easyJet founder questions Ryanair dash for growth
12.11.09
easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou said rival Ryanair is courting disaster if chief executive Michael O’Leary sticks with his growth strategy, Bloomberg reports. Ryanair needs to increase passenger numbers by 50 percent over the next 2½ years to fill its 200 aircraft and another 100 on order, Stelios said. Mr O’Leary said on October 13 that he aims to lift the total almost 30 percent to 85 million in three years.
Stelios said in an interview yesterday: ‘I am looking forward to seeing how this do-or-die mission of Ryanair and Michael O’Leary will end up. I believe that he will have a lot of grounded aircraft in the next few years.’
easyJet’s own growth plan is ‘a lot more sensible’ and ‘much more profitable,' he said. An easyJet spokesman said the airline has developed a more realistic business plan than Ryanair. ‘We follow a different strategy and we feel ours is better. We fly to major airports, which is where our passengers want to go.’
However, Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: ‘It must be difficult for Stelios to see us continue to grow while his airline grows more slowly, if at all. Ultimately, Ryanair believes that easyJet will be bought by a larger airline group within the next five years. easyJet will be gone so Stelios won’t have to worry about Ryanair for much longer.’
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