"Aer Lingus will be the equivalent of Aer Arann in two years time"..O Leary.

Run_to_da_hills

You have to give him some credit for some of the stuff he comes out with, a few weeks ago he predicted tumbleweed on the runway at Shannon next year over the e10 departure tax, Earlier on in the year he handed out free tickets to Aer Lingus passengers on the inaugural Belfast to Heathrow route stating that these passengers "mistakingly thought that Aer Lingus was a low cost airline".

This is is latest and probably his last fling at Aer Lingus for a partnership.

http://www.herald.ie/opinion/comment/aer-lingus-will-be-the-equivalent-of-aer-arann-in-two-years-time-some-irrelevant-mickey-mouse-lossmaking-airline-1569054.html

Biggins

He does have a tendency to mouth off first and put his brain into gear later don't he!
O' dear...

PeakOutput

anyone i have talked to has said the shannon has been dead in the last 6 months so he probably is not far off

having said that if he wants to take over are lingus he wants to devalue them as much as possible first

he is a business genius at the end of the day weather you like him or not

PeakOutput

Biggins wrote: »

He does have a tendency to mouth off first and put his brain into gear later don't he!
O' dear...

now are you talking about rtda or oleary? :rolleyes:

Donald-Duck

Biggins wrote: »

He does have a tendency to mouth off first and put his brain into gear later don't he!
O' dear...

And hes normally right...

Biggins

PeakOutput wrote: »

now are you talking about rtda or oleary? :rolleyes:

lol Didn't think of that!

Run_to_da_hills

What if Aer Arran took over Aer Lingus, he could be right.

PeakOutput

It is our patriotic duty no less to allow the harp and shamrock to come together.

i very much doubt he said that and its not in quotes in the article but it is definitely implied that it is his words.

the best thing aer lingus can do is let one of the most successful airlines in the world take them over

KerranJast

He has got a point about Aer Lingus. All of the other national carriers are joining up with a big airline be it Air France-KLM, BA-Iberia, Lufthansa-SwissAir or Ryanair. Aer Lingus will be the only independent small carrier when all the mergers are finished. It already looks like they'll make losses for 2008, 2009 and 2010 .

Denis Irwin

KerranJast wrote: »

He has got a point about Aer Lingus. All of the other national carriers are joining up with a big airline be it Air France-KLM, BA-Iberia, Lufthansa-SwissAir or Ryanair. Aer Lingus will be the only independent small carrier when all the mergers are finished. It already looks like they'll make losses for 2008, 2009 and 2010 .

Yes but those airlines in question probably aren't in control of 80%+ of all flights out of their respective countries. Which will almost certainly be the case if Ryanair are allowed to takeover Aer Lingus. Don't think for one second that O'Leary won't jack up the prices when he has a virtual monopoly over the Irish airline industry.

PeakOutput

Denis Irwin wrote: »

Yes but those airlines in question probably aren't in control of 80%+ of all flights out of their respective countries. Which will almost certainly be the case if Ryanair are allowed to takeover Aer Lingus. Don't think for one second that O'Leary won't jack up the prices when he has a virtual monopoly over the Irish airline industry.

o'leary knows that jacking up prices would be the wrong way to go which is why he clearly states he intends to make his profits by increasing how many people he carries

eg pub A buys a bottle of beer at 1euro and sells it for 5 euro making 4 euro profit

pub b also buys a bottle of beer for 1 euro but sells it at 3 euro and therefore sells two bottles to people who think that pub a is a rip off pub b makes the same amount of profit on the beer and has the chance to sell twice as much tertiary items as pub a because they have twice the amount of customers

FlutterinBantam

Go through that again......

PeakOutput

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Go through that again......

no im going back to study........probably

KerranJast

Denis Irwin wrote: »

Yes but those airlines in question probably aren't in control of 80%+ of all flights out of their respective countries. Which will almost certainly be the case if Ryanair are allowed to takeover Aer Lingus. Don't think for one second that O'Leary won't jack up the prices when he has a virtual monopoly over the Irish airline industry.

Lufthansa-SwissAir will control a huge chunk of traffic into and out of Austria and Switzerland (circa 70%).

Linku

Shannon was so artificially created it was bound to happen eventually, it'll be empty in two years. Aer Lingus moving their planes to Belfast really kick started the demise though.

Highsider

Everytime O'Leary opens his trap i Lol.

