To imply that managers of the status of Willie Walsh would cavalierly put passengers at risk in the pursuit of profit seems quite a desperate attempt to boost the case for the prophets of doom. As someone once said, "If you think safety is expensive, try having an accident."
All flying involves a balance of risk but the accumulated wisdom and experience of many thousands of aviation professionals has made commercial aviation the incredibly safe experience it is today.
Geese can bring an aircraft down - as was demonstrated all too dramatically in New York. The Western Isles of Scotland have thousands of them. By the logic of some of the contributors to this thread, there is a much stronger case for banning all flights in such areas.