The week Michael O’Leary fell to earth

Someone is desperate to give Michael O’Leary a bloody nose. But just who is it? After all, who would want to take on the combative motormouth billionaire who runs the biggest airline in Europe?

As he paces the top floor of the company’s head office in Swords in north Dublin, addressing a small group of shareholders early on Thursday morning, O’Leary is clear who is out to get him. It is not one group, but many.A few disgruntled pilots. Upstart competitors stealing his employees. The media. And his decades-long bête noire – airline unions. They are all out to add to one of the most calamitous weeks in the airline’s history.