Cantillon: Michael O’Leary has many itches to scratch

Is Michael O’Leary thin-skinned?

It happens a lot with people who are in positions of power for a very long time, and that is certainly the case with the chief executive of Europe’s biggest, most successful, and most complained about low-cost carrier.

But more likely Ryanair’s global campaign to out people who have been making anonymous postings on the internet that raise questions about safety, is being driven by business concerns.

As a spokesman for Ryanair puts it: "Ryanair's safety has been independently confirmed as being 'on a par with the safest airlines in Europe'. We will not allow anyone, whether they are newspapers or anonymous internet trolls, to defame Ryanair's 29 year industry-leading safety record."

The High Court in Belfast is due to hear mention today of defamation cases Ryanair is taking against British broadcaster, Channel 4, the Daily Mail and the Mirror Group arising from last month's Dispatches programme on Channel 4 and the subsequent newspaper coverage. The broadcast featured pilots who questioned the safety of the airline's fuel policy.

O’Leary came out fighting afterwards, saying it was an attempt by pilots’ trades unions and the company’s competitors to smear its reputation.

Meanwhile the airline is in dispute with the Competition Authority in the UK over its stake in Aer Lingus, which has itself spent millions in legal fees defending itself against its competitor/shareholder.

Ryanair has until next week to appeal a decision in August by a Norwegian court that Alessandra Cocca, an Italian air hostess stationed in Norway, should be eligible to sue Ryanair for unfair dismissal in Norway, rather than in Ireland, where Ryanair claims she was employed.

The former Ryanair flight attendant, who compared her work agreement to a “slave contract”, claims she was wrongly dismissed from her job while stationed at Rygge Airport in Norway. Ryanair, in response, has said it is bizarre to think that work done by an Italian citizen employed on an Irish contract by an Irish company could be subject to Norwegian law. Unions around Europe are watching closely to see how that one pans out.