A year of living dangerously

Michael O’Leary once vowed that hell would freeze over before Ryanair would deal with unions. But as it prepares for a third day of strike action by its pilots in Dublin, the airline’s business model is now potentially facing serious turbulence

Ten months ago, in a small meeting room on the top floor of Ryanair’s head office near Dublin airport, Michael O’Leary was attempting to downplay the impact of a decision it made to cancel thousands of flights to a couple of dozen Irish and foreign journalists. It was merely a scheduling cock-up of pilots’ holidays: nothing more than that, he said, brushing off questions.

But what about his pilots, someone asked? Did he ...