Ryanair signs five-year Google Cloud AI partnership to transform airline operations

Ryanair adds Google Cloud to its dual-cloud flight plan

Ryanair has signed a five-year agreement with Google Cloud covering AI, productivity tools and multi-cloud infrastructure, just weeks after renewing its deal with rival AWS for another five years. The Irish budget airline says it will deploy Google Workspace and Google Cloud services across its 35,000-strong workforce as it pursues a target of 300 million passengers a year by 2034. We asked how much this deal is worth, but Google declined to say and Ryanair did not respond. The rollout includes the Mountain View firm's Gemini Enterprise agentic AI platform, which Ryanair intends to use to automate some decision-making, optimize flight crew logistics, and improve staff productivity. The airline will also use Google DeepMind's AlphaEvolve to refine algorithms and WeatherNext for forecasting and maintenance planning. Ryanair renewed its agreement with AWS for another five years on July 27, making AWS and Google Cloud the two pillars of what the airline itself calls its dual-cloud resilience strategy. Google says the dual-cloud setup will allow critical systems to switch between providers if one suffers an outage, helping keep flight operations, and customer services running. Under the renewed AWS agreement, Ryanair will continue using services including Amazon Quick, Amazon Bedrock, and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore for workloads ranging from its website to operational planning across a fleet of 647 aircraft. Reg readers may recall that AWS and Google Cloud were touting a jointly developed multi-cloud connectivity service at the end of last year. This links Google's Cross-Cloud Interconnect with AWS Interconnect, allowing customers to set up a private high-speed link between resources they have running on the two cloud platforms. "Ryanair is on an incredible growth journey to 300 million passengers by 2034. To support this growth, we need to ensure we have excellent infrastructure resilience, and our new dual-cloud strategy provides this," commented the airline's CEO, Eddie Wilson. "We are thrilled to be Ryanair's AI transformation partner," stated Maureen Costello, Google Cloud VP for UK, Ireland and Sub-Saharan Africa. "This agreement demonstrates how deploying generative AI at scale - coupled with modern collaboration tools for frontline workers - can help industry leaders scale securely, reduce operational costs, and redefine the travel experience." ®

Ryanair signs a five-year AI deal with Google Cloud, and a second cloud to fall back on

Ryanair has signed a five-year data and AI partnership with Google Cloud, rolling out Google Workspace and Google Cloud services to 35,000 employees and making Gemini Enterprise, Google's agentic AI platform, the centrepiece of how Europe's largest carrier intends to run itself. The airline has tied the deal explicitly to its growth target of 300 million passengers a year by 2034, roughly a 44% increase on the 208.4 million it carried in the financial year to March. Gemini Enterprise will be used, in the companies' description, to automate decision-making, optimise flight crew logistics, and support corporate productivity generally. Ryanair plans to use Google DeepMind models, naming AlphaEvolve and WeatherNext, to support fleet operations and maintenance scheduling. WeatherNext is DeepMind's forecasting family, which for an airline running around 3,900 flights a day out of 95 bases is not a peripheral application. It also plans to replace its existing collaboration systems outright with Workspace and Gemini. Running underneath all of it is a resilience argument that Ryanair has put ahead of the AI one. The airline describes the arrangement as a "dual-cloud strategy", in which Google Cloud helps build a system flexible enough that if one provider has problems, critical services keep running. "Ryanair is on an incredible growth journey to 300 million passengers by 2034," said Eddie Wilson, Ryanair's chief executive. "To support this growth, we need to ensure we have excellent infrastructure resilience, and our new dual-cloud strategy provides this, alongside technology partners that match our speed and relentless focus on efficiency." Maureen Costello, Google Cloud's vice-president for the UK, Ireland, and sub-Saharan Africa, put the case in industry terms. "Aviation is an industry defined by precision, and Ryanair is a pioneer in operational execution," she said. "This agreement demonstrates how deploying generative AI at scale, coupled with modern collaboration tools for frontline workers, can help industry leaders scale securely, reduce operational costs, and redefine the travel experience." The scale Ryanair is buying for is real. It ended the last financial year with 647 aircraft, having taken delivery of all 210 Boeing 737-8200 Gamechangers, and has 300 737 MAX-10s on order, split evenly between firm orders and options. Boeing expects certification of that aircraft late this summer, with the first fifteen due to Ryanair in spring 2027. Pre-exceptional profit after tax for the year was €2.26bn, up 40%. What the release does not say is as notable as what it does. There is no named migration of specific workloads, no BigQuery or Vertex AI commitment, no disclosed contract value, and no timeline for when any of the AI applications reach production. Airlines have been announcing operational AI for the better part of a decade; the difference here is the size of the seat count and the explicit link to a passenger target eight years out. Ryanair is not new to building software, whatever its reputation for spending nothing. It runs Ryanair Labs, an in-house technology operation with hubs in Dublin, Madrid, and Wrocław, and has spent years pushing passengers towards direct booking, a campaign that produced a €255m Italian antitrust fine in December 2025 over its treatment of online travel agents and a settlement with Booking Holdings the previous August. It also runs against a current. Airbus is moving its most critical applications off AWS to a French sovereign cloud, a decision framed around European control of European infrastructure. Ryanair, characteristically, has gone the other way and bought the American stack twice over.

