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Home » Ryanair » Ryanair Chief Delivers Ultimatum To Irish Government
NewsRyanair

Ryanair Chief Delivers Ultimatum To Irish Government

Matthew Klint Posted onApril 23, 2020November 14, 2023 9 Comments

a man with his hand on his face

The combative CEO of Ryanair has mocked onboard social distancing and warned that if the Irish government forces it on commercial flights, Ryanair will not fly. But is his ultimatum credible?

“Either the government pays for the middle seat or we won’t fly.”

-Michael O’Leary, Ryanair Chief

Asked about how he would respond to a potential Irish governmental restriction on middle seats, O’Leary made the claim above, arguing such a rule would destroy the Ryanair business model.

“We can’t make money on 66% load factors,” said O’Leary to the Financial Times. The no-frills budget carrier relies upon high load factors and quick turns (i.e. less onboard cleaning) to be profitable and fears over COVID-19 place a particular burden on airlines like Ryanair.

“Even if you do that, the middle seat doesn’t deliver any social distancing, so it’s kind of an idiotic idea that doesn’t achieve anything anyway.”

That’s not an absurd point, but as one tool to combat spread, two feet is better than nothing. O’Leary believes masks and temperature checks are a more effective tool than “social distancing” onboard.

For Ryanair, this might not even be an issue. With historically low loads and all models pointing toward a slow return to travel, Ryanair likely won’t be filling up planes even if it tired. At least for now…

But onboard social distancing rules, if enacted, would force Ryanair to raise prices or go bust, hence the strong ultimatum from O’Leary above.

Other than his rejection of onboard social distancing, O’Leary is fairly optimistic about the future. While other airlines face collapse, Ryanair will weather the storm. In fact, O’Leary expects capacity in August 2020 to be down only 20% versus August 2019.

CONCLUSION

The Ryanair chief is known for making brash statements and this is no different. What catches my attention is more than the ultimatum to Ireland, but his rather optimistic forecast of a travel rebound as early as this summer. That’s one thing I hope he is not just dreaming about…

image: Ryanair

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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9 Comments

  1. George Reply
    April 23, 2020 at 8:25 am

    It’s good to see people standing up to governments and flavor of the month phrases like ‘social distancing.’

    It’s so encouraging to see people not accept the nonsense that is being bandied about.
    In 6 months, no one will remember any of this. We’ll have moved on to the next reality show or made up crisis.
    It’s nice to see MOL stand up for logic and reason. Love it.

    • UA-NYC Reply
      April 23, 2020 at 8:52 am

      Are you trying to troll on every single travel site? Piss off.

  2. Phil Duncan Reply
    April 23, 2020 at 8:39 am

    Let Ryanair go to the wall. It will improve climate change related problems no end and who will miss the auld gobshite?

  3. James Reply
    April 23, 2020 at 9:17 am

    I completely agree with MOL. 2 feet or 6 feet, it doesn’t matter, and to pretend like it does is lunacy. We’ve got to stop living with this irrational fear of this virus.

  4. ghostrider5408 Reply
    April 23, 2020 at 9:45 am

    Bluster all bluster if the only way to get your planes back in the early stages of reopening is to fly with empty center seats so be it, the point is get back to generating revenue, things will ease down the road.

    NO George people will not forget in six months fir as predicted by health care professionals around the world agree there will be a second wave of this version of corona virus and it will mutate as well. with the world population being what it is and growing without strict hygiene and food preparation/storage these outbreaks will continue. No George travel will be altered for a long time.

  5. JBM Reply
    April 23, 2020 at 10:20 am

    To be clear, the only reason most airlines are doing this is because of low demand and high capacity. If Lufthansa and BA had enough demand to fill planes, they would not be blocking economy middle seats either. They would just pay a few corporate lawyers to phrase it better.

    With that said, I agree that 2 feet is better than none. The 6 foot recommendation is based on being far away for both contact and droplet communication. If you’re worried about droplet transmission, the better thing to do would be to mandate masks. The 2 foot space significantly reduces contact between passengers.

  6. Ghostrider5408 Reply
    April 23, 2020 at 10:43 am

    JBM I don’t think its low demand more health wise as well as politically correct thing to do. Until we have a true effective vaccine widely used people will be cautious on their surroundings, Domestic travel here in the US will slowly ramp up, with those “jump on a plane” and go see a client done for awhile, vacationing internationally will be very slow coming back with reports that many countries in Europe not opening up until the beginning of next year, Africa safari’s long ways off as well. Cape Town SA is a disaster, Victoria Wharf I hear is deserted such a shame some of the best crepes bar none can be found there.

    We as a world population have two issues in front of us, how soon can a effective vaccine be found and will the virus come back this fall/winter and some Health Care professionals are predicting. Those two points will then dictate how soon we get back.

  7. Paolo Reply
    April 23, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    Would anybody trust O’Leary to make judgements about public health issues? It was about 1 month ago that he was still talking about the virus as an overblown fuss about nothing.
    My approach to flying Ryanair has always been : touch as little as possible, avoid the lavatory, grin and bear it.

  8. Dick Bupkiss Reply
    April 23, 2020 at 11:23 pm

    If O’Leary is going to pack them in like sardines, then he should be directly financially liable for all the costs that policy incurs. Medical care. Lost wages. Funeral costs. Death benefits to support survivors’ family members for a lifetime. And on and on. Every Euro of costs for every passenger on his flights. Fair is fair.

    O’Leary just wants to privatize the benefits and social the costs. That’s capitalism. Can’t blame him for trying, but only a sucker would allow that.

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