M. O'Leary to step down

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Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,342

Well, in the next couple of years..

Ryanair chief O'Leary hints at departure date
Graham Dunn, London (21Nov05, 16:46 GMT, 264 words)

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary plans to step down once outstanding development issues have been concluded at base airports Dublin and London Stansted, which he estimates should be resolved by 2008.

Speaking during Ryanair’s interim results press conference earlier this month O’Leary indicated that, while he had no immediate plans to move on, it would be time to do so during the next three or four years.

But he said he first wanted to deal with development issues at the airline’s Dublin and London Stansted bases; the carrier has criticised plans relating to the construction of a second terminal and new runway respectively at these airports.

Irish newspapers report O’Leary as reiterating this position and ruling out his remaining in a non-executive position once he steps down.

“I said three or four years ago that when we become the biggest airline in Europe, that would be the time to go, but two outstanding issues remain – the new terminal at Dublin and the new runway at Stansted,” the Irish Independent quotes O’Leary as saying.

“I think both these problems will be sorted by 2008 and then it will be time to go.”

On staying on in a non-executive capacity after stepping down, he tells the Sunday Times Ireland: “I think it is one of the worst things you can do, you have to get out, otherwise you will be like Banquo’s ghost, hanging around the corridors.”

A spokeswoman for the carrier says O’Leary has been “signalling” to the market for some time that he is likely to step down within the next three to five years.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

Original post

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 454

Nooooooooo, he's still got to bring FR to CWL yet :)

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 1,953

With any luck he'll do the same as Blair might do and step down BEFORE he originally plans to. Commercial aviation will be better off the day that guy leaves the industry.

Andy

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20 years 8 months

Posts: 1,381

With any luck he'll do the same as Blair might do and step down BEFORE he originally plans to. Commercial aviation will be better off the day that guy leaves the industry.

Andy

you think so, eh?

i don't agree. he is arguably one of the men that has transformed the entire industry. he has helped develop a hugely competitive low cost airline industry. he is arguably the person that has made every legacy carrier in the world take a look at themselves and realise that actually they were, and still are, inefficient, over sized, loss making hulks of airlines.

he has introduced a very competitive market within europe - he is driving down costs - he arguably is the one that has introduced (and forced) low cost tickets - even forcing legacy carriers to reduce their costs.

ok, he may be having a negative impact on some legacy carriers - but whats the problem with a bit of healthy competition - competition is what drives the industry along. the legacy carriers were arguably so unprepared for the low cost airline - they perhaps have grown a sense of self security in the 70-90s (ok, they were having problems then) - they didn't think that anyone other than a legacy carrier could compete with them, so the industry perhaps slowed. the 90s and 00s have seen the revolution in the industry bought about by low cost airlines taking advantge of legacy carriers failings.

he has helped many many regional airports grow and expand, bringing prosperity to the local areas - employment, investment and tourists.

he is a very very good manager and he knows how to do 'things' - he's an accountant and using his knowledge of the area he has managed to cut costs, and manage costs extremely well - ryanair keeps its costs down - more so than any other low cost airline. ryanair costs less to run than other low cost airlines of similar size.

ok, he may be annoying and loud, but hey, again, isn't that forcing legacy carriers to look at themselves even closer? his loud style is a PR machine.

he has arguably sparked the revolution in low cost travel - ok, we can go into a long argument about who did spark it, but he is definately one of the MAJOR factors.

thanks.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 602

(Just my opinion)

The day MOL will be a great day for aviation. Hopefully his successor will take maintenance more seriously and will not worry about spending the extra cash ensuring that the aircraft used by Ryanair most have absolutely no problems (contrary to what I have seen).
On top of this, MOL has helped tarnish the name of airline pilots. He treats them with little to no respect and he seems to have no respect for others.
Good riddance to him.

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 1,089

Sorry Adam I can't agree with much of what you have said. I have no gripe with loco's in general, I do agree with you that competition is good, but I think the world of aviation will be a better place without Michael O'Leary.

Don't confuse prices coming down and more people being able to afford to fly as being the industry thriving. They are not the same thing.

he is arguably the person that has made every legacy carrier in the world take a look at themselves

The loco's were a very small part of this. This was mainly caused by such things as SARS, 9/11, rising oil prices, etc.

he has helped many many regional airports grow and expand

He has caused most of his airports (desperate to attract a big airline deal) to get into contracts that barely cover costs and has sent some of them very close insolvency.

he is a very very good manager

He has a workforce who resent his very name, and treats his customer with absolute contempt. Not my definition of a good manager.

he's an accountant

Anyone who works for an airline will tell you bean-counters should not be allowed to run a service company. It is widely accepted within the industry that this is what has gone wrong at bmi.

he may be annoying

Finally we agree on a point!

he has arguably sparked the revolution in low cost travel

I was always lead to believe that Southwest did this. All MO'L has done is copy what they did. How much talent does that take?

1L.

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,342

I was always lead to believe that Southwest did this. All MO'L has done is copy what they did. How much talent does that take?

1L.

He used Southwest as an EXAMPLE of what he wanted to achieve, in actual fact he has changed the model still further and in some respects has revolutionised the industry again. Easyjet is probably a closer model to Southwest.

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 1,089

He used Southwest as an EXAMPLE of what he wanted to achieve, in actual fact he has changed the model still further and in some respects has revolutionised the industry again. Easyjet is probably a closer model to Southwest.

I take your point that MO'L used Southwest as an example, but still stand by the fact that he did not spark the revolution in low cost travel.

1L.

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 2,343

So...can someone help me, by explaining this...

How is it that Ryannair can afford to charge 1p for seats...? I know that not all the seats are offered for this price, but how do they make up for the shortfall...?

Surley that is a change to the LCC revolution - being able to offer seats for 1p, how many other LCC's offer that...?

MOL is a good business man, but just not a great person because he has basically copied everyone else, but just tweaked the LC business model so that it looks like he has brought something different to the table when in fact he hasn't...but passengers obviously don't mind as they still choose to fly with 'em... I think MOL is more niaive than anything because he said in one book I read about LCC: "How many LCC will there be left in the UK? Two - easyJet and Ryannair!"

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 1,381

How is it that Ryannair can afford to charge 1p for seats...? I know that not all the seats are offered for this price, but how do they make up for the shortfall...?

seats aren't the only the stream of revenue for low cost airlines.

ryanair sells items on board, it sells hotel rooms, car hire, airport parking, etc.
MOL says he'll be introducing in-flight gambling.

I know that not all the seats are offered for this price

some days, you can get good cheap deals; some days, you can get prices that are as expensive as legacy carrier offerings, usually when you buy tickets at short notice - i.e. just a couple of days before you flight.

i think, like most low cost airlines, you are charged an arm and leg for changes to your flight itinerary

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 1,953

How is it that Ryannair can afford to charge 1p for seats...?

A few months ago I had to go to Franfurt, the following day. RYR to Hahn was more expensive than either BA or LH to FRA - and with RYR, I then had to pay extra for the bus to Frankfurt, and for any refreshments. If I remember correctly, Ryanair wanted around £290 return whereas BA and LH were both around £250. You have been suckered by the same Ryanair rhetoric as many others, thinking Ryanair is always a cheap option when in fact it isn't - you only see the headline low fares.

Andy

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

Yeah I agree with that Andy, but thats how low costs make their money, selling seats cheaper at 1st and then getting more expensive.
Obviously, FR is going to be more expensive the day before, thats how they work.