PeakOutput

Highsider wrote: »

Everytime O'Leary opens his trap i Lol.

because people think they are smarter than him while he keeps raking in the cash?

lostexpectation

he ain't raking in the cash anymore,

is there no other international airline interested in buying aer lingus, is aer lingus not look to be merged.

DmanDmythDledge

PeakOutput wrote: »

o'leary knows that jacking up prices would be the wrong way to go which is why he clearly states he intends to make his profits by increasing how many people he carries

eg pub A buys a bottle of beer at 1euro and sells it for 5 euro making 4 euro profit

pub b also buys a bottle of beer for 1 euro but sells it at 3 euro and therefore sells two bottles to people who think that pub a is a rip off pub b makes the same amount of profit on the beer and has the chance to sell twice as much tertiary items as pub a because they have twice the amount of customers

In that example Pub B only lowers the price because they are in competition. If Ryanair gain a monopoly they will raise prices as no other alternative for consumers.

OPENROAD

DmanDmythDledge wrote: »

In that example Pub B only lowers the price because they are in competition. If Ryanair gain a monopoly they will raise prices as no other alternative for consumers.

Not on all routes, for instance London, have to sometimes people seem to think you have Aer Lingus,Ryanair and nothing else. However yes, on certain routes they will have a monopoly and on other routes we will have less choice which won't be good for the consumer.

PeakOutput

DmanDmythDledge wrote: »

In that example Pub B only lowers the price because they are in competition. If Ryanair gain a monopoly they will raise prices as no other alternative for consumers.

people in this atmosphere cannot afford to pay the higher prices which is why the other airlines are failing while ryanair is surviving just fine. the whole ryanair business model and reason for their survival goes out the window if they increase fairs. aer lingus cannot survive the way its going with higher prices and fewer passengers so the only way to turn it around is to lower fairs and increase 'bums on seats'.

also ryanair has bigger things to worry about than ireland imo regardless of weather they have monopoly here they still have to compete in the rest of europe especially with their expansion plans and if they did for some reason decide to run a 'regular' airline just in and out of ireland it would be a pr disaster for them

but then im just a casual observer who knows very little in the grand scheme of things i just dont see the sense in thinking he will repeat the mistakes of the company he is taking over

Ckal

lostexpectation wrote: »

he ain't raking in the cash anymore,

is there no other international airline interested in buying aer lingus, is aer lingus not look to be merged.

I heard Lufthansa are interested in buying Aer Lingus. Not sure whether that's true or not, though.

axel rose

Aer lingus will be Aer Arann!!!!!!! I bloody wish! I fly Dublin to Cork on a fairly regular basis and I will always go with Aer Arann. Aer Lingus arent capable of treating their customers with the same level of dignity as AA.

The price difference between AL and AA has always been less than a tenner, for that I get

• to know the real price from the beginning
• to check in at the airport or online
• to check in a bag
• speak to an actual human if I need to call the airline
• be allocated a seat beside my companion
• given a newpaper and a cuppa
• and most importantly be treated with a bit of respect by courteous staff

I really hope that they get through this crunch I love flying with these guys.

OPENROAD

Ckal wrote: »

I heard Lufthansa are interested in buying Aer Lingus. Not sure whether that's true or not, though.

Haven't heard that by all accounts at the moment the only party in town for Aer Lingus is Ryanair, wouldn't like to see Lufthansa come in, they have just taken over bmi British Midland and to buy Aer Lingus also might see them cutting bmi freuency from Dub-Lhr.

Ckal

OPENROAD wrote: »

Haven't heard that by all accounts at the moment the only party in town for Aer Lingus is Ryanair, wouldn't like to see Lufthansa come in, they have just taken over bmi British Midland and to buy Aer Lingus also might see them cutting bmi freuency from Dub-Lhr.

Ah ok. Must have been a rumour, so!

I've only had bad experiences with Ryanair, but I've never travelled with Aer Lingus (I will in January, though) so I can't rate them.

Mark200

DmanDmythDledge wrote: »

In that example Pub B only lowers the price because they are in competition. If Ryanair gain a monopoly they will raise prices as no other alternative for consumers.

As someone has already said, the reason why the Ryanair business model is so successful is because they make it affordable for people to fly, who otherwise would not be able to. If they raise their prices then they're losing their target market.

Also, Michael O'Leary has said that they'll still run as different airlines and still maintain competition. On the Late Late Show he used the fact that RTE radio presenters are always in competition with each other despite the fact that they work for the same company as an example.

