O'Leary has a point...

Yes...he definately was very blunt in his attack on the unions and government despite the interviewer trying his best to stand up for both!
 
Hold on now, O'Leary would love nothing more than to take over Aerlingus and give Ryanair such strong control over the market. It is better that more competition exists.
 
O'Leary made a tiny regional airline into one of the largest airlines in the world. But what would he know. We should really put Willie O'Dea in charge of Aer Lingus, or better still, Jackie Healy Ray.
 
as someone who refuses to fly Ryanair, I would HATE to see o'leary in charge of Aer Lingus. Plus Aer Lingus safety record cannot be faulted...how many incidents have Ryanair had over the past few years? A lot!!!! its only a matter of time before one of those Ryanair birds go down imho.
 
bb12 said:
as someone who refuses to fly Ryanair, I would HATE to see o'leary in charge of Aer Lingus. Plus Aer Lingus safety record cannot be faulted...how many incidents have Ryanair had over the past few years? A lot!!!! its only a matter of time before one of those Ryanair birds go down imho.
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When you say you refuse to fly with them, what triggered this?
 
I just don't believe they're safe to fly with. Lived in the States for years and saw many crashes of low budget airlines when i was there, so safety is my no. 1 priority when choosing a flight carrier. Google for incidents and emergency landings involving Ryanair craft and you'll find many. You won't find much for Aer Lingus, so AL wins out for me every time.
 
bb12 said:
I just don't believe they're safe to fly with. Lived in the States for years and saw many crashes of low budget airlines when i was there, so safety is my no. 1 priority when choosing a flight carrier. Google for incidents and emergency landings involving Ryanair craft and you'll find many. You find much for Aer Lingus, so AL wins out for me every time.
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Actually statistically speaking low cost airlines have much better safety records than traditional carriers. They have to because they know that one accident and their business is ruined. People will write off an accident with BA as a tragic accident but if the same thing happened Ryanair or Easyjet, there would be rumours about cost cutting etc being the cause.
 
aristotle25 said:
Hold on now, O'Leary would love nothing more than to take over Aerlingus and give Ryanair such strong control over the market. It is better that more competition exists.
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So if I understand you right here, it is the state’s responsibility to fund and maintain an unprofitable airline so that there is competition in a minor relatively unattractive market?

I think that is the same argument used to justify a state run ESB or Gas Market with price control.

And we are behaving as if this would be a deal between equals. Aer Lingus is a minor player compared to Ryanair.

In other countries (ex) government owned airlines have long been sold to other major players and it’s for the benefit of that airports/countries.

Look at Brussels with the major airlines all flying after Sabena went bust and became Brussels Airlines and now is owned by Lufthansa.

Look at Vienna with major airlines all flying even with Austrian now soon in the hands of Lufthansa.

Or look at Switzerland with Swiss now being owned by Lufthansa and going from strength to strength.

Niche Carriers like Aer Lingus can actually only profit from having a strong mother company behind them.

O’Leary did not purpose of merging Aer Lingus into Ryanair, he wants to keep the brands separate and develop Aer Lingus further (like Lufthansa is doing with Swiss) and that would be to the benefit for Ireland as destination.
 
bb12 said:
I just don't believe they're safe to fly with. Lived in the States for years and saw many crashes of low budget airlines when i was there, so safety is my no. 1 priority when choosing a flight carrier. Google for incidents and emergency landings involving Ryanair craft and you'll find many. You won't find much for Aer Lingus, so AL wins out for me every time.
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Emergency landings could relect a higher emphasis on safety.

I've flown ryanair as often as aer lingus and the only difference I've noticed is in price and punctuality.

I'd be willing to bet that the most vociferous critics of Ryanair are the ones who haven't flown much with them.
 
As far as I know Ryanair have never had a fatal crash while Aer Lingus have. Also Ryanair have a very young fleet of planes, which would help them maintain their record.
 
Most of the incidents Ryanair have have not been their fault, I don't think the birds that fly into their engines are deliberatly targetting them. The reality is that because they have such a large fleet, they are simply going to have more incidents then smaller airlines like AerLingus

one thing I don't understand, how would Michael O'leary have turned AL around without making swinging cuts like are now currently proposed?

Secondly, given his obsession with Aer Lingus, how much has he lost the Ryanair shareholders as a result of his share purchase into AL???
 
bb12 said:
I just don't believe they're safe to fly with. Lived in the States for years and saw many crashes of low budget airlines when i was there, so safety is my no. 1 priority when choosing a flight carrier. Google for incidents and emergency landings involving Ryanair craft and you'll find many. You won't find much for Aer Lingus, so AL wins out for me every time.
Click to expand...

In fairness to Ryanair, they do not operate the same model as the low budget airlines you are referring to. The US low budgets ("regional airlines") tend to use older second hand planes as they are cheap to purchase. Ryanair's model involves only using new planes which are still under manufacturers guarantee and trading them in before their first overhaul date (thus eliminating maintenance costs). You will notice that the vast majority of Ryanair planes are only a couple of years old. In fairness, AL has tried to switch over to this model also - with the exception of its long haul fleet, most of its planes are relatively new.

Believe it or not, some of the major "flag carrier" airlines, which would consider themselves "above" Ryanair actually purchase second hand Ryanair planes on a regular basis.
 
P.S. forgot to mention, that the age of a plane is usually a very big factor in crashes. Most mechanical failures are due to age (metal fatigue) or insufficient long term maintenance. Safest airlines to fly with are those that only use new planes.
 
DublinTexas said:
So if I understand you right here, it is the state’s responsibility to fund and maintain an unprofitable airline so that there is competition in a minor relatively unattractive market?

I think that is the same argument used to justify a state run ESB or Gas Market with price control.

And we are behaving as if this would be a deal between equals. Aer Lingus is a minor player compared to Ryanair.

In other countries (ex) government owned airlines have long been sold to other major players and it’s for the benefit of that airports/countries.

Look at Brussels with the major airlines all flying after Sabena went bust and became Brussels Airlines and now is owned by Lufthansa.

Look at Vienna with major airlines all flying even with Austrian now soon in the hands of Lufthansa.

Or look at Switzerland with Swiss now being owned by Lufthansa and going from strength to strength.

Niche Carriers like Aer Lingus can actually only profit from having a strong mother company behind them.

O’Leary did not purpose of merging Aer Lingus into Ryanair, he wants to keep the brands separate and develop Aer Lingus further (like Lufthansa is doing with Swiss) and that would be to the benefit for Ireland as destination.
Click to expand...

You seem to forget one important difference about Ireland. We are an island, and we don't have all the alternative rail and road links that are in place on mainland Europe.
 
I definitely believe it is better to have Aer Lingus independent in order to keep Ryanair on its toes.

I am not going to fly with Aer Lingus if I can help it, given the price difference, but think that them being there is better for the consumer.

The main differences between Ryanair and Aer Lingus are:

Aer Lingus offer pre-allocated seats. As these are for sale it increases the chance of not sitting with the people you are travelling with.

The Aer Lingus seats recline whereas Ryanair's do not.

Aer Lingus cabin crew use the word "purchase" whereas Ryanair use "buy". On Aer Lingus you'll be asked "Would you like to purchase a drink from the bar" while you are trying to ignore the cabin crew and read your paper.

I have a Travel Money Card from the UK Post Office which I can top up with Euros to use a Visa Electron and not have to pay credit card charges on Ryanair.

Ryanair have really opened the whole of Europe up to the likes of me. I've been to Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Spain, Austria, Poland, Holland all using Ryanair.

I love it.
 
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