Global warming is bullshit says boss of biggest European airline

In a no expletive deleted: no holds barred interview with the UK Independent: Ryanair boss vents his ire on ecowarriers and scientists

Michael O’Leary is well known for his warlike approach to making money and his violently angry outbursts when anyone gets in his way, but has he gone too far this time?

In an interview with the UK’s Independent newspaper see full interview: CLICK HERE O’Leary made a number of seemingly wild allegations about climate change, eco warriors, scientists in general and branded the notion that man-made pollution is warming up the planet is, in his words “Bullshit”. “But it’s amazing the way the whole fucking eco-warriors and the media have changed. It used to be global warming, but now, when global temperatures haven’t risen in the past 12 years, they say ‘climate change’."

So is this all a well thought out position on climate change or just another way of grabbing the headlines and getting free publicity for Ryanair?

In the last few months headline-grabbing Ryanair news has included the possibility that the organization will charge passengers for using the toilet, screams that the airline would not pay for ash-cloud stranded passengers, and court cases against the European Union and many others. The climate that Mr O’Leary has managed to create even allows the media to seriously consider the possibility that passengers may pay for oxygen.

The very latest wild story is that Ryanair will charge low rates for standing passengers reported as fact in one of the UK Red Top newspapers see: DAILY MAIL STORY

It is amazing, one may think, that a tiny Irish carrier has steered itself into no1 airline in the world  (in 2009 apparently the airline carried 65 million passengers) when it deals with the world and its problems in such a cavalier and unconsidered manner.

However, there is a train of thought that proposes that this apparent disregard is precisely the reason that Ryanair has been so successful.

Ryanair has chosen to do a few things very well indeed. Its fleet is brand spanking new, clean and tidy; it is punctual to a fault; its costs are cut to the very bare minimum; it screws airports into the ground for landing and handling costs; it fights every single battle offered and it takes no prisoners.

Mr O’Leary is rightly proud of his creation and will defend its position and sustainable profitability at any cost.

What is the airline’s current biggest danger? The probability of paying for carbon emissions.
Whatever he is, Mr O’Leary is not an old-fashioned fat cat pontificating about the world’s problems and how CSR can change them.

He sees the challenge and he fights it tooth and nail. What do you expect? And every time he sees his airline in the news as a result of his outrage he hears his tills ring. Double whammy – or the ‘Old one-two’.

The bigger the challenge, the wilder the reaction the more the expletives the bigger the potential danger to Ryanair.

The fact is that global warming is a bigger challenge for Ryanair than it is for the world at large and Mr O’Leary knows it.
 

Valere Tjolle

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Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suitewww.travelmole.com/stories/1143624.php