Secret pilot: We’ll make it so toxic,he’ll have to go
Plot to make ‘desperate’ Ryanair boss resign
RYANAIR’S ‘Secret Pilot’ has dismissed Michael O’Leary’s overtures to him and his colleagues this week, saying the pilots are plotting to get him to resign.
He said: ‘We want to make O’Leary toxic so he has to resign.’
The pilot broke ranks two weeks ago to tell the Irish Mail on Sunday about the tough conditions working for the airline. He was reacting this week to news that Ryanair’s chief operating officer was leaving and talk of possible mass resignations.
Describing the proposals as ‘nothing short of pathetic’, the Secret Pilot said O’Leary’s offering is ‘too little, too late’ and pilots can ‘now smell blood’. On Friday, Ryanair confirmed that COO Michael Hickey would be leaving. Yesterday it was reported by the Irish Independent that a newly formed pan-European pilot representation committee would respond to Mr O’Leary’s overtures through a staff letter on Thursday and that a ‘nuclear option’ such as a mass resignation was being considered.
‘Michael O’Leary is not being taken seriously any more,’ said the Secret Pilot.
In his letter to pilots, signed ‘Michael’, the CEO promised improvements to pay and conditions, roster management and training, as well as a loyalty bonus up to €12,000 payable from next month. However, his pilots are not convinced. ‘He’s desperate. I had to laugh when he said that when he spoke disparagingly about pilots, he was only referring to the pilots of competing airlines. That got a raucous laugh from all of us. He has a neck like a jockey’s b **** x.
‘And when he said Ryanair’s pilots were the best in the business I nearly choked. Does he think we’re completely stupid? Pilots and other Ryanair staff don’t believe he has any credibility any more,’ the Secret Pilot said. ‘Pilots can smell blood. You know what he should have written in that letter? That he will stop threatening and bullying us and treat us like human beings.
‘Racehorses take a lot of upkeep and that’s meant all us Ryanair staff have had to take crap so he can pursue his rich man’s hobbies.’
The letter urges pilots who are
‘He has no credibility and pilots can smell blood’
‘We’ve been plotting to get out since we got in’
considering joining a competitor to stay with Ryanair – this is the only piece of the letter that the Secret Pilot said made any sense.
‘Like all pilots in Ryanair, I’ve been plotting how to get out since I got in. But suddenly our prospects are looking a lot brighter – better pay, better conditions and an allround better deal. It’s something I want to stick around to see.’