This is getting better and better.

You may remember that just last month, I told you that Dublin-based Ryanair - the King of the European Discount Airlines - was planning on offering “flights across the pond” for about $17 - in about two years or so.

Make that, next year. And make the airfare just $12.75.

That’s according to a new report from the BBC, which says Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary plans to buy about 50 extra aircraft to make this happen. O’Leary says that while coach will be incredibly cheap, “business class will be very expensive”.

Now, you have to remember, even the coach fares are not quite as cheap as they seem at first glance - you will pay more than $12.75 - thanks to taxes and fees and extras. And don’t forget, on Ryanair, you are only allowed one carry-on - that means a carry-on bag, or a purse, or a laptop, or a briefcase, or a shopping bag -just one of those items. Plus, a first checked-bag costs the same as the base price of your flight, about $12.75. And, you are limited to a total of 33-pounds worth of checked luggage - that’s 33-pounds whether you are checking one bag, two bags or even three bags. More on their fees here.

It was a little over a year ago when Michael O’Leary, the always-outspoken chief executive of Ryanair, started kicking around the idea of stepping into the transatlantic market. At the time, many thought it was just more talk from a man who likes to talk. However, O’Leary was putting the pieces in place to make his move, and it seems that the current struggles of the airline industry may have opened the door for him to create his new transatlantic carrier:

“We won’t do this until we are at the bottom of the business cycle,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “The only time to set up an airline is when they are parking planes in the desert. We are not very far from that at the moment. We would plan to do long-haul 18 months after we secure a fleet of aircraft…” (from the Daily Telegraph)

Flying out of a number of Ryanair’s European bases, the new airline could become a player in major airports in U.S. markets including New York, Boston, and Dallas, as well as smaller airports on the outskirts of large cities that could provide a “better deal on landing charges.”

While the new carrier would offer business class travel with fairly standard international business class amenities (for a bit less than BA and Virgin), it would also offer seats at the back of the plane for as low as 10 GBP (including taxes and fees). That’s just over $17, so it’s not surprising that insiders are already predicting a price war.

O’Leary believes the new airline could be up and running within two-and-a-half-years. In the past, I might have said that if the new airline maintains Ryanair’s additional fees/poor amenities practices it might have a problem catching on with American travelers. Of course, American travelers are pretty used to that kind of thing now.