Ryanair/Aer Lingus: An Irish Vision
Ireland is a small country in many ways, but a magnificent one too. So often in our tragic history, though, we the people in this land of poets and dreamers need to be protected from ourselves. The current hysteria surrounding Ryanair’s proposed takeover of Aer Lingus reminds us again that this smallness too often manifests itself in hubris and mendacity when the focus, in truth, should be on the vision and opportunity represented by the take over offer document.
Imagine a future where Dublin, Shannon and Cork are major centres of European aviation, rather than Paris, Frankfurt and London, as is currently the case. Aer Lingus has been abused for years, minimised, trivialised and kept in chains by governments lacking the backbone and vision the set the company free from the twin diseases of political interference and union empire building, but since the privatisation we have a golden opportunity to change all that. An opportunity that could benefit the Irish nation in previously unimagined ways, raise Aer Lingus to the highly profitable long-haul behemoth it always should have been, and despite the ill-informed shrieks to the contrary, create wealth and security of employment for thousands.
As those of you who’ve read my posts previously will know, I’m a Ryanair captain. I work for Michael O’Leary. I’m also an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to nuances and intricacies of the airline business. There have been many words used to describe my boss, words like ‘colourful’, ‘abrasive’, even downright ‘rude’, and they’re just the publishable ones. Unfortunately, though, the usual suspects delight in focusing on style over substance. IALPA, an organisation who’ve raised fecklessness to an art form, continue to persuade a few that the perception of insult is worthy of an eclipse of common sense. The same IALPA who’ve risked millions in pension fund money in trying to prevent the liberation of Aer Lingus. Its bleakly pleasing to reflect that such a gesture of feather-headed bravado is characteristic of an empire in the evening of its existence.
I would like to suggest that MOL be viewed through the prism of his achievements to date and future potential, rather than his personal style. I, like thousands, owe my job to his vision and genius, and for that he has my loyalty. Loyalty doesn’t obscure the harsh realities of commercial success, though, and I would further suggest that you all consider the following, as objectively as you’re able.
Michael O’Leary has created an airline worth 7 billion Euros, the most profitable on earth by a very large margin, from the loss making basket case it was a decade ago. Ryanair is the European market gorilla and is the principal driver of airline boardroom behaviour not only in Europe but, increasingly, around the world too. When the history of European aviation is written there will be few giants that loom as large or whose influence will be felt as long. Ryanair and the imitators who seek to emulate our success have done more to unite the European Union and stimulate local economies than the wildest dreams of Brussels can ever have hoped for.
Open Skies is coming. The only reason its not here already is that BA seeks to retain its vice like grip on slots at LGW and especially LHR, to much American annoyance. The Americans, for their part, resist changes to foreign ownership of their airlines, but these are details. Everyone knows within five degrees what Open Skies will look like, the question is how much more money needs to be lost, how much more fuel will be wasted in propping up dinosaur legacy carriers who continue to invest billions in pursing subsidies instead of markets.
Enter stage left, a renewed Aer Lingus with visionary management. Not with a fleet of a few, ancient and brutally thirsty Airbus 330’s, but with 50, 100, even 200 brand new, state of the art, environmentally friendly 777’s or 787’s. Fanciful? Naïve? No, eminently possible. Why not stage an Irish coup and have Ryanair ferry all those AF, BA and LH passengers to DUB, SNN and ORK before their US pre-clearance and Aer Lingus flights to one of scores of American cities? Why not?
There are obstacles to such a vision for the future, but none are insurmountable. The Dublin Airport Authority is a sick joke whose problems extent far beyond the CAR. The only feasible way forward is to privatise it. If the government lack the balls for that at this point in time, it will be the subject of a fire sale within 5 years anyway, and the Irish people will be short-changed…again. They say a week is a long time in politics, but airports require long term planning and visionary leadership, and they deserve more than political pork-barrelling and union hypocrisy. Irish airports need at least 2 billion €uros spent yesterday to give Ireland the airports we deserve. This, too, is possible.
Certainly there are a few who would stand in the way of a properly run Aer Lingus, but between their desire and the fulfilment of it falls the shadow: the shadow of incompetence and self-interest. Nowhere is this more on show than with SIPTU and IALPA. Lets hope the people of Ireland and the workforce of Aer Lingus have the vision to embrace the future with enthusiasm, and to see the Celtic Tiger roar across the skies above the Atlantic. Ryanair will do it, in the words of another Irish success story, with or without you.