Ryanair again.

Outlook is “Crap”
Travel Weekly

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has extended his airline “bloodbath” threat to include full-service carriers.

The controversial chief executive has previously restricted his fare battle warning to the low-cost sector but is now predicting all-out war throughout the European aviation sector.

“The outlook is crap,” he said bluntly. “We are going to have an awful winter. Fares will get lower and airlines will struggle to fill seats.

“The high-fare airlines will be forced to match prices and, with their cost bases, they are going to struggle.” He warned of casualties across the industry for “both low-cost and full-service airlines”.

O’Leary used his speech to renew his attack on British Airways, particularly over the flag carrier’s recent operational problems. “Future Size and Shape has gone out of the window. Rod Eddington will have to go back to the drawing board to do an even smaller Future Size and Shape.”

He added: “BA will take care of you when its staff bugger off at the weekend, BA won’t leave you stranded. Yes it will. And then Rod will give those staff two free flights which its customers will end up paying for.”

Meanwhile, Ryanair is launching a paid-for in-flight entertainment system. Passengers will be able to pay £5 to use a hand-held video system which will offer films, television programmes, cartoons, games and music videos.

The system will be trialled on Stansted flights from November 1 and, if successful, will be rolled out across the fleet from March next year.

O’Leary said the project needs a 3% take-up to cover its $12 million investment, but predicted usage will be 10 times that figure. “This will be a boost to ancillary sales, which will allow us to bring costs down further.”