Ryanair pilots believe O’Leary’s days are numbered
... and is ‘affable, reasonable’ Peter Bellew on a f light path to take over?
JUBILANT Ryanair pilots believe that Michael O’Leary’s time as head of the airline could soon come to an end.
They predict that the airline’s new chief operating officer Peter Bellew will be the person who takes over from him.
On Friday, just two weeks after Mr Bellew rejoined the airline, Ryanair announced it would recognise pilot unions for the first time.
The move came in response to a planned strike by Irish pilots this Wednesday and threatened industrial action in Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
However, with fears that negotiations would come too late to head off the action, Ryanair offered yesterday to meet with bosses from the Impact and German pilot unions on Tuesday – giving passengers threatened with cancelled flights hopes of a last-minute reprieve.
Friday’s change to long-standing Ryanair policy was made public in a statement signed by Mr O’Leary. But a senior Irish-based Ryanair pilot said the wording of the statement had ‘Bellew written all over it’.
‘This is a guy who is chalk to Michael O’Leary’s cheese,’ the pilot told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
‘He’s affable, reasonable and he listens to pilots. It’s no coincidence that two weeks after he arrived in Ryanair, we have this on the table. This is the guy that pilots would like to see leading Ryanair. The shareholders will want it and the staff will too.’
Mark Simpson, aviation analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers, said that in deciding to recognise the pilot unions, O’Leary has performed a ‘180 degree turn’, possibly compromising his own future at the airline.
‘This is diametrically opposed to commentary from Michael O’Leary so it has raised question marks in the minds of investors over his longevity,’ he said. ‘The reason the stock is down by more than a euro is because it brings complexity and uncertainty and the market hates uncertainty.’
Mr Bellew, 52, arrived back in Ryanair HQ on December 1, having left there to take up the post of CEO of Malaysia Airlines in 2015.
The Far Eastern airline had lost two aircraft catastrophically and was in danger of collapsing at the time. But in just two years, Mr Bellew turned its passenger numbers from average loads of just 40% per flight to near full capacity. The challenge of sorting out Ryanair’s industrial relations could prove an even bigger task but it’s one he relishes.
Last month he described his return to Ryanair as a ‘form of national service’. ‘Love for country is pulling me back to Ireland. They need my help and there is a big challenge,’ he said.
On Friday he admitted that Ryanair now recognises the value of its pilots.
‘We now see the value, right across the airline, of our aviation professionals. Recognising the unions is effectively an evolution of our business model.’
His words were music to the ears of many Ryanair pilots who had for years complained of a lack of respect for them and their input into the airline. For some though, Mr Bellew’s arrival came too late.
Another senior Ryanair captain who gave a revealing interview to the MoS this year about the work practices in the airline, has handed in his notice. But he said colleagues still with the airline are optimistic that it will be Mr Bellew who leads the airline forward.
‘O’Leary hates pilots and he disparaged us at every opportunity. We have the upper hand now and O’Leary knows that. Bellew knows that there’s a worldwide shortage of pilots and if they’re not treated well, they’ll be off. There’s a feeling that he’ll be the man in charge soon. He has a good reputation.’
Ahead of this Tuesday’s planned negotiations, Impact’s Bernard Harbor told RTÉ: We are ready to meet them… to make sure there is substance to the offer they made in writing and to flesh out how that recognition process would proceed. Once we have that we’re ready to lift the industrial action but we need to do that first.’
‘This guy Bellew is chalk to O’Leary’s cheese’