Ryanair signs 5-year Google Cloud AI deal for crew scheduling

The Irish carrier will deploy Gemini Enterprise and Google Workspace to 35,000 employees as it targets 300 million passengers by 2034 Ryanair signed a five-year partnership with Google $GOOGL Cloud on Wednesday, deploying the Alphabet unit's AI tools across its operations to automate crew scheduling and reduce the risk of technology outages. Under the agreement, Google Workspace and Google Cloud services will be extended to 35,000 Ryanair staff members across the carrier's network. At the heart of the agreement is Gemini Enterprise, Google Cloud's agentic AI platform, which Ryanair intends to harness for building proprietary AI agents, streamlining key operational choices, and improving how flight crews are managed. Financial terms were not disclosed. The partnership also supports a dual-cloud strategy for Ryanair, which already uses Amazon $AMZN Web Services, according to Reuters. By spreading workloads across multiple cloud providers, Ryanair aims to keep flights and customer services running if one platform experiences disruptions, the company said. "To support this growth, we need to ensure we have excellent infrastructure resilience, and our new dual-cloud strategy provides this, alongside technology partners that match our speed and relentless focus on efficiency," Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said in a statement. Ryanair also intends to bring Google DeepMind models into its operations -- among them AlphaEvolve and WeatherNext -- applying them to areas such as fleet management and the planning of maintenance work. The carrier will also replace its existing collaboration systems with Google Workspace. Maureen Costello, Google Cloud's vice president for the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sub-Saharan Africa, said in a statement that deploying generative AI at scale can help carriers "scale securely, reduce operational costs, and redefine the travel experience." Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, Ryanair currently carries around 216 million passengers a year across approximately 3,900 daily flights. The Google Cloud deal is part of a broader push to reach 300 million annual passengers by 2034, supported by an order for 300 new Boeing $BA 737s, the company said.

Ryanair signs Google deal to expand use of AI in airline operations | BreakingNews

Ryanair said on Wednesday it would deploy Google's Gemini AI tools and DeepMind models across its operations under a new five-year cloud partnership, using the technology to help manage crew scheduling and make operational decisions. Ryanair, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, said it would roll out Alphabet's Google Workspace and Google Cloud services to 35,000 employees across its network, supporting its efforts towards a goal of carrying 300 million passengers annually by 2034. "To support ⁠this growth, we need to ensure we have excellent infrastructure resilience, and our new dual-cloud strategy provides this, alongside technology partners that match our speed and relentless focus on efficiency," ⁠Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson said. Ryanair's deal with Google Cloud adds to its existing use of Amazon Web Services as part of a strategy to reduce the risk of technology outages. The airline said it would use Gemini Enterprise ⁠to develop custom AI agents ⁠to automate some decisions, improve crew scheduling, and reduce disruption. The carrier said it would also use Google DeepMind models, including AlphaEvolve and WeatherNext, to support fleet operations and maintenance scheduling. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. "This agreement demonstrates how deploying generative AI at scale... can help industry leaders scale securely, reduce operational costs, and ⁠redefine the travel experience," said Maureen Costello, Google Cloud's vice president for the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sub-Saharan Africa. The aviation industry has been expanding its use of AI in customer service, operations and maintenance, according to studies by aviation technology provider SITA and airline trade body IATA, as airlines seek to improve efficiency and reliability. - Reuters

Ryanair signs five-year Google Cloud deal, expands use of AI in airline operations

LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Ryanair said on Wednesday it would deploy Google's Gemini AI tools and DeepMind models across its operations under a new five-year cloud partnership, using the technology to help manage crew scheduling and make operational decisions. Ryanair, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, said it would roll out Alphabet's Google Workspace and Google Cloud services to 35,000 employees across its network, supporting its efforts towards a goal of carrying 300 million passengers annually by 2034. "To support this growth, we need to ensure we have excellent infrastructure resilience, and our new dual-cloud strategy provides this, alongside technology partners that match our speed and relentless focus on efficiency," Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said. Ryanair's deal with Google Cloud adds to its existing use of Amazon Web Services as part of a strategy to reduce the risk of technology outages. The Irish airline said it would use Gemini Enterprise to develop custom AI agents to automate some decisions, improve crew scheduling and reduce disruption. The carrier said it would also use Google DeepMind models, including AlphaEvolve and WeatherNext, to support fleet operations and maintenance scheduling. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. "This agreement demonstrates how deploying generative AI at scale... can help industry leaders scale securely, reduce operational costs, and redefine the travel experience," said Maureen Costello, Google Cloud's vice president for the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sub-Saharan Africa. The aviation industry has been expanding its use of AI in customer service, operations and maintenance, according to studies by aviation technology provider SITA and airline trade body IATA, as airlines seek to improve efficiency and reliability. (Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; editing by William James)