Ryanair dismisses chief pilot

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2023/06/14/ryanair-dismisses-chief-pilot/

Ryanair DAC has dismissed its chief pilot following an internal investigation which it told staff found “unacceptable behaviour.”

An internal note to employees on Wednesday said an investigation identified a “pattern of repeated inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour” by the pilot, Aidan Murray.

It is understood management began the investigation around three weeks ago after receiving a note from a member of staff. It is not clear if Mr Murray will appeal the company’s decision.

Ryanair’s internal memo stressed it was determined to ensure that staff could come to work in a safe and secure environment.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/06/14/ryanair-chief-aidan-murray-sacked-sexual-harassment/

Mr Murray allegedly told the women in messages that they “had an amazing body” and an “amazing ass”. He went on to ask the women for pictures of their bodies, sources claimed, promising that they would not be shared.

Ryanair’s investigation led to eight female members of staff aged between 21 and 32 providing statements and giving evidence alleging misconduct by Mr Murray.

It is believed that Mr Murray initially contacted the women directly via text message with offers of support in their careers. Subsequently he began changing rosters – as he was able to do in his role as chief pilot – so that he regularly flew services alongside some of the women.

As chief pilot, Mr Murray had to fly a minimum number of services to maintain the validity of his pilot’s licence, typically around once a month.

The Ryanair investigation is thought to have revealed that on about two-thirds of the flights he changed the rosters of three of the junior female pilots so that he flew alongside them.

Nasty stuff and totally unacceptable.

Must be rather intimidating for a junior FO to be flying alongside the chief pilot though even regardless of any sleazy angle. Can hardly imagine how nasty it would be in a case like this. Well done to those who spoke out.

Larbre34

It it incomprehensible to me that a person ascended to the leadership role of Chief Pilot and Head of Flight Ops, with those traits and behaviours.

Of course it has been the widespread experience of female flight and cabin crew in the industry generally, but I could never accept that Murray did not behave this way, in some fashion, throughout a 30+ career and yet ended up as a Chief Pilot anyway.

There are a litany of people responsible for this, not just Murray.

NIMAN

Sounds like an appeal might be a waste of time.

sparrowcar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120715764#Comment_120715764

I agree with you to a certain extent and don't for one minute condone his actions but this type of behaviour may only be in his latter years in a position of authority.

No doubt if he's a career veteren of sleaze then more may come forward.

Tenger

Certainly appears as if Ryanair dealt very decisively with the accusations (aggressively?)

No statements of "long standing reputation, well liked among colleagues, outstanding record" etc

Most often there is a long past of this kind of thing, and it may progress by virtue of habit and reinforcement. Decades ago I found a friend s father to be very sleazy, turned out he had a history of rape and abuse of children from a young age, including the rape of his own daughter, but it only came out in the open in his old age.

NH2013

Despicable behaviour and abuse of position.

cson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120716585#Comment_120716585

Disagree.

There's no way this behavior just emerged in the last couple of years, he's been with Ryanair since 1995 and I would be surprised if the accusations don't date back a long way in that tenure.

lordleitrim

Interesting that I read about his dismissal in Indo and Irish Times but they didn't make reference to the harassment incidents and left me wondering what could a chief pilot have possible done to be dismissed so abruptly. Why were the national press being so vague about it...?

Glad to see this cretin get what he deserves as well as being named and shamed...although more discreetly it seems than he deserves....

EchoIndia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722623#Comment_120722623

One can only assume that (a) they are being careful for legal reasons (e.g. breach of privacy) and/or that they don't have access to material which would confirm what has been published elsewhere. I believe also that there are usually editorial rules that require anything published to be verifiable as regards the source of the information, even if that is not published in a report. As Ryanair is a private company, not a State entity, that probably limits the exposure to media and political pressure compared to a public or semi-State body too. The UK media are probably a lot freer to cover the issue than outlets that are based in Ireland.

cson

Could be criminal charges pending and they don't want to report anything that would compromise that.

Tenger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120719690#Comment_120719690

I dont think this is a relatively new pattern of behaviour. My point was that sometimes in these cases the organisation issues an initial supportive statement, which is later walked back after more info emerges.

The decisive dropping of him (like a hot rock) may well indicate that this wasnt a surprise, or that they dont want the taint.

Hotblack Desiato

Putting the awful sleaziness of this to one side, isn't it less than ideal that a guy who only flies once a month could be teaming himself up with inexperienced / junior FOs?

There have been a few incidents in various airlines where a newly promoted / new on type captain was rostered with a low hours FO, with bad outcomes, and various airlines have introduced policies to prevent this from happening.

If this guy was barely flying enough hours to keep his licence current, surely it should have been company policy that he would only fly with long experienced FOs.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120719690#Comment_120719690

yeah, they'll have known about the allegations a long time i bet, but may not have had an official complaint/smoking gun to act on. you can't fire someone like that without being able to prove the reasons for firing them.

Strumms

Not exactly a new phenomenon that an absolute 100% bogey can rise to the upper echelons of the management sphere of a corporate entity.

id wager a number of people who post here have witnessed or heard about people in their own places of work, be it sexual harassment, bullying, general harassment, corruption and so on….

an appeal would indeed be futile…. He’d be hung on physical evidence ie. Phone messages.

donkey balls

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120752231#Comment_120752231

Did EI not have some guy over from the UK who was fired from his previous employer for sexual harassment.

Bussywussy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120753044#Comment_120753044

Ya Mike Rutter, an absolute creep. Tight Ignorant pr1ck.

donkey balls

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120752231#Comment_120752231

Another one I've noticed (Not sexual harassment)over the years including the Airline I worked for and my current employer.

People getting mgmt positions some Snr ones and they are totally out of their depth, As in no actual qualifications for the job in hand but putting that aside no actual real world experience doing the job.

Does this still happen in the aviation industry?

Tenger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120753044#Comment_120753044

The guy left after an out of court settlement. (I think it was Amex) it wasn’t sexual harassment but certainly harassment and bullying of a female employee.

odious troll of a man, even without the knowledge of his previous behaviour.

and to answer DonkeyBalls, its called the “Peter principle”. You get promoted above your competence level and then flounder