As Europe’s largest airline—and a low-cost one at that—Ryanair is no stranger to bad press. It’s ranked as among the worst short-haul airlines and offers limited perks to customers unless they pay (including charging for water).
The airline infamously even considered charging for toilet use at one stage and is currently in hot water over its decision to introduce new charges for families to sit together.
But negative press isn’t such a bad thing, O’Leary argues.
“The funny thing we’ve learned over the years is actually the bad publicity sells far more seats than the good,” O’Leary told the Wall Street Journal. He added that it prompts people to look up the company and discover rock-bottom fares in the process.
Ryanair’s way of coping with customer disapproval is simple—sassy responses on social media. The CEO famously got pied in the face by climate activists, which was a big social media frenzy, to which Ryanair’s X account said in a post: “Instead of buying cream pies, could have bought a flight from Belgium for the same price.”
Instead of buying cream pies, could have bought a flight from Belgium for the same price 😏 pic.twitter.com/8jruYI3ZxE
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) September 7, 2023
The Irish budget airline also regularly replies to fliers’ qualms on the platform with savage remarks. When a customer complained about not having a window at his seat on his Ryanair flight as he headed on his honeymoon, Ryanair responded in a post on X, saying: “She’s regretting marrying someone who can’t read the fine print.”
She’s regretting marrying someone who can’t read the fine print https://t.co/GMjelExn0s
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) May 3, 2023
O’Leary himself is known for never mincing his words. He called the U.K.’s air traffic authority report “rubbish” last summer after a technical glitch disrupted thousands of flights. When aircraft maker Boeing delayed plane deliveries in 2022, O’Leary called its top leadership a group of “headless chickens” who need to “reboot, or boot up the a**.”
Despite his hot-takes, the Ryanair chief says he loves the airline’s customers who “obey the rules.” The company allocates roughly $20 million to marketing, which, O’Leary admits, he doesn’t know much about. Ryanair has active TikTok, Instagram and X accounts, all of which share snappy and funny posts.
“I have no idea what the hell they do, but my children tell me that our TikTok account is really cool,” O’Leary said. “We let them say anything, do anything, we don’t care who they offend, abuse, insult, tease.”
Profit above all
Ryanair has watched the appetite for travel bounce back slowly but surely. In September, it flew more passengers than it did during the same month in 2022 or even pre-pandemic, pointing to robust demand despite economic volatility.
The time is ripe for Ryanair to expand to new horizons—and O’Leary hopes it can grow to 30% of the European market from 20% in the next decade, he told the Journal.
But his focus is not just to make the Irish company a mammoth-sized player in the airline market.
“I’m not that interested in whether we’re the biggest airline in the world, as long as we’re the most profitable,” he said.
O’Leary, the Dublin-based airline’s CEO of 30 years, has turned the company from obscurity to Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers. Although profits remain front-and-center for Ryanair, O’Leary’s wrangle with travel platforms has hurt its full-year profit expectations.
In January, Ryanair cut its November profit estimate by 5% to between €1.85 billion ($2 billion) and €1.95 billion ($2.13 billion) after it was forced to lower fares to fill seats when travel agents stopped listing its flights.
Its full-year earnings for the year ending in March are due to be released in May.
Ryanair didn’t immediately return Fortune’s request for comment.
