So Eddie, I'm just going to kick off, I think, by asking you about the current situation where the group is in terms of capacity and traffic. We have no difficulty throughout this COVID crisis with governments having some form of bail out in all sorts of industries where we've had payroll supports or special things put in for the hospitality industry, et cetera. We don't have a base there, and we would have been flying say for example, between there and Torp, which would be a secondary airport for Oslo. Click to reveal It doesn't make any sense for a smaller airline at the end of the day, just because of the colour of the flag on the back of it. We still don't have indoor dining in Ireland, and it's the one country where you need indoor dining in July! Holidaymakers in Europe face higher prices for flights next summer due to "pressure from a number of fronts", Ryanair's Eddie Wilson says. Facebook gives people the power to. Ryanair chief people officer, Eddie Wilson, will succeed Michael O'Leary as chief executive of the group's biggest airline, Ryanair DAC, from this weekend. It's such an easy target, but such an essential part of the infrastructure that we're in, and there is a view that is all flying is discretionary. Clearly that's very strong compared to much of the industry, but it's a long way below your pre-COVID levels of mid 90%. So those type of deals are being struck around Europe as to where capacity is going to go. Jonathan: Okay. Email or phone: Password: Forgot account? I really can't see the European Commission standing over price floors for anything. But I just think it's important to say you've got to lead things sometimes by saying, "We'll put capacity in place. Just going back to also, you mentioned the Nordic regions, specifically you mentioned Finland, but also you mentioned Scandinavia. About Us. Of course, you're going to have some discounting on fares, but I can't obviously put any colour on that.". Ryanair DAC CEO Eddie Wilson highlighted that 1.5 million people are vaccinated in Ireland and yet "they are being locked up for no good reason". Fine, if you need to. Plus, we have insightful letters, insider tips, and more. I guess a cynic would say that you've been trying for many, many years and never quite managed to establish Ryanair in that region as well as you have done in other regions. I guess a cynic would say that you've been trying for many, many years and never quite managed to establish Ryanair in that region as well as you have done in other regions. All rights reserved. We're rapidly running out of time and there's a lot of things I still want to ask you. Look what happened in any economy that tried to put it in a price or incomes policy. It's about small businesses. Ryanair named him chief people officer in December 2002. You only have to look at our route network of 240 destinations, it's not necessarily about that. They'd have been better off not opening it at all because they just undermined confidence completely in the UK where people say, "I'm not going to book because the government could change its mind." The first airline to report monthly on CO2 emissions, the lowest in Europe on a passenger kilometre basis. Eddie Wilson. Once we deliver on those commitments, I would say that people will see, exactly as they've seen over the years, even in a pre-union environment that we are straight up in how we do our business and the vast majority of our people recognise that. If you look at, we would have opened our Stockholm Skavsta base back in 2003 or 2004, and that is a secondary airport and we're still flying there. So you will have seen, we're into Helsinki now, we have launched, I think eight or 10 routes up there, we will have a base in Stockholm, Arlanda. That's without any domestics or anything there.". We did those agreements really, really quick, and that's a function of our people and what they believe needed to be done, we just have to deliver on those agreements. JW: Yeah. From cutting hair to cutting costs! We've had a real focus on this. If you need help with any problem,please contact us through this form. If that means that you're going to discount on fares, so be it. So it's a long-term deal there that gives us a certainty to grow, and that's what we've been doing throughout Europe. I think you'll see that in Europe initially, when this works, that people will be able to move around Europe, which coincidentally suits us as an airline. Consumer Alert: Beware of travel clubs with "VIP" prices, Quake City Confidential: How we made it through our first earthquake in Christchurch, please contact our team at Elliott Advocacy through this form. So it's a very significant airline in its own right. I think the EU passport, the digital COVID certificate has given people the confidence to book, and with the UK and Ireland lagging, but I think the UK have with the announcement recently by the prime minister that they're getting back to normal, we expect that will make its way into travel and we will see the return to travel without restrictions for member countries. 