Cheap fares may be over but no frills stays

The fun stuff was the lunch with the FT. Not a word about a shift of strategy.

Eventually, I make out the words on the wrapper and blurt: “Oh! A bagel!”
“It’s got pesto,” says O’Leary. “It was either that or McDonald’s. I figured you for a bagel girl.”
The staff get another pasting as he moves on to talk about management consultants (“should all be euthanised”) and MBAs (“bullshit”). “MBA students come out with, ‘The customer’s always right,? he says, adopting a whiny voice. “Horseshit! The customer’s usually wrong! And, ‘My staff is my most important asset.’ Bullshit! Staff is usually your biggest cost!”

It is hard to say how serious he is about this….

The real stuff is the noisy pull-out of a deal with Boeing .

RYANAIR SAID yesterday it had pulled out of talks to buy 200 aircraft from Boeing and would now trim investment from 2011 to cut costs and free up cash to pay to investors, lifting its shares.

For The Times, this means a brake on cheap fares.

RYANAIR SAID yesterday it had pulled out of talks to buy 200 aircraft from Boeing and would now trim investment from 2011 to cut costs and free up cash to pay to investors, lifting its shares

.

But ending no frills? Fat chance.

Brian Walker

Former BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London