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More to this then meets the eye?
Read more about: End of Shannon-Heathrow, Transport
Who ever thinks corporations are all about the Shareholders is wrong. According to Ryanair they own 25% of the company the government 25% and the unions and workers about 20%. So that means 70% of the shareholders are against this move. So obviously this is not all about the shareholders. Ryanair have promised more flights to London if this goes ahead. Which is good it will certainly take a fair whack of the London destined traffic if not all Aer Lingus London destined traffic. Leaving only the connectivity to the rest of the world (outside North America) not covered. Ryanair is playing an interesting hand here.
Aer Lingus pulling out of Shannon means that Ryanair should get more bums on seats as they get most of Aer Lingus’s London traffic. Ryanair also do not fly or seem to plan flying Belfast London so Aer Lingus doing this would only hurt BA and Easyjet 2 companies Ryanair have no shares in. Also if Belfast is more profitable then that should in theory increase the value of their shareholding. So why so much against it. True they are getting a lot of free advertising out of this. But would not just saying “we will not abandon Shannon like that shower”, announcing (like they did today) a few extra flights a day do the trick. I think Jody Corcoran in the Sindo saying that the government does not want to do anything because it would be seen as state interfering by Europe, strengthening Ryanair’s case in its take over bid of Aer Lingus might not be far off the mark. Is this Ryanair not so much playing Aer Lingus as playing the government? Ryanair say they need the government to call the EGM yet they have the same holding (roughly) as the government. If they call the EGM what would the government do. Vote with Aer Lingus?
They don’t need the government to call the EGM, they need the government to vote at the EGM.
O’Leary has already requested an EGM it has to take place between two and eight weeks from now.
The Directors and local supporters of Shannon Airport are really behaving very oddly. Some four or five other airlines pulled out of Shannon in recent times but there did not seem to be any very loud objections from the airport lobby. However when Aer Lingus management makes a decision which offends the shannon lobby all hell breaks loose. The Government is called on to save Shannon - again. Dire consequences are predicted if Aer Lingus no longer connects Shannon with Heathrow. Can the Shannon people not get up off their butts and work at developing their airport rather than depending on Government to save them.
O’Leary’s intervention surely has some hidden agenda. Does Ryanair have ambitions to fly out of Belfast? In O’Learys book any problem for Aer Lingus is good for Ryanair and of course he pours petrol on the fire by acting the concerned shareholder. No mention that the very generous terms extended to Ryanair by Shannon was said to be the cause of other air lines pulling out. How come Shannon can now find it possible to offer Aer Lingus some €4 million to stay. The unions believe and behave as if the sole reason for the existence of Aer Lingus is to provide highly paid employment for their members. Customers are the least of their concerns. Aer Lingus is no longer a semi state company regardles of what the Shannon lobby would like to believe.
O’Leary is getting free advertising out of this, and the secondary benefit of annoying the Government and making them look amateur in their handling of the airline industry. Next time Ryanair do something stupid/illegal and the Government tries to pull them up on it, watch out for O’Leary complaining about how they don’t know what they’re at.