It's kind of refreshing to see something that hasn't passed through a public relations filter.
For some colourful viewing, here's the CEO proposing a "standing cabin" on planes, and asserting that "the customer is nearly always wrong": https://youtu.be/xmGRGv2jEkg
And to state the obvious, if as a traveler you don't share that goal of getting the absolute cheapest ticket at all costs, you shouldn't fly Ryanair. But he's doing a great job here selling to his target demographic.
This whole thing of appealing to popularity amongst a particular subset of the population by being "unorthodox", "refreshingly sincere" and "blunt" is really just a ruse to amass a little bit of unchecked power.
That's just a means to an end for his real singular goal: higher profits
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but his real singular goal is not "lowest ticket prices".
That being said, he's a total asshole. When I worked for them some years back he screamed at a head of function for about 30 minutes because results weren't up to par. It was at that point I decided that the company wouldn't work for me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Leary_(businessman...
> In 2007, O'Leary was forced to retract a claim that Ryanair had cut emissions of carbon dioxide by half over the previous five years because the claim should have been that emissions "per passenger" had been cut by half. He has been reported to have impersonated a journalist in an attempt to find information passed on to a newspaper following a safety incident on a Ryanair flight. On occasion, he has apologised for personal attacks under threat of legal action. He has been criticised by a judge for lying, who said he was lucky not to be found guilty of contempt of court. He has also been criticised for dismissing concerns about climate change as "complete nonsense".
> Reacting to the decision to close European airspace in April 2010 over worries about the volcanic ash plume from an erupting Icelandic volcano, O'Leary falsely said, "There was no ash cloud. It was mythical. It's become evident the airspace closure was completely unnecessary."
That's still an impressive accomplishment. So I'd be inclined to believe that was just an honest mistake.
Absolute emissions and emissions per passenger kilometer are real numbers.
That was a big part of Trump's appeal to his fan base as well...however that kind of talk is not becoming of someone in a prestigious position like president (or CEO) and ruins their credibility to get things done.
It has other downsides sure, GSD isn't one of them.
Given O'Leary has been CEO since the 1990s, steering the airline through Covid-19, the GFC and 9/11, he must be doing something right. At least, that's what shareholders think.
Trump did a lot of the latter, corporate entities do a lot of the second, and it would often be nice if they did more of the first.
he’s doing alright
It's one thing if the owner of a local bar thinks it a good idea to throw around swear words and being edgy in general. Might bring him some new business, might lose him some old business.
But owners of companies worth dozens of billions of dollars? They might want to rein in their executives a bit. Unprofessionalism always reflects back on the institution, even if Elon Musk and to a lesser degree Jeff Bezos (=we don't need to make a profit or pay out dividends) have proven themselves to be the exception to the rule.
At least Tesla is widely known for wildly fluctuating stock prices. Every time Elon posts some stupid shit on Twitter, the stock tanks.
Corporate officials have responsibility for their shareholders, and the SEC has tried more than once to teach Musk that lesson. Tesla may be a revolutionary when it comes to cars, but their stock is far from what should be in anyone's private portfolio.
The narrative broadcasted by local (state owned) media is still that Orban is protecting people from evil corporations making "extra profit" (that's how they keep calling it, no matter how stupid and meaningless it is) with these nonsense laws and he won't let companies getting away with passing down these new taxes on consumers. Obviously he cannot do anything about it, not even with Hungarian entities.
They even went so far as implementing a system where extra profit went into a separate fund that was going to buy shares of the company. An interesting way to take over companies by the state. Thankfully the project was stopped before it was fully implemented.
Some more information. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_funds
if you only read his comments, you would think this company is so solid that the CEO has complete free rein. and then you fly Ryanair and you realise it's just shock advertising.
Sometimes less. I've paid for priority boarding on Ryanair and then had the gate agent ignore it.
"Well... yes."
"And where is this?"
"Is it.. Berlin?"
"Exactly! Exit your cages to the right. Women, children and goats first please."
One of the advantages people often miss about Ryanair is they connect so many airports, that you can often find a direct flight where you would need to change with a more 'premium' airline that follows the hub & spoke model.
hard disagree. Ryanair is literally the worst airline I have ever flown. BA even on short haul is miles ahead.
Wow, this is an aggressive statement by a corporate entity. I know Ryanair has always been more outspoken than other corporate entities (besides perhaps Ben & Jerry's) but this was quite surprising to read