Travel Correspondent at The Telegraph Simon Calder explains why Ryanair CEO Micheal O’Leary is threatening higher airfares
|
Last updated:
1793689545
Ryanair workers face a pay freeze as chief executive Michael O’Leary has hit out at the Labour budget.
The boss of the Irish budget airline accused Andy Burnham of failing to capitalise on his sudden ascent to Downing Street.
He said: “Burnham has a lot of goodwill towards himself, a bit like Blair when he first got elected.
“But in your first 100 days you need to move quickly and break things.”
He added that the current Labour administration was an “all-talk government, no action”.
Mr O’Leary said the airline was prepared to freeze workers’ pay because of rising fuel costs, Labour’s tourist tax, and a rise in air passenger duty.
Ryanair recorded a 15 per cent drop in profits between April and September.
The chief executive previously warned the Iran war would result in the “biggest increase in airfares in history”.
Mr O’Leary has urged the Government to help airlines.
John Healey’s first Budget was slammed by the Irish executive, saying it “set the tone” for a string of anti-business policies.
He criticised the new levy on overnight stays and increases in APD inherited from Rachel Reeves as being counter-productive to Mr Burnham’s devolution agenda.
Mr O’Leary said: “The only industry that will deliver that growth is aviation and tourism, and yet they are raising taxes on aviation and tourism.
“All that is going to do is send more visitors away from the UK to other European countries who are abolishing taxes and lowering airport fees.”
The so-called tourist tax was described as a “mad proposal to allow local mayors to double-tax visitors”.
He previously warned that air fares could be hiked by as much as 20 per cent, but this is unlikely to offset the increased fuel bill, Mr O’Leary said.
Workers across the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland will be forced to bear some of the fuel bill, the Ryanair boss said.
He said there was “every likelihood that we will have a pay freeze”.
The continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz could cause a “real crisis” by March or April, he added.
And potential strike action from pilots, similar to 2019 industrial action, could ultimately save Ryanair money, Mr O’Leary claimed.
He said: “It costs a pilot a grand a day to go on strike at Ryanair, and when unhedged oil is $150 a barrel they’d be doing us a favour.”
Follow related topics:
You are about to be charged
£0.00
`;
placeholder.insertAdjacentHTML(‘beforeend’, taboola);
}