That is indeed the story, bluecode, as I see it. For MoL, it's no longer about business pure and simple. The man has been rejected by many over his life and he is going to prove that he is 'King of the Castle' and is 'The Daddy' or whatever phrase you choose.
When someone has had as much success as he has done - the brain does get changed. He knows how brilliant he is and is going to prove it to all those nasty people who did him down and criticised him before.
One of his earlier targets was to carry more pax p.a. than BA, which he achieved. He said (along the lines of, if I recall correctly) that he was going to show the Brits what a Paddy could do. For MoL, it is all personal. Whether it was at the outset, I have no means of knowing.