O'Leary announces Air Berlins demise...

[openfly]

On Sky News live at 12.15 today, Ryanairs Michael O'Leary announced that ''Air Berlin and SkyEurope will go bust in the next two weeks''.
Does anyone else have access to this information?

[peter we]

I hope he didn't, because saying that would make him liable for massive damages, he will be answerable to all their creditors and shareholders

[AOB9]

................and they say BONO has an EGO!!!!!!!!!!:ouch:

[KeyPilot]

I know little about AB, but NE - I can very easily believe they will go bust (it may take a bit longer than 2 weeks, or it may not). I have followed NE since its inception (it was founded by a group of former colleagues of my former colleague), it has a very dubious business model which it has had to turn inside out over the last couple of years, they don't have a great route network or catchment area for main hubs/destinations, their cost base must be well above e.g. RYR's with whom they go heavily head-to-head (and therefore they have little resilience against high fuel prices) and recently I have received a torrent of offers in my inbox from them which I have to say read a bit like a company desparate to collect cash and therefore on a "last roll of the dice". However they have been doing this for more than 2 weeks, so either O'Leary has access to information which most of us don't (and he might), or this is his usual bluster (also distinctly possible).

Whilst I hope I'm proven wrong, I would hesitate before booking with them at the moment.

[peter we]

I'm no lawyer but I can tell you that posting messages about the viability of a business is libel. You and this site, could get sued for an unlimited amount.

Ryan Air are going to be out of pocket for a very large amount of money if MOL did make this allegation.

[luvly jubbly]

I seem to recall him recently saying the same about Jet2 and GSM etc! Maybe this is his new tactic...... To frighten the customers away from his competitors.

[VAFFPAX]

It's not the opinion about the business model, but the statement that "x airline will go out of business in two weeks". The word "will" implies a certain guarantee or fact statement, and that, together with the rest, could be considered libellous, especially if it doesn't happen.

S.

[akerosid]

I think that the problem for these airlines is that if they sue him, he will be able to produce the data on which he based his comments and even if the data is judged not to amount to a death knell for the airline concerned, it could still be very damaging for financially weak airlines to have this kind of info floating around.

Naturally, I hope MO'L is wrong, but I think he's too adept and smart a businessman to put himself in a situation where he could be sued by AB and NE - or indeed anyone.

[VAFFPAX]

He didn't expect Sarkozy and Bruni suing him for their cheeky ad, they did. The man is not infallible.

Peter was correct. Look up the case of Gina Ford vs Mumsnet. Ford sued Mumsnet over 'opinions' posted by Mumsnet members. Those opinions were apparently damaging to her business and her brand. While the forum site negotiated a settlement without admitting liability, it still cost the forum operators a lot of money.

Forum operators have to be careful how to balance fact, opinion and legalese, and a failure to do so can result in the forum operator being sued in being complicit.

Under current libel laws there are few exemptions for websites that carry third-party material hosted by others. A site has to prove that it does not act in any way as editor, by moderating postings, or as a publisher, by disseminating them, and has been taking reasonable care to be able to say it cannot be accused of being party to a libel. Internet service providers can also be sued. - The Times

It's a hairy world out there.

S.

[peter we]

It's not the opinion about the business model, but the statement that "x airline will go out of business in two weeks". The word "will" implies a certain guarantee or fact statement, and that, together with the rest, could be considered libellous, especially if it doesn't happen.

Exactly. The case I was thinking about was an insurance companies internal email questioning a competitors companies financial stability. The were given massive damages considering how trivial the real damage could have been.

Even if these companies do go bust Ryanair maybe entirely liable for all loses felt by shareholders.

IMHO the only one that can be held responsible for statements made by MOL is MOL himself.

The representative of one of Europe's biggest airlines slandering his competition, for the benefit of his employer, on national TV. I think his employer is going to be held fully accountable.

[luvly jubbly]

Might be interesting to see how long FR's 2 billion euros savings last while Boeing continue to deliver 737s to them that they ordered but may no longer want!
MOL is pretty adept at throwing up smokescreens....

At least with pan-European carriers there are options..... Plenty of other carriers flying to those same destinations, so if you book by credit card, you can't go far wrong.

The issue with Zoom's customers is that there aren't many other ways of getting to Ottowa or Halifax.........

[VAFFPAX]

Again prove that people have gone nuts in the UK... Maybe MOL would like to sue pprune in that case.
This is not limited to the UK I'm afraid. In many of the cases outside the UK it has not involved some celebrity like Gina Ford, but it has happened. The other day a judge in the UK threw out a similar case, finding for the forum operators, so it's not all that.

The amount of time and money involved (lawyers fees etc) that makes these cases so irritating and best left avoided.

S.

[Cloud Bunny]

Hang on a minute. I was watching that interview and he never said that AB and Sky Europe WILL go bust. The interviewer was pushing as hard as she could for him to identify other Airlines that are likely to go broke during the current economic downturn. He said that Airlines that are currently reporting losses are poorly placed, such as "Sky Europe and MAYBE Air Berlin". He never said they would go bust in a couple of weeks. He also stated (because the whole point of the interview was in relation to Zoom going down) that predicting what Airlines would go bust was impossible and often you find that one airline going under has a positive impact on another that was also perceived to be in trouble.
To be honest I thought it was a good interview in which he didn't sprout a load of trash, just answered the questions that were put to him.
Yet more mindless drivel and FR/MOL bashing. :=

[slip and turn]

Oh dear does that mean PPRuNe are potentially in trouble unless they take this thread down fast?

[rubik101]

I saw it the same way as Cloud Bunny. The interviewer was desperate to force MOL to name names. He was suitably vague and mentioned that airlines who were losing money were facing a very uncertain future.
The original post by openfly is about as accurate as most journalistic musings from Wapping.
Utter tripe.

[wobble2plank]

Unfortunately even the Sarkozy/Brunni went his way as well.

He was quoted as saying it cost him E60,000 (not sure of the exact figure) to the charity of the couples choice but not before it netted him E5,000,000 in free 'scandal' advertising.

The man is unbelievable!

[Hobby Flyer]

I think from a marketing perspective, he was counting on Sarkozy and Bruni suing him for that ad. That way, he got literally millions of Euro worth of free publicity from the coverage of the court case, which went global, and most of the reports included a picture of the offending advert.

[Husky One]

Ryanair don't have 2 Billion in cash reserves. They did have several months ago but I believe it's now down towards a paltry 1 Billion

[GROUNDHOG]

737Jock - I like him. Always have, always will. Been a pleasure doing business every time I have met him he is a hard man and has an opinion but what you get is what you see unlike some. He can pop round my house for tea any time he wants.

On topic, I too thought he handled the interview well.

Happy to be in a minority of one.

[kotakota]

Don't worry about Ryanair and MOL paying for the NGs on order .
I would be amazed if some of the options have not already been 'passed on / sold for a premium ' to operators desperate for hulls.
After all , not so long ago it was public knowledge that the NG line was sold out to 2012 . If that is the case , how are flydubai going to acquire 50 odd hulls starting in 09 ?
MOL is a master at squeezing Boeing , who must have loved his massive orders while they were desperate to compete with Bus in the great annual p***ing contest that is known as Annual Sales.

[kotakota]

oh , and another thing , I bet Carla and her chap ( whatever his name is ...Mr Bruni or somesuch..) have probably got free travel on FR for life ?
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