Cost of flying was dropping continuously in the past 50-60 years and it has less to do with competition but with advances in the industry. While many planes 60 years ago had 4 people in the cockpit (pilot, copilot, navigator and mechanic officer), now they reduced it to 2 (navigator no longer needed with inertial navigation and later on GPS, mechanic officer no longer needed as planes are more reliable and have more sensors and automation). Also the fuel consumption, the biggest cost today, decreased with every generation of engines, time and time again.
Plus, on average on the whole cabin, budget airlines are that much cheaper than others. There is a floor of what an average ticket can cost, defined by operating cost of an aircraft. And not even Ryan Air can ignore those without loosing money.
Sure. And Ryanair does everything to lower down that cost: they operate only one type of aircraft and they do maintenance themselves instead of contracting it out.
Inferior only by single criteria. If you take multiple, not by a long shot. Ryanair, if I remember correctly, has very good delayed and cancelled flight stats, better than most classic airlines.
