In a company, the external environment contains events, conditions and factors external to the organization. It helps determine opportunities and risks. A company must respond to what is happening outside the company. It cannot determine whether it is a recession or a boom. The external environment will change the internal elements of the company and their objectives and strategy could potentially change. “This includes all efforts to perfect the product, save costs and maximize benefits for customers” [13]. The factors affecting the external environment of a company are political, economic, social and technological. Policies are based on how government policies affect a business. Economic is how the economy affects the business; inflation, interest rates. Social is about how consumers and communities act and their opinions. Finally, technology shows the rapid pace of change in processes and innovation that can affect the business. Looking at the political factors in Ryanair's external environment, it can be seen that they can create a competitive advantage through transatlantic flights to the United States. Michael O'Leary told the Irish Hotel Federation he planned to charge just €10 for tickets to New York and Boston. Ryanair must, however, bring in long-haul planes to carry out these transatlantic flights. Ryanair is already considering changing aircraft suppliers to reduce costs. In doing so, they could also speed up the process of acquiring long-haul aircraft. Another strategy that Ryanair could develop would be to collaborate with another company. In this way, Ryanair has the ability to earn more and the financial risk is reduced. Ryanair could test the market, winning...... middle of paper ...... flight comparison site, which would attract even more customers to their airline. To also gain an advantage, they are developing the technology to allow everyone to pay with their mobile on board the flight. People can pay for food, drinks, upgrade their bookings and check where the plane is currently located while they are flying. This will be a very exciting venture which will give Ryanair a huge advantage over its competitors. “Shorter product life cycles, pricing pressure or high research and development costs for better products have made it difficult for today's companies to prevail against their competitors in the race for profits” [15]. Additionally, the objection to providing quality customer service has depleted a company's ability to stand out from its competitors. These factors help in finding new and different ways to create a competitive advantage for a company..