2023 Ryanair Group. I think that all adds together, in particular Morocco, it's not just a beach destination, it's a massive expansive country and it has a great tourist and growing product, not just at the beaches, but in the deserts and the cities that they have there, Marrakesh, Fez, Rabat, places like that. Do I have to pay this service bill? So are you concerned that there is a growing level of protectionism in Europe, and where is that going to go? The Elliott Report is supported by Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that offers free advice and advocacy for consumers. Tracey joined Ryanair in 1991, leaving behind her career as a trainee hairdresser to instead qualify as an accountant and manage all our money! Yeah. "So those markets have done well, and we have been picking up an awful lot more capacity into places like the Greek islands and that, where there were more slots available this summer, in anticipation, I suppose that we're going to have a longer summer here one way or the other, whether that's going to stretch into October and potentially beyond that. JW: At the moment, to the extent that you can reveal any data, are average fares for Ryanair going down at the moment, or are they actually holding up? When hes not cheering for Liverpool FC, he leads our Labs team of software developers so, you could say hes the Sheldon Cooper of our entire Group. You can sell anything if the price is right, but what we have here is that you've got a period where you're trying to get back to some level of normality and it's important that you get as many people travelling as possible. Fleet plans, the 737 MAX, the impact of the delay, and now it's coming in finally, the impact it's going to have on you going forward? "Now you have, notwithstanding the effects of COVID, but the bureaucracy that has come up on this, I don't know how many queries I get a day from people who should be well capable of finding out what the requirements are from each country because it changes all the time, that people are reluctant: Do I need an antigen test? I know this is something that's close to you because you've spent a long time as head of personnel, both at Ryanair, but also at other organisations. RYANAIR launched eight new Shannon routes last Thursday morning and said it will carry more passengers to and from the airport over the next year than it did in 2019, before Covid struck. It's not, it's how we live. Were always here to help. The individual Ryanair group airlines will compete with each other for cash and craft allocated by the parent. But it's been driven, as I say, load factors by much, much lower fares. proven methods for fixing any consumer problem. You have airlines like TAP and Alitalia that are never going to grow again. It's like my passport and I can travel, and the hope is that at border control throughout Europe, where it exists, and of course, there is no border control for most Europeans, but that people would just be able to show this as they go through, because the last thing you'll want is delays at airports. In its own right. So I think there's going to be opportunity for those that are strong and growing, and I think over time most of those airlines are going to find it hard to get back to pre-COVID levels. But I think now what we have is we've got the scale, like we've had a Gothenburg base for some years, we had Skavsta, now it's in Arlanda. For an airline that obviously is ultra-low cost and thrives on low fares, are you concerned that there's been some patchy, but probably increasing talk about introducing fare floors in different countries around Europe? Lets ban babies in first class once and for all. And you will see that governments, where they've got board members (on airlines), will have influence maybe on connections to China or wherever they think is best economically, rather than running up and down to Majorca or up and down to the Balearic Islands. Does it concern you that, in spite of the industry going through the biggest crisis ever, there hasn't really been a single significant exit from the market? Do I need this? I think there's always an element of being price-led in anything. You may as well ban Volkswagen Polos or something, and just allow people to go around in Bentleys because it's better, and there'd be less cars on the road, but it's not very productive. But I think you've got to give people the confidence that something is happening out there, so that when they do decide to travel, that it's available. Mr Wilson joined the airline as head of personnel in 1997 from computer manufacturer, Gateway 2000, where he was human resources manager. Ryanair has announced that its chief people officer, Eddie Wilson, will succeed Michael O'Leary as chief executive of the airline from September . So the priority then is you're trying to maintain as much of the network as possible and not worry too much about filling the aircraft? We already have five in Marrakesh, three in Fez. So you did mention briefly fares, average fares, and the question I was going to ask you was to what extent does discounting ticket prices make any difference in this kind of environment? I think it's been a relatively strong build, driven by much lower fares coming back from around a million passengers in April to the five million as we made our way up into June. Wilson said he was hopeful the number of planes affected by