Fly to London for $13? Don't pack your bags yet

Do $13 airfares between Boston and London sound too good to be true? That's because they are.

Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary reportedly told a British tabloid the Irish no-frills carrier wants to fly from London's Stansted and Dublin's airports to Boston, New York, and other US cities by the end of 2009. The Associated Press picked up the story yesterday, noting Ryanair plans to offer fares as cheap as $12.70, before taxes.

It's just a rumor, said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan International Airport.

"The CEO has been saying it for a while," he said. "At this time, we have no agreements."

Ryanair did not return calls yesterday. But the airline's CEO told BBC News yesterday that Ryanair is planning transatlantic routes, yet would only launch them if it could acquire cheap long-haul aircraft.

"That opportunity might arise in the next 12 or 18 months," he said.

Officials at Portsmouth International Airport in New Hampshire spoke with Ryanair a few months ago about being a destination, but the discussion wasn't serious enough to start negotiations, said airport manager Bill Hopper. The Portsmouth airport hasn't offered any scheduled commercial flights since Skybus Airlines, the American version of Ryanair, went bankrupt in April.

NICOLE C. WONG