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. Should airlines pay for what they've done to us? 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. JW: Looking at the network, obviously most of your markets are in the EU. When you think about it, it's the only London airport that can still grow, and it's been a very successful base for us. Airbnb banned me because I used to live in Russia. I don't know when that will open in any sort of significant basis, but I think long-haul tourist travel will take longer to recover, and hopefully that will spill over into more short-haul European routes, especially on our 240 destinations throughout Europe. Of course, you're going to have some discounting on fares, but I can't obviously put any colour on that. Looking at the network, obviously most of your markets are in the EU. What we did was we cut a lot of frequencies in some markets, but we have tried to keep as many routes open as possible because the booking curve had shortened; it was very difficult to make calls on closing particular routes. 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. Prior to that, he held various operational and network planning roles within the Aerberlin Group. So those that had higher frequencies, we paired back. But I think we are going to have some significant opportunities in some markets, where other airlines are going to exit from it, so I'm looking forward to it. 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%. Copyright 2023. All rights reserved. Ryanair may delay deliveries of Boeing Max jets - Independent.ie Images Courtesy of Getty Images. Corporate Head Office , Swords Business Park, Swords D Co. Dublin, Ireland https://www.ryanair.com/us/en, Primary ContactEddie WilsonCEOCorporate Head Office , Swords Business Park, Swords D Co. Dublin, Ireland [emailprotected], Chief ExecutiveMichael (Mick) O'LearyChief Executive Officer Ryanair HoldingsCorporate Head Office , Swords Business Park, Swords D Co. Dublin, Ireland [emailprotected]. ", Mr O'Leary said he hoped his successor will be successful in his new role, "particularly as we enter into very difficult times, not least of which will be the challenges posed by Brexit at the end of October, resolving the Boeing MAX aircraft delays, and cutting and/or closing some bases to accommodate the fact that we will have at least 30 fewer aircraft than planned this winter, and possibly the same number, or even more, again next summer.". 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. He was previously Production Manager at both Intuition Publishing Ltd and Education Multimedia Group, and has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. Join Facebook to connect with Eddie Wilson and others you may know. Neil was appointed Group CFO in October 2019 having previously served as Ryanairs CFO from October 2014. "It won't be material, it won't affect people, because all the bookings aren't in for August," said Wilson, the head of Ryanair DAC, the largest airline in the group. A former CEO of LS Airport Services and supervisory board member of Euro LOT Airline, Krakow Airport and Gdansk Airport, Michal also held roles with the Polish Industrial Development Agency, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection and PwC. Do I need a PCR test? JW: Hello and welcome to another CAPA Live, and I'm delighted to give a very warm welcome to Eddie Wilson, chief executive of Ryanair DAC, the main operating company of the Ryanair group, which is responsible, I think Eddie, if I'm right, for 250-odd aircraft, which I think is 60% of the group total, or thereabouts. 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. What should I do? But passenger numbers are still a bit below that, at 37%. Group chief executive Michael O'Leary last week said he would trim some high-frequency routes in July. European aviation is more or less committed to net zero by 2050, which puts it slightly ahead of the global industry. But I know that the European countries, such as Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, want to welcome at the English with open arms. Mr Wilson (55) is a 22-year Ryanair veteran, who as chief people officer, has led negotiations with pilot and crew unions that Ryanair recognised in late 2017. Contact Uploading & Non-Users; Settings; Activity log; 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. If you need to nudge that along, particularly if the booking curves are all over the place at the moment, because particularly people travelling with children or whatever are nervous, I suppose, that if they've got to go somewhere where there's the requirement to have a PCR test, they may fail that test or whatever, or get a positive result, which will throw all their travel plans into chaos, and people were generally booking closer in. Whereas, the focus quite rightly there is on what are the emissions, electric vehicles, etc.? Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair DAC, says airline needs a definite date. You can't do it, and all it does is that it constrains supply, and it's based on this notion from those from the higher-fare airlines, that there is some sort of privilege to flying, or that it is discretionary for other classes or whatever, when people travel for lots of reasons. 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. Yeah, I think so. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. If that means that you're going to discount on fares, so be it. Ryanair | Executive Officers Images Courtesy of Getty Images. "I've been here for almost 25 years, and almost every year we talked to Arlanda and never got anywhere, but there's an airport that realises that the incumbent airlines like SAS are not going to grow, and they're hopelessly saddled with state aid that's never going to be paid back, Norwegian capacity has gone, so Arlanda has got to look around and who's going to get the volume? Yeah. I really can't see the European Commission standing for price floors for anything. We're going to do about five million passengers there this year, which is not insubstantial in that country alone. I think yeah, that is a potential, but in a lot of cases it's about airport cost and competitiveness, not necessarily the destinations in themselves. {{item['V2 Header']}}, We would love to keep you posted on the latest promotion. Plus, we have insightful letters, insider tips, and more. Irish-based Ryanair DAC is the biggest airline within the group, responsible for most of its 470 craft, 2,400 daily flights and the 150 million-plus passengers its expects to fly in the 12 months ended March 31st, 2020. It's transformed people's lives. So I think we're in a completely different place this time, and you have Norwegian at a fraction of the size that it was, and you've got places like Copenhagen, which they're just not going to recover their traffic. 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. But I would say somewhere in the region of 75%.". 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. "But most airlines are not growing, getting smaller, and you have a significant exit pretty much of Norwegian, you've got Germanwings, there's various other small ones around the side. Roberto speaks to Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair, about their new Boeing 737 8200 aircraft. Mar 1997 - Sep 201922 years 7 months. Check out Elliott Advocacy Today, our free, daily newsletter with links to your favorite commentary, tips and news about consumer advocacy. Mr OLeary said on Friday that since he joined Ryanair, Mr Wilson had contributed hugely to the airlines growth from three million passengers a year to more than 150 million. Thank you so much for all or your candour. Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair ''72% of seats are full & that's growing'' Mein Nisinta Seirbhse Poibl na hireann. But its complicated. So are you concerned that there is a growing level of protectionism in Europe, and where is that going to go? JW: Another subject: industrial relations. 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? We're making, I think, big, big steps here, but the nature of the industry is you can do it in car technology and places like that, and the worst thing that can happen is the car stops on the side of the road.