Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary is not one to miss the opportunity to criticise his competitors and airport authorities and turn favour in his direction, as aptly remarked recently by an Irish business analyst. This time O’Leary turned his guns on the Maltese airport authorities accusing them of charging excessive costs. This is hardly the first time that Ryanair has used this argument in other countries to obtain even more concessions.

Of course, the introduction of a low cost service by Ryanair was welcomed by practically everyone in Malta as a positive development for our tourism industry. We also hope that Ryanair will continue to profit from doing business in Malta so that they could consider expanding their business. However, I am sure that Ryanair’s top management acknowledge that business is about taking risks in the belief that this will in the end deliver rewards.

It is therefore not fair that when the going gets tough business leaders, like Michael O’Leary, resort to attacking others in the hope that in this way they will be given special treatment to the detriment of their competitors. Let me just quote some examples.

Late last year, the Irish Independent in an article entitled “Aviation regulator launches scathing attack on Ryanair”, reported that Commissioner of Aviation Regulation Cathal Guiomard launched an attack on Ryanair accusing it of “failing to comply with EU regulations in relation to passenger rights, in particular the provision of refreshments for passengers who are delayed”.

Similarly, in an article in the same newspaper last January, Ryanair was reported to be the “worst offender” for extra charges on fares. The charge was based on a report by the British magazine Which? Holiday that said the Irish airline charges passengers almost €30 to check in a bag into the hold for a return flight, if the booking is not made online. It also charges almost €6 “simply to use the check-in desk and a similar amount as a credit-card fee”.

Again, the Irish Independent recently reported that Ryanair is facing investigations by the UK consumer watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading following a complaint by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), “for repeatedly breaching establishing advertising codes”. The ASA says “Ryanair has persistently misled consumers by making exaggerated claims about the availability of cheap flights”. Moreover, the Irish airline “has repeatedly failed to include taxes and charges in advertising prices and has made misleading and denigrating comparisons with competitors”.

I have said all this not because I want to denigrate Ryanair, but because I wish that the Irish airline be fairer with the Maltese public, which after all are the airline’s clients and deserve to be treated well. Our national airline Air Malta has taken on the challenge presented by the introduction of low cost airlines with courage and in a very business like manner. It did not ask for subsidies to cushion itself from the potentially negative effects of increased competition.

It is therefore difficult to understand how Ryanair is now clamouring for even more concessions from our airport authorities, when it is the first to protest very loudly whenever it perceives that anyone is favouring one or more of its competitors.

I therefore appeal to Ryanair, the government, and the airport authorities to stick to the agreement they signed some years ago. We believe that the best business deals are those where everyone involved feels that he has benefited from a particular agreement. It is not ethical or even acceptable for anyone to expect the rules to be changed in order to reduce his risks.

Any concessions made to one airline will have a competitive impact on the other airlines operating to and from Malta. We cannot treat our national airline any less favourably than we treat other airlines simply because they are very good at putting pressure on the local authorities for more concessions.

Of course, the slowdown of growth in Europe, the strength of the euro, the high cost of fuel, and the general economic uncertainly hitting most western countries is bound to affect air travel. The solution to this challenge is better and more creative management to minimise the effect of these negative elements on specific companies caught in this turmoil.

So, while we wish Ryanair every success in their operations in Malta, we appeal to them to be fair with us and not expect any special treatment to the detriment of our national airline and other airlines operating from Malta.

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