RYR in Spain
I see the usual B/S here regarding Ryanair. All the standard biases and ultimately envy that they are so successful - yes originally in the UK and Spain and Italy and every market they decide to enter. The reason is that they are far more efficient than any other carrier on the planet and millions of pax quite happily fly with them every year, including many pilots from full- service carriers positioning from home to work. Equally, the biases against Spanish ATC and other authorities. Of course they're not wonderful but any experienced operator is well used to their quirks. Is French ATC any better with both French and English used even on tower frequencies? Or Italian or any of the other non-English-speaking countries.
FR's personnel practices are an entirely separate matter that have no bearing on this issue as are their questionable attitudes to their customers. Despite these attitudes 75 million pax flew with them last year so they're clearly doing something right - no matter how distasteful many professional pilots may find their policies.
Returning to the fuel carrying issue. Ryanair flights do not depart without the minimum LEGAL fuel for the flight. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any employer urging/insisting on its pilots operating to the best possible levels of efficiency including not carrying extra fuel when it's not warranted. If that results in the occasional unexpected diversion then so be it. That's the price of the policy. I wonder how many pilots on this forum have any idea of the savings that are possible by not carrying that extra 500 kg for the wife and kids? Multiply that by the number of flights that FR operates per year and the numbers are staggering.
As a 35-year short-haul Captain I have always tried to operate first of all safely and secondly efficiently. When the weather and traffic is not an issue then flight plan fuel is fine for me. When there are issues I carry whatever I want and I'm perfectly well able to justify that to any manager - pilot or bean counter. That's one of the responsibilities of the LHS and if you can't handle the heat you shouldn't be in the kitchen.
If ICAO or EU-OPS mandates more contingency fuel or a more stringent method of calculating Flight Plan Fuel, then FR same as all the others will be obliged to comply. Until then they clearly want to continue to make money in a business that historically has had huge problems doing just that. As a by-product of their success and that of Easyjet there are far more pilots employed in their chosen profession than ever before in Europe. Long may that success continue so that our kids can have the opportunities we've had. The LCCs least of all can afford safety issues but FR has carried hundreds of millions of pax around Europe for 25 years without so much as a scratch on any of them. That can't happen by accident and I take my hat off to their fine professional pilots who clearly do a fine job day in, day out.