Leo - as one who has been a closet admirer of your rhetoric in recent times, I am delighted to find my comments have stirred something within you and honoured to have PPRUNE space devoted to your disection of my comments. Your discussions are so reminiscent of one of your late, great Irish predecessors - William Joyce who was better known as Lord Haw-Haw! You will recall that the cause he backed with such certainty ran into a spot of bother and he himself came to a sad end - such is the way of those who back losers with unswerving loyalty. I always feel that being mates with MOL is a bit like having a cobra for a tie - looks cool and attracts loads of attention, but in the end it will bite you in a big way.
But back to the facts (boring I know but someone has to look at them I suppose). Our roster pattern is 5/2-5/4 and consists of 5 earlies followed by 5 lates which is remarkably similar to your own (5/3-5/3 they tell me). The pattern is undoubtedly contraversial but come back in a year's time and it might all look a bit different. That boring organisation BALPA may just have renegotiated a better deal.
Regarding the business model - you chaps have undoubtedly done well and frankly I cannot really criticize it. Flying from somewhere in the middle of nowhere to somewhere else in the middle of nowhere, call them both somewhere else and then charge the airports for the privelege of having you is a stunning model that has served you well. We have, however, decided to go a bit more 'mainstream' and take on the big boys in their own backyard. In all honesty, I would be a bit happier if we had gone for a combination of your model and ours - but only time will tell if we go down that route.
Regarding the effect of fuel, I can only assume that Ryanair aircraft run on rainwater or something as you do not seem to think that your company is affected by the current fuel prices. Closer examination will show that we are all subject to the same pressures and even your beloved MOL is warning of the intolerable market conditions that will arise if the fuel price continues to soar.
What is absolutely clear is that despite your great sucess as a company, supposed best salaries in the business (I almost thought of applying to you myself recently), you cannot seem to get pilots to fly your aircraft. Sure, there is no shortage of wet-behind-the-ears young lads who will be FOs before getting a proper job with BA or Virgin - but getting captains seems to be a problem. You are going to find it a much bigger problem in times to come.
In the final analysis, Ryanair is the airline equivalent of a pig dressed in a posh suit. You can make it look as great as you want but in the end it is just another pig rolling in the dirt. The very guys you need to make your company successful have seen your mate MOL for what he is and have voted with their feet without ever darkening the door of an interview. The characteristics which got MOL where he is are the ones that will bring him down. His unpleasant, ill-mannered and objectionable demeanour have guaranteed that he will never recruit the very people he needs to keep the show on the road. When the wheel eventually does come off the pram, you will be the guy who, like Lord Haw-Haw before you, put your unbending faith in a complete loser.