To paraphrase Daniel O’Connell, Aer Lingus ’s difficulty should be Ryanair ’s opportunity. In the normal way, you would expect Michael O’Leary to be rubbing his hands at the prospect of a prolonged work to rule or worse by Aer Lingