08.14.07
I love O’Leary
ok, so I don’t fly Ryanair unless absolutely forced (and I gave out about him in Sunday’s column which I’ll post later) but I just LOVE him for taking this stance..That’ll put it up to the government. No more excuses now 
Hee hee.
“Ryanair has written to Aer Lingus requesting the EGM to allow the company’s shareholders an opportunity to reverse the move to end its Shannon-Heathrow services.
Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary told a press conference in Shannon that the company would be willing, if requested by the Government, to use its 25% shareholding in the company to retain the Shannon-Heathrow link.
Mr O’Leary said alternatively the Government could ask Ryanair to abstain from voting.
This would give the Government and the Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) staff grouping, which has a 12.5% stake in Aer Lingus, a majority at the EGM.
That could allow them to save the Shannon-Heathrow services.
Mr O’Leary claimed that all that was now needed to save the Aer Lingus Heathrow flights was for the Government to vote in favour of the motion at the EGM.”
ho ho can’t wait to see the government response. You can just bet the Taoiseach’s backroom people are onto Ryanair right now f*cking them out of it and O’Leary will manage to get some deal out of it. Fab.
Update: Tom McEneaney does a good job on it in his column
“It’s game, set and match to Ryanair in the Shannon affair
The only thing you can say for certain about yesterday’s intervention by Ryanair in the Aer Lingus/Shannon row is that it cannot be taken at face value.
True, Ryanair with 25pc of the Aer Lingus shares is the former semi-State’s second largest shareholder, but that does not mean it is acting with the best interests of the rival carrier at heart.
Neither Aer Lingus nor the Government will win any PR awards for their handling of the Shannon affair.
Michael O’Leary, on the other hand, is an absolute master of the art.
Were he not already a gazillionaire with a massive airline to run he could make a very tidy sum advising companies on their PR, specialising, perhaps, in embarrassing the Government….”
squid said,
August 14, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Mr O’Leary said alternatively the Government could ask Ryanair to abstain from voting.
This would give the Government and the Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) staff grouping, which has a 12.5% stake in Aer Lingus, a majority at the EGM.
How do you figure this will make a majority. If Ryanair abstain, that will leave the government with 25 percent, and esot with 12.5 making 37.5 percent.
This does not work out as a majority.
Sarah said,
August 14, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Don’t forget Denis as they point out at Irish election! http://www.irishelection.com/08/shannon-affair-gets-cloudier/#comment-54216
MO’L is just making it as embarrassing as possible for the government. Its great crack.
P O'Neill said,
August 14, 2007 at 5:38 pm
I wonder if takes 50 percent or just a plurality to pass a motion? If it’s just a plurality then 37.5 is enough as long as the government abstains unless everyone on the other side voted against, and the aforementioned Denis is there among that additional 37.5 percent. Otherwise as Squid says they still need to rustle up votes if the government abstains (as, fearing EU complaint about commercial interference, they might).
The Limerick Blogger » Blog Archive » Shannon Controversy 15.08.07 said,
August 15, 2007 at 1:00 am
[...] I Love O’Leary – GUBU [...]
Tomaltach said,
August 15, 2007 at 10:24 am
Agreed. I think O’Leary is playing a blinder. And isn’t it lovely to see him stick the government’s nose in it – particularly the nose emerging from the undergrowth of Willie O’Dea’s mustache. Aer Lingus and Ryanair are playing the game that they have to. No problems there. But this is just one other instance of where the government shows its attitude to regional development. They shredded a fairly sensible spatial plan for a ridiculous decentralisation plan based on party politics. Imagine – configuring the civil service simply to suit FF voting needs! That’s regional development for you. And it sums up perfectly Bertie’s attitude to democracy – utter contempt. So I hope this little incident makes them squirm for a bit. Long term of course it will have no consequences whatever. We Irish are good at huffing and puffing for a few weeks when government shit on us – then we get on with voting FF again.
Graham said,
August 15, 2007 at 11:58 am
Mr O’Leary said alternatively the Government could ask Ryanair to abstain from voting.
