Even as one publication named Ryanair as the world's least favourite airline, the fact is that the public are prepared to put up with cabin crews that can be just as rude as the CEO, and a seat rush worthy of the Olympics.
Ryanair has posted a stronger than expected jump in second quarter profit and raised its full-year forecast on a rosier winter outlook, pushing shares in the airline to a record high. Net profit was ”213.4m ($271m) in the three months to end-September, up 23.7% on the same period last year. CEO Michael O'Leary is talking about a share split and the unheard of ” a dividend.
That is the good news. On the Aer Lingus take-over front O'Leary is not so bullish and is now hinting about holding on to the approximately 20% shares he has and fighting his battles from within, realising that for practical purposes a proper take-over is out of the question.
If the shares are undervalued, as the Aer Lingus board says, O'Leary wins, his investment appreciating. If they are overpriced, whilst he would have paid too much, he still could win by attacking the management and its handling of the business.
Also keeping an eye on Ryanair, and not for the first time, is the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) who has again criticised the Irish airline for promoting millions of "zero fare" flights that actually cost passengers up to ”21.70 ($41.30). ASA said Ryanair should have made clear that people would have to pay taxes and other charges on all tickets.
In May, the watchdog upheld a complaint about an advert for 3m free tickets because it failed to make clear that the offer did not include flights on Fridays. In 2004, it stopped a similar promotion again offering "giveaway" flights because passengers would have to pay charges and taxes. ASA seems to have been toothless. The European Union said in July it planned to clamp down on misleading air fares.
In the meantime another watchdog "Which?" has been highlighting complaints from passengers who missed their flights because of long airport queues. In just one week in September more than 150 Ryanair would-be flyers failed to get on their flights from Stansted because of long airport check-in lines and that figure continues to rise.
BAA blames Ryanair and Ryanair blames the airport. In the meantime the customer suffers. ABTN gathers that legal action is being taken against Ryanair.