryanair has launched a new smartphone app to allow its customers to avoid ‘extortionate’ roaming charges.

Leading European budget airline Ryanair has launched a new smartphone app to allow its customers to avoid ‘extortionate’ roaming charges.

A partnership with telecoms technology company Wavecrest, RyanairTalk enables calls to be made over Wi-Fi or 3G connections for as little as €0.13 per minute.

The airline claimed this can save its customers up to 65% with mobile networks generally charging around €0.35 per minute.

As well as offering cheap calls when travelling, the app also allows customers to make cheap international calls when at home.

Ryanair said calls to landlines offer even greater value with rates as low as €0.03 per minute, a saving of over 90%.

The free RyanairTalk Android or iPhone app is available to download now.

To mark the launch Ryanair is giving away 10 minutes of free mobile calls (or 40 minutes free landline calls) to the first 50,000 customers who download the app.

Ryanair head of communications Robin Kiely said: “Ryanair already delivers Europe’s lowest airfares, as well as the guaranteed lowest and hotel room rates (on RyanairHotels.com).

“Now Ryanair passengers can continue to save money and enjoy cheaper phone bills by using RyanairTalk, which is available to download through the Ryanair.com website, Google Play and the iPhone app store.”

Wavecrest chief executive Chris Adams added: “As the underlying telecoms and technology provider for this service, we are extremely proud to support Ryanair’s relentless campaign to drive down costs for European travellers.

“This simple to use app allows customers to keep in touch without the worry of coming home to a huge and unexpected phone bill.”