This would give the Government and the Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT) staff grouping, which has a 12.5% stake in Aer Lingus, a majority at the EGM.
Read the first sentence there…if Ryanair abstain from voting, that gives a total vote of 75%, in which case 37.5% is a majority!!
It’s for the likes of this that I can’t help but admire O Leary. I hate Ryanair almost as much as anyone else who’s traveled with them. They’re really an awful airline. But O Leary, well he’s a genius of sorts, there’s no doubt about that.
leon said,
August 15, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Ryanair is a poor airline, and O’Leary is generally lear and sneery. But the way he is playing this he can’t fail to win respect atleast, great PR, making the government look like the self-aggrandising ineffectual goons they are (after all a large percentage of TDs are teachers so what do we expect)
Tomaltach said,
August 15, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Leon – I think you’re a bit unfair to teachers. That many of our TDs were teachers is not the reason our government is awful. (The problem lies elsewhere and I’m not going to go into it here.) If an individual has an interest in politics and public service, and they make a go of it, why would they be any worse for being a teacher, rather than say, an accountant or a doctor? Or a mechanic or a lawyer?
Billy Waters said,
August 15, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Ryanair is possibly the best run airline in the world. If you learn the rules and play the game their way then its no worse than any other airline. its just a bus with wings.
They don’t pretend to love you and maybe this is important to some people to be loved by people they get a service from but they do what they do best. Fill aeroplanes with people and keep them flying as long as possible to make the most money.
For all the whinging and moaning and gnashing of teeth that Aer Lingus gets out of their fanboys I vote Ryanair every time.
Aer Lingus has a fleet of 39 planes. Ryanair has 137 planes. Aer Lingus is a regional airline with ideas above its station.
Snubbling the blue planes over the green ones is a form of snobbery in Ireland. How anyone can claim that flying in a brand new $70 million plane is slumming it is an uninformed peasant.
Ryanair is an incredibly successful company and the typical Irish thing is to snipe at successful people to bring them down to their level.
Tomaltach said,
August 15, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Billy – you are right that Ryanair is pretty well run in terms of growing their business and increasing their offerings – and their profits. And their contribution to Irish aviation rarely gets the credit it deserves. (People should not forget how much a ticket to london cost when Aer Lingus had the run of the place. In today’s terms, probably well in excess of 1000eu).
I have flown with Ryanair many times – and never had any problems.
Nevertheless, I have problems with the Ryanair approach:
1.They always claimed to be champions of competition – saying this would always benefit the customer. The immediate effect of this proved correct – as I mention about prices. Now however, as their fat competitors became leaner, Ryanair aren’t quite as keen on the raw competition they say they love. Their drive towards break-down fares make it very difficult to provide the essential tool that customers use to make a choice between competitors: a clear price signal. Ryanair (and now the others had to follow suit) charge a basic price, then for food, then for bags, then for fuel, then for opening the door, then for taking off, etc etc.
2.They have engaged in practices that amount to false advertising (”Easter breaks” – then in small print, ‘not available at Easter’!!)
3.Ryanair’s attitude towards workers is hardly to be applauded. They engaged in what amounted to spying on the pilots. Their approach to other employees could best be described as bullying. Why is this to be praised?
But still – distorted competition is better than no competition. A market with Ryanair, warts and all, is better than one dominated by a state monopoly. And here’s where we turn to the player who could and should be making sure that Ryanair doesn’t get away with 1-3 above, and which should(by whatever mechanism) be securing air routes that are crucial to a strategy of balanced regional development: the government. But alas, all we find there is incompetence, cronyism, and an utter contempt for accountability. Aarrrgh.
leon said,
August 15, 2007 at 3:47 pm
‘incompetence, cronyism, and an utter contempt for accountability’
like teachers,
don’t mention league tables, protection of incompetent colleagues, refusal to reform terms/hours to suit educational needs and the economy in general, absence of professional appraisal post-qualification, etc, etc.
FF and the INTO have a lot in common.