Every setback is an opportunity for Ryanair

Michael O’Leary has given up the attention-grabbing stunts and outrageous proposals that used to ensure headlines for him and his airline, Ryanair. No more badmouthing customers, suggesting standing-only tickets or fees for using the toilet on planes, and dressing up as a court jester or a leprechaun. Now that Ryanair is Europe’s biggest carrier—one in five flights on the continent comes courtesy of its 550 aircraft—the demands to appear “slightly more corporate” outweigh the need to be “running around looking like an ’eejit’”, he says, almost wistfully.Indeed, nowadays the low-cost carrier’s achievements speak for themselves with no need for gimmicks. Between its stockmarket debut in 1997 and 2019 passenger numbers rose by an average of 19% a year. While most rivals struggled to regain lost ground, Ryanair emerged from the covid-19 pandemic stronger. Summer schedules that will see the number of daily flights increase from 2,000 to 3,000 from March 29th have already attracted strong bookings. This could boost passenger numbers to 168m in the financial year to March, easily surpassing the pre-covid figure of 149m. Ryanair pulled this off, Mr O’Leary says, “partly through luck and partly through bravery”.