Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary is one of the most controversial and outspoken people in the airline industry. Several weeks ago O'Leary blasted the prospect of Lufthansa getting significant government aid, comparing the airline to a crack cocaine junkie: “Lufthansa is like a crack cocaine junkie looking for state aid. They’re already getting huge payroll…
Continue reading: Ryanair CEO: “Lufthansa Is Addicted To State Aid”
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LOVE seeing Ryanair CEO pissed off.
They treat their passengers like cattle and expect to be treated like a legacy airline.
If Ryanair started playing by the rules rather than offer poverty wages they might have a case. Many employees are east Europeans as locals in higher cost north & west Europe are unwilling (and unable) to work for a pittance. Legacy carriers typically hire mainly locals, hence the economic consequences of having thousands of redundancies also has a political cost.
Ryanair have also lost several court cases as they refused to pay local employment taxes for employees, arguing they were working for an Irish company. What comes around etc.
Ryanair is an awful airline, with very bad service and while its existence has helped drive down prices overall it is a significant contributor to over-tourism and all its negative effects. State Aid is a thorny issue, but airlines, particularly global network ones are seen as essential services and have a role to play in the economy. I'm not defending LH but after flying Ryanair a few times in 2016-2017 around Europe, with chronically delayed flights, dirty airplanes, sitting among fliers who probably should have just stayed home, I'm ok with LH and other network carriers getting bailouts if it means I personally would not have to fly Ryanair ever again.
I personally agree with him, I feel like it is not fair to support one airline with a huge check and leave out the rest. It will distort the competition hugely. On a side note, I also agree that this makes German government a hypocrite. I wish they complied with what they always asked others to do and they do speak like everyone is inferior, especially south european governments...
A quarter of Ryanair’s routes/airport are loss making and receive some kind of state aid, subsidy or intervention... high profile cases of accepting illegal state aid In France, Spain, Germany, Italy, they fight it and loose in court every time, stretch out the appeals process to milk every penny then abandon the routes, fire the employees and start the process all over again at another struggling airport/depressed municipality, another set of Independent contractor pilots and crew that pay for their own training and are employed for less than minimum wage in a country they set foot in once a month.
Mr O’Leary likes to accuse others of stealing to distract the public from the fact he has his sticky fingers in every money making scam and scheme he can find.
Ryanair is very right with this matter and everyone complaining about them might not like them but the reality is they serve millions of people affordable flights. A lot of people wouldn’t be able to fly without the cheap prices or competition that ryanair provides.
Classic German doublespeak. Hypocrites, thinking they are somehow smarter or more valuable than the rest of humanity.
@Tom: sounds like a generalized and stupid prejudice. Can you give some examples of „classic German doublespeak“?
@shoeguy I don't think anybody really loves the Ryanair experience, and there's merit to the notion that they're a major cause of overtourism, but why do you feel some people should have just stayed at home? Are some people more deserving of intra-European travel than others?
Although the suitability of the style is to be discussed, I m agree with the fact that this situation will compete and support the growth of LH on an unfair competition