Everyone is grumbling at the moment. The farmers, the train drivers. And also the air traffic managers. They’re just not as loud as the others who block roads and paralyze rail traffic. So Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary comes to Berlin on this snowy day. The boss of the low-cost airline Ryanair was once one of the biggest jokers. That was his trademark and his recipe for success: he always had a bold line against his competitors, especially Lufthansa. He kept coming up with cheeky marketing slogans to promote his dirt-cheap lure offers starting at 9 euros. O’Leary has shaken up the industry for years and set the pace.
In recent years, O’Leary has become rare. The Covid pandemic has abruptly slowed the steep growth trajectory of all airlines worldwide. The number of passengers has only increased slowly again, but is now returning to the old growth rates. Demand in the European aviation market is increasing, as are prices and with them sales and earnings. Things are working again at Lufthansa, at Air France, at Easyjet and, above all, at the European market leader Ryanair.
Actually no reason to complain. Only in Germany is everything worse than elsewhere. At least that is the message from Ryanair boss O’Leary to the half dozen journalists who came to his press breakfast in a small conference room in the Steigenberger Hotel at Berlin Central Station. “Germany is lagging behind,” says the 62-year-old. That sounds tame by his standards, almost caring. His PR experts had written down a more concise formulation for him in a prepared message: “The German aviation market is broken and urgently needs to be repaired if it is to grow again.”
O’Leary is in a hurry: he doesn’t waste time with sayings, he rattles off columns of numbers for a quarter of an hour and hunts through charts with tables. Increasing passenger numbers, low costs, large aircraft orders. So that the most important message is not lost in this flood of numbers, it is distributed again on pieces of paper: Things are going well everywhere, but better everywhere than in Germany. Here only 74 percent of the pre-crisis level has been reached, others are long above that (Greece plus 114 percent, Portugal plus 112 percent, Ireland plus 108 percent, Spain plus 105 percent, Italy plus 103 percent).
The reason: the high taxes and fees in Germany. In fact, the federal government is currently planning to increase the ticket tax. Actually a through pass for O’Leary to torpedo exactly that on this occasion. But he only touched on that with a half-sentence this morning, which was lost between comments on airport and security fees. How much are the taxes and fees per ticket? When asked, O’Leary looks at the two Ryanair managers at his side, who otherwise don’t get to say much that day. After a short consultation, it is said that it is around 30 euros. And as it currently looks, they would probably increase to 35, 40, maybe up to 50 euros.
It remains vague. And above all, what does that mean for ticket prices when the fees are already 30 euros and higher? On the wall of the conference room is the last chart of the presentation, which advertises the sale of seats starting at 29.99 euros. O’Leary shrugs. The prices would probably remain high. The German government is to blame for this, as it protects Lufthansa with its monopoly-like prices. Ryanair, as the small competitor in the German market with just nine percent market share, is not conducting direct discussions with the federal government.
Own campaigns, perhaps announcements about competitive prices like before? None. Ryanair will continue as before: flights primarily from regional airports such as Hahn, Memmingen or Baden-Baden, as well as offers from locations where Lufthansa no longer wants to be so present – for example in Berlin or Hamburg. Otherwise, Ryanair will simply grow in other countries where demand is high and fees are lower. Routine procedure.
O’Leary is in a hurry. He concisely answers the question of whether he still trusts the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, of which Ryanair is a major customer and has already ordered hundreds of new aircraft from the 737 Max series. The problem with Alaska Airline’s 737 Max-9, in which a cabin part broke off during the flight a few days ago, is worrying, but the company’s own fleet of Max-8 and orders for the Max-10 are probably not affected ( You can read more about the incident here). Boeing management is aware of its responsibility and is making progress in product quality, assures O’Leary. He doesn’t expect passengers to have any worries about boarding Boeing planes. Even after the crashes of two Boeing planes two years ago, in which hundreds of people died, that wouldn’t have deterred anyone. “Back then we even offered free cancellations, but no one took advantage of them,” said O’Leary.
O’Leary brushes off the topic. After a good half hour he’s finished, gets up and grumbles on the way to the door: “And happy new year too.”
That would have been it if an employee hadn’t stopped him to hand him two posters. Then the message that was to be conveyed that day: “High Fees = No Growth”. High fees, no growth. Does that convince anyone? O’Leary grabs the two posters, holds them up in the air, opens his eyes, and twists his mouth. The journalists’ cameras click. As before.
This article first appeared in the business magazine “Capital”, which, like stern, is part of RTL Deutschland.
