If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times – a plane on the ground is a plane not making money, and that’s a philosophy particularly true for budget carriers like Europe’s largest low-cost airline Ryanair which is famed for its incredibly efficient aircraft utilisation rate (aka, the number of flights an aircraft operates per day).
Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary knows only too well that any delay on the ground can soon mount up to big losses, so it’s perhaps no surprise then that the outspoken boss was seen helping out at the gate for a recent flight from Dublin Airport.
O’Leary was spotted by TikTok user Carleen Angelo who was also waiting for a delayed flight on Tuesday when the “humble” airlines boss decided to muck in at the coal face to get a flight that he was going to be a passenger on away as quickly as possible.
Dressed in sneakers and a plain blue jacket, O’Leary donned his Ryanair ID lanyard around his neck and started calling other passengers towards the podium instructing them to have their boarding passes ready so that he could scan it and send them towards the plane.
“CEO Michael O Leary in action,” Angelo says in the video which has been viewed more than 1.6 million times since it was posted a few days ago. Ryanair’s infamous social media team replied via the airline’s official TikTok account: “Go daddy”.
In a second video which was recorded just after all the other passengers had boarded, O’Leary grabs his red carry-on bag and heads towards the plane as well.
At the height of the pandemic, O’Leary took a 50 per cent hit on his annual basic salary of €500,000. He also waived his cash bonus in 2021, but the long-serving chief executive could be in line to earn a massive €99 million bonus in 2024 after seeing off a shareholder revolt.
Ryanair smashed its September passenger record with a surge in travel demand after it carried 15.9 customers. The airline has, however, warned that demand is being partly driven by lower fares which could impact its earnings.
Wow, it carried 15.9 customers? I wonder how an airline can survive on such low numbers.