Who is Michael O’Leary again?
62-year-old Michael O’Leary is a notorious name in the aviation industry. This is not only because he grew Ryanair into the largest budget airline in Europe, but also because of his controversial ideas. For example, O’Leary once suggested that modern technology would allow airplanes to fly with one less pilot, which would be a significant cost saving, and he suggested that from now on the toilets in airplanes would only be accessible for a fee. He also called climate change “complete nonsense.”
Why was he in the news this week?
First of all, because O’Leary is heading for a huge bonus. The Financial Times reported that he can cash in 100 million euros as soon as Ryanair’s share price remains above 21 euros for 28 days. The price rose by almost 50 percent in one year and now stands at 19.10 euros. Financial analysts from Bloomberg expect the price to rise further to around 24 euros next year.
So it won’t be a Christmas bonus for O’Leary yet. However, he has another reason to go into the holidays in good spirits. On Wednesday, Ryanair won a prominent case before the European General Court, the second highest European court, against the European Commission. According to the budget airline, it wrongly granted state aid to national airlines during the corona crisis, putting price fighters at a disadvantage. In the case of French state aid to Air-France-KLM of 3.4 billion euros, the judge ruled in favor of Ryanair. The European Commission should have provided better substantiation that the aid only benefited the French branch of the company, and not KLM. It is not yet clear what the concrete consequences of the ruling will be.
Are there any other issues O’Leary is currently dealing with?
O’Leary likes to kick against the established order, whether they are institutions or competitors. At the beginning of this week, O’Leary called on Ursula von der Leyen to take “immediate” action against the consequences of strikes by French air traffic controllers. As a result, airlines were unable to fly through French airspace to other destinations for 67 days in 2023. In addition, domestic French flights were allowed to take to the air, because they are considered public transport by French law. O’Realy finds the course of events unacceptable. “Von der Leyen must stop this and protect passengers, or else resign.”
How could Ryanair’s share price have risen so much this year?
O’Leary predicted at the end of last year that Ryanair would emerge stronger from the corona crisis and claim a larger market share. Where other airlines went bankrupt or had to pay off government debt, the Irish price fighter dared to purchase additional aircraft. So far, the CEO has kept his big promises. Ryanair had a strong summer and is aiming for an annual profit of between 1.85 and 2.05 billion euros. O’Leary himself will hope that this will be slightly higher: even if Ryanair makes a net profit of more than 2.2 billion euros this year, he is entitled to his multi-million bonus.
Koen Marée