Star comment: Ryanair may have grounded profits
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has a history of approaching problems with a devil-may-care attitude.
Whenever his company hits troubled times, his usual response is to laugh it off and launch one of his trademark publicity stunts.
As Mr O’Leary likes to point out, whatever he says or does, the customers just keep on coming back for more.
However, the current fiasco over pilots’ holidays that will cause the cancellation of up to 50 flights a day for the next six weeks may prove to be his most testing challenge yet. Make no mistake, this shambles is a serious blow to the reputation of Ryanair.
Mr O’Leary’s half-hearted pledge that the firm will try and do better in future is simply not enough.
The cancellation and rescheduling of a flight can have a chain of consequences, for example, when cars have been hired and hotel rooms booked.
The disruption and extra expense may well persuade some people to look elsewhere when booking flights in future.
Ryanair has plenty of work to do to rescue its tarnished reputation.