OPENROAD

Mark200 wrote: »

Also, Michael O'Leary has said that they'll still run as different airlines and still maintain competition. On the Late Late Show he used the fact that RTE radio presenters are always in competition with each other despite the fact that they work for the same company as an example.

I don't think it practice they will though.

RoosterIllusion

I couldn't give a **** which airline is flying me to my destination, all I care about is getting there in one piece and not paying a ridiculous price. As far as my experience goes, Aer Lingus have always been a disappointment for me and Ryanair, though nothing spectacular, have been exactly as I expected.

People want to fly from A to B for a cheap price, people don't care about the airlines. I wish airlines would take that onboard and focus on profit maximisation and quality of service rather than a pointless standoff which only inconveniences their customers even further.

OPENROAD

RoosterIllusion wrote: »

People want to fly from A to B for a cheap price, people don't care about the airlines. I wish airlines would take that onboard and focus on profit maximisation and quality of service rather than a pointless standoff which only inconveniences their customers even further.

Unless you fly regularly, then your choice of airline is more important.

AlmightyCushion

OPENROAD wrote: »

Unless you fly regularly, then your choice of airline is more important.

Please explain. I flew with ryanair a few months ago. I saved a bit of money and would gladly fly with them again. I don't fly regularly.

PeakOutput

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Please explain. I flew with ryanair a few months ago. I saved a bit of money and would gladly fly with them again. I don't fly regularly.

if your flying more often you want more comfort and reliability i assume

OPENROAD

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Please explain. I flew with ryanair a few months ago. I saved a bit of money and would gladly fly with them again. I don't fly regularly.

Firstly Ryanair are not always the cheapest. I fly Dub-London regularly enough, I more often than not know when I am going to fly, I am staying in a certain part of London, most convenient airport for me is LHR as I have a direct tube link, now I could still fly to any London airport, however over the year bmi work out cheper for me. Now in terms of sevice bmi are streets ahead of the competition.

As a frequent flyer they look after me. Even though I am flying on their cheapest fare they give me points everytime I fly so I can get free flights. Now with tighter security you have to turn up earlier and earlier at the airport, now bmi even on their cheapest fare allow me to collect points which gives me free access to their business lounges with free food and drink,and a bit of comfort, in the air I still get free food and drink and upgraded sometimes. All this and over the year it still works out the cheapest option for me for the days and times that I fly.

jimmyneo1

Some choice Michael O'Leary quotes:

"In economy no frills; in business class it'll all be free - including the blowjobs."
On plans for a transatlantic service, 2008

"I'm probably just an obnoxious little bollocks. Who cares?"
On himself

"We have written back to say "**** off."
Responding after Belgian authorities looked for money back.

"With Semtex... preferably during a board meeting."
On best way to settle his differences with Irish airports authority Aer Rianta

"We would welcome a good, deep, bloody recession for 12 to 18 months. We need one if we are going to see off some of this environmental nonsense that has become so popular among the chattering classes."

"There is too much: "we really admire our competitors". All bollocks. Everyone wants to kick the **** out of everyone else. We want to beat the crap out of BA. They mean to kick the crap out of us."
On co-existence with British Airways

"Weber says Germans don't like low fares. How the **** does he know? He's never offered them any. The Germans will crawl bollock-naked over broken glass to get them."
On Jurgen Weber, Lufthansa's chief executive

AlmightyCushion

OPENROAD wrote: »

Firstly Ryanair are not always the cheapest. I fly Dub-London regularly enough, I more often than not know when I am going to fly, I am staying in a certain part of London, most convenient airport for me is LHR as I have a direct tube link, now I could still fly to any London airport, however over the year bmi work out cheper for me. Now in terms of sevice bmi are streets ahead of the competition.

As a frequent flyer they look after me. Even though I am flying on their cheapest fare they give me points everytime I fly so I can get free flights. Now with tighter security you have to turn up earlier and earlier at the airport, now bmi even on their cheapest fare allow me to collect points which gives me free access to their business lounges with free food and drink,and a bit of comfort, in the air I still get free food and drink and upgraded sometimes. All this and over the year it still works out the cheapest option for me for the days and times that I fly.

it's just you said unless you fly regularly. I take it you meant if you fly regularly which is understandable.

The Mighty Ken

Flying has become an increasingly painful experience thanks to Ryanair. When they're the only option, or when their competitors have stooped to their level, I'll probably just stop travelling unless absolutely necessary. Ryanair hate their customers.