manufacturing issues would be in the single digits out of a fleet of over 550, but that Boeing had not yet provided a detailed delivery schedule. Fri 30 Aug 2019 at 17:12. For an airline that obviously is ultra-low cost and thrives on low fares, are you concerned that there's been some patchy, but probably increasing, talk about introducing fare floors in different countries around Europe? Here's what's shakin' on South Island. But I think when everyone puts their minds to it, the industry has to react, and not only customers are going to have to really start buying into this. Photograph: Garrett White. But I would say somewhere in the region of 75%. It's about small businesses. We already have five and Marrakesh, three in Fez. Can I get my 173,116 Chase Ultimate Rewards points refunded? Obviously, with the crisis, you had to reverse some of the pay increases, reduce some of the hours, but now it's starting to go back up again. So you will have seen, we're into Helsinki now, we have launched, I think eight or 10 routes up there, we will have a base in Stockholm, Arlanda. Eddie Wilson, Ryanair chief executive: 'We opened 16 bases this year and we opened them because we were opportunistic on cost.' Picture: Fergal Phillips Ryanair's strong balance sheet will afford it the opportunity to aggressively pursue airport discounts and grow its market share at the expense of weakened rivals over the medium-term, its chief executive has said. Let's fill as many seats as possible." Carol is responsible for maintaining our industry-leading safety record and is the reason we all get to sit back, relax and enjoy the flight! Invalid captcha response. Budget airline's CEO has harsh words for government over aviation recovery policy. Obviously, with the crisis, you had to reverse some of the pay increases, reduce some of the hours, but now it's starting to go back up again. My Whirlpool stove is defective again. Well, good to leave it on a positive note. JW: Right. You can contact Eddie Wilson at (01) 812 1212. Our Network; Our Fleet; Our Customers; Our People; Our Leadership Team; Giving Back; Protecting Your Data; Cyber Security; But that seems to be more important than restoring connectivity, but the government or whatever seemed to be caught in the headlights of the medics more so than any other country in Europe. There are no real airlines to go in there to fill the type of gap that Ryanair can do with the type of And we're the only airlines taking delivery at that sort of capacity over the next number of years. It's always been a strength of the group of course, is that you do have this diversified network, unlike many of the competitors, which are very focused on one market, so you can operate domestically in all kinds of countries outside of Ireland, which is where you originate, because of course the Irish market has been particularly weak, hasn't it? Okay. What you have seen is that you have seen at Norwegian, you have seen other airlines cancelling orders, and you have airlines that are saddled with government debt, and there's no way that governments are going to countenance so-called national carriers not paying back money and then wanting to have big capital expenditure programmes. Are you confident that that solution will be found in time? We've just concluded a deal with Manchester Airport Group that takes us out on till 2028. JW: Long term, it's alternative propulsion technology, isn't it, that's really going to do it? Eddie Wilson: at event in the Spanish embassy in Dublin to mark Ryanair's twenty years in Spain, with press conference introduction from Ildefonso Castro Spa. If you have a consumer problem,please contact our team at Elliott Advocacy through this form. Prior to this, he was Ryanairs Finance Director from June 2006 and Treasurer from January 2003. When hes not practicing his wheelies this former military man is running the show at Malta Air having previously served as Ryanairs CCO since January 2014. Then once that works, then you can add more aircraft.". Buzz has 25 of the groups craft, Lauda has 16 while Ryanair intends moving 60 planes to Malta Airs airline licence. The world will return, and at least you've done that, because if you weren't to put in the capacity and just leave it up to governments to do things, and wait for them to put on the green light we'd never go anywhere, it wouldn't get going. But passenger numbers are still a bit below that, at 37%. I think we have the scale this time for the connectivity or the length of sectors up there for us to be able to tag on short sectors onto longer leisure sectors. But I would say somewhere in the region of 75%.". Mr Wilson said he did not expect a repeat of travel chaos seen in Europe last summer as airports struggled to deal with a return to travel after pandemic lockdowns, but he said "it's not going to be perfect.". So there has been a reluctance politically to take any sort of risk, I suppose, in opening up, and Ireland unfortunately has got a little bit more detached from Europe over the last number of months and don't realise, I suppose, that when the economies return to normal, we will still largely be exposed here because next winter is going to be particularly bleak in the Irish market, I would say.