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The rise and rise of Ryanair
Sunday, June 06, 2004

How a Small Irish Airline Conquered Europe

By Siobhan Creaton. Aurum, €14.80

Reviewed by Quentin Fottrell

Some weeks ago, Michael O'Leary was holding a press conference in the basement of the Davenport Hotel and was throwing one of his well-staged wobblies about airport operator Aer Rianta.

Before the conference, O'Leary rolled up the sleeves of his casual blue shirt, helped himself to a cup of coffee - which he didn't need, as he was already buzzing - turned to Siobhan Creaton and asked provocatively: "So, how's your book going, Ms Creaton?"

She smiled politely and said: "Fine, thank you."

You weren't quite sure if O'Leary was being menacing or displaying uncharacteristic idle curiosity. After reading Creaton's rollicking page-turner, this reviewer assumes he was being a bit of both.

The unauthorised account of the rise and rise of Ryanair explores the complex relationship between Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary and the company's founder, Tony Ryan. Despite the bland cover, it is a dramatic story about the making of one of the world's most recognised brands.

Ryan teamed up with Christy Ryan from Waterford and Liam Lonergan from Club Travel to set up the airline.

"It had an address in Dublin and its business grew up out of the tinyWaterford Airport," Creaton writes. "Waterford is Christy Ryan's home town, and it was his idea to fly between there and London. But he feels that his part in establishing Ryanair has never been publicly acknowledged."

Aer Lingus opposed any new carrier operating on its routes between Ireland and Britain, but Fine Gael's Jim Mitchell finally granted the licence to Christy Ryan at 10pm one evening in Dublin's Aisling Hotel.On November 28,1985, the airline was born.

Four years later, Ryanair reached its most important turning point when the then transport minister Seamus Brennan ordered Aer Lingus off the Stansted route, allowing Ryanair to fly to Stansted and to Luton.

It was, as Creaton says, a case of "Stansted or bust". In one chilling moment before Ryanair was granted the Stansted route, Creaton writes: "Late one evening, Declan Ryan and O'Leary were wearily sitting in the airline's offices when they heard a truck pull up outside. According to one source, they both believed it was someone from Aer Rianta coming to pull the plug on Ryanair.

"The vehicle moved on and the moment passed. They have since told friends that had it been Aer Rianta, they would probably have come out with their hands up."

O'Leary was a schoolfriend of Tony Ryan's son, Declan, and was later plucked from managing his empire of newsagents to become the "bagman" for Tony.

Creaton devotes a chapter to Herb Kelleher, founder of the US no-frills Southwest Airlines. Southwest provided the blueprint for Ryanair's European domination.

After meeting Kelleher, O'Leary, who was by now re-garded as a kind of fourth son by Ryan, returned to Dublin with his plan for the airline. These are still the early days for Ryanair, and Creaton is just warming up.

She describes the abandoned flotation of Ryan's GPA, which provided the seed capital for Ryanair, and Ryanair's successful float on May 29,1997.

Then there are the numerous battles: with union leaders, with Aer Lingus, with Aer Rianta, with EasyJet, with Mary O'Rourke, with the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland and, more recently, with the European Commission, which ruled against Ryanair on Charleroi Airport subsidies.

Creaton concludes that, ultimately, Ryanair changed lives, turning Irish emigrants into the "Ryanair Generation" jetset. She writes that, O'Leary, "above anyone else, is responsible for Ryan a ir 's extraordinary achievements".

Quentin Fottrell is the Irish correspondent for Dow Jones Newswires