Ryanairs Christmas message

[BwatchGRUNT]

Their way of saying thankyou for all the fuel efficient reroutes and climbs they get compared to the flight plan!!

On their website and in the national press.

UK ATC deliver £50 million Christmas present to owners and promptly take the weekend off


Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, today (9 Dec) called on the Transport Secretary to ensure that the UK monopoly Air Traffic Control provider (NATS) turns up for work in the run up to Christmas.

Last week the NATS monopoly completed a payment of £50m to its owners, including the Government, Easyjet, BA and Virgin, who seem more interested in keeping UK Air Traffic Control charges the highest in the EU rather than improving the service to passengers.

Just two days after this Christmas bonus, NATS advised its airline customers that weekend flights are at risk of “short notice sickness”. On Saturday 3rd December, NATS announced “staffing” as a reason for UK ATC delays that morning.

It is no wonder that the ATC Performance Review Body* (PRB) has condemned NATS as a failure, having failed to pass the ”delay level” and “unit rate” check (i.e. poor service and high prices). Despite this damning report, the CAA regulator “did not adequately address” the PRB findings.

Ryanair calls on the Transport Secretary to:

• Require that NATS turns up for work at Christmas so that passengers are not disrupted by ATC “short notice sickness”.

• Require the CAA to act on the PRB finding that NATS charges are too high.

• Ensure that UK airspace is opened to competition rather than wrapped up as a cast iron monopoly for sale to the highest private monopoly bidder.

• Ensure that the Government shareholding is used to improve NATS service and reduce charges rather than inflating NATS for sale to a private monopoly (with the same disastrous results as the BAA’s London airports).

[rumouroid]

O'Leary is really good at biting the hand that feeds.

If I turn for up for work I shall not be climbing Ryanair above their flight planned level and they will fly their flight planned route.

Merry Xmas!

[Johnny Tightlips]

Yap it's the same with his staff. I think it would be a good idea to give us flight plan route and level. We only ask for short cuts so we can get back to base quicker not for that clowns benefit. I have great respect for all the London controllers and you do a great job with the complicated airspace you have

[BeT]

Didnt he do/say something similar last year to the Brussels ACC controllers - even threatened them with court action???

After a few weeks of Charleroi arrivals flying the standard route from the south (instead of 10nm final or GSY) everything seemed to quietly 'disappear'.

I bet that cost him a few pennies

[Gingerbread Man]

I don't care what press releases Ryanair make, they'll still get the same level of service as everyone else from me. Anything else would be unprofessional in my view.

I wasn't aware we provided a 'poor service' though.

[Alycidon]

Regardless of who employs us, at the coal face surely we're all on the same side.

[DC10RealMan]

Operational ATC staff and Pilots = Workers

Mr O Leary, NATS owners, and Board of NATS = The Management

I am sure that the Ryanair crews are as embrassed by the antics of their boss as the NATS employees were by Mr Barron but I do think that he has a point about a private monopoly.

[Johnny Tightlips]

Filthy leprechaun scumbags

For God's sake. What a comment to make in 2011

To the 99.9% of British controllers that help us out, thanks and it is much appreciated.

To Yahoo!®

I am sure that the Ryanair crews are as embrassed by the antics of their boss

Must of us are embarrassed and ashamed to work for them or their contracting agency. However until things pick up I'm afraid we are stuck here for the foreseeable future

[B Fraser]

Instead of a glass of sherry and a mince pie, does MOL leave Santa a bill for ground handling and parking fees beside his stocking ?

[10W]

Maybe the people with flu, on medication which invalidates their licence, or are otherwise unfit for work should all just come in and in the event of any incident, O'Leary can be the one who takes the blame. In reality, he'd probably just issue another press release about how ATC were operating with staff unfit to do the job. Catch 22 with the (IMHO) gob****e.

[DC10RealMan]

Gob****e=Technical term, used a lot in aviation.

[055166k]

Let's not be too hasty in condemnation; if we sift out the sarcastic bits there could well be a grain of truth in the yuletide greeting. If corrected for shift working staff levels are there almost as many £100k non operational controllers as there are operational controllers? There IS a monopoly. Why does an ANSP need 6000 staff when 4000 should cover the job? If the organisation is so efficient then why are the Nav Charges so high? Is there an intention to keep charges and salaries high in order to inflate total turnover with a view to valuation/sell-off?
I don't know.......maybe some-one should ask?

[BigDaddyBoxMeal]

I see; so when NATS hand out large and regular dividends to their shareholders, the employees are allowed to be outraged and vent about it.

However, when one of the largest customers does the same, he is castigated and judged a "gob****e".

Seems fair

[aldegar]

When O'Leary speaks in the spanish media, spanish controllers are referred to as "lazy and overpaid" and he says really nice things like "they should all be fired". Oh, and he also mentions AENA being a monopoly, having the highest ATC charges...

[fisbangwollop]

To be honest I have a soft spot for MOL......at least he says what he thinks and is not likely to stab you in the back like some other CEO's may do!!

But to be honest does anyone listen??....I doubt it, just his way of getting a wee bit of free press....any press is good press no matter what you say.

As for NATS doling out his hard earned money to his competitor's well maybe he has a point....but then again he has the chance to come aboard and join the party....mind you he will need to be quick to beat the German's if yesterday's Sunday Times is to be believed!!!

Deutsche Flugsicherung plans bid for Nats stake - MarketWatch

[fireflybob]

To be honest I have a soft spot for MOL......at least he says what he thinks and is not likely to stab you in the back like some other CEO's may do!!

fisbangwollop, what are you smoking at the moment?

[10W]

However, when one of the largest customers does the same, he is castigated and judged a "gob****e".

No, he is a gob****e because he advocates the following:

Ryanair calls on the Transport Secretary to:

• Require that NATS turns up for work at Christmas so that passengers are not disrupted by ATC “short notice sickness”.

So he wants controllers who are sick to be forced by the Transport Secretary to turn up for work anyway ? I stick by my opinion of the man.

There are selective grains of truth in some of the things in his press release granted, but he selectively omits to put flesh on the bones and explain why some of those things are actually happening, many of which are not under the control of NATS.

Meanwhile, as a shining beacon of customer service, Ryanair continues to give us all a great deal

£100 to check in a bag

[deci]

£100 to check in a bag

o'leary needs money to support this project..

[Me Me Me Me]

055166K

Why does an ANSP need 6000 staff when 4000 should cover the job?

I don't think we've had 6000 staff since the early 90s

[10W]

deci

You could be right

As for the article, Mr Parkinson is not proposing anything new. I saw modelling of such a concept at Eurocontrol in the late 1990's (ATC2000 I think it was called). An American airline pilot was trying to flog a similar idea in the 90's as well called Free Flight. Neither have appeared in the real world yet. He could take his ideas to Eurocontrol and see what they say, but I presume previous iterations have been tested and dismissed for some reason or another.