OPENROAD

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

it's just you said unless you fly regularly. I take it you meant if you fly regularly which is understandable.

Sorry thats what I meant.

KerranJast

The Mighty Ken wrote: »

Flying has become an increasingly painful experience thanks to Ryanair. When they're the only option, or when their competitors have stooped to their level, I'll probably just stop travelling unless absolutely necessary. Ryanair hate their customers.

Yes because things were soooo much nicer when the price of flights to London was 4 or £500.

Run_to_da_hills

KerranJast wrote: »

Yes because things were soooo much nicer when the price of flights to London was 4 or £500.

At least you got a sweet before take off, a coffee, a biscuit and a complimentary copy of Irish Times.

KerranJast

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

At least you got a sweet before take off, a coffee, a biscuit and a complimentary copy of Irish Times.

Yes. Well worth the extra £390. :rolleyes: TBH I think most of the people who don't like Ryanair don't like it because it means everyone can fly abroad not just the better off.

PeakOutput

KerranJast wrote: »

Yes. Well worth the extra £390. :rolleyes: TBH I think most of the people who don't like Ryanair don't like it because it means everyone can fly abroad not just the better off.

i would say the people that dont like ryanair are the people who think they deserve to get the same service as the people paying 500euro for it

or the people who dont like the fact that they have to use ryanair. i imagine people who dont have to use ryanair and can afford to spend 500euro on a1 hour trip dont have much opinion on ryanair or if they do its that its a great business model and micheal o'leary is a hero in the way he 'manipulates' the lower class's


im a poor student i cant afford any other way of getting to mainland europe so i pay the relatively paltry cost of a ryanair ticket and expect everything i get and dont bitch about it because when i can afford to put my money were my mouth is i will until then i wont bite the hand that feeds me

Donald-Duck

PeakOutput wrote: »

i would say the people that dont like ryanair are the people who think they deserve to get the same service as the people paying 500euro for it

or the people who dont like the fact that they have to use ryanair. i imagine people who dont have to use ryanair and can afford to spend 500euro on a1 hour trip dont have much opinion on ryanair or if they do its that its a great business model and micheal o'leary is a hero in the way he 'manipulates' the lower class's


im a poor student i cant afford any other way of getting to mainland europe so i pay the relatively paltry cost of a ryanair ticket and expect everything i get and dont bitch about it because when i can afford to put my money were my mouth is i will until then i wont bite the hand that feeds me

Don't a huge amount of the business people fly Ryanair to England most weeks?

PeakOutput

Donald-Duck wrote: »

Don't a huge amount of the business people fly Ryanair to England most weeks?

business people are not necessarily rich people a person who needs to fly to london for business could be on anything from 30K up i imagine

either way,more than anyone they have nothing to complain about or too other than their employer as its the employer paying the fare and his employer who is choosing to put him with the no frills airline

redout

Aer Lingus are a disgrace. Willie Walsh flushed our national airline down the crapper before he ****ed off to BA. They are on a par with Ryanair now and that aint saying much. Pay for checked baggage, pay for seat, pay to check in at the airport ! pay credit card surcharge €10 return. Try to flog you travel insurance without selecting it on the screen (aer lingus are worst for this). All in all we are the joke of the modern world with our flag carrier now being a low cost ryanair wannabe.

Mark200

The Mighty Ken wrote: »

Flying has become an increasingly painful experience thanks to Ryanair. When they're the only option, or when their competitors have stooped to their level, I'll probably just stop travelling unless absolutely necessary. Ryanair hate their customers.

I reckon Ryanair's takeover of Aer Lingus might make room for another competitor in Dublin international flights. There will always be people to pay for an alternative, and I'm sure BA or one of those will be happy to provide.

Donald-Duck wrote: »

Don't a huge amount of the business people fly Ryanair to England most weeks?

Business people tend to travel a lot, so they might be saving a huge amount if they travel with Ryanair.

Someone already said that maybe if you travel frequently you'd choose another airline for comfort and whatever, but I guess it depends on your needs.

The Mighty Ken

KerranJast wrote: »

Yes because things were soooo much nicer when the price of flights to London was 4 or £500.

There's a happy balance between service and cost. Ryanair are simply on a race to the bottom. It makes good business sense it would seem. Like most consumers, if you're happy to be shovelled s**t then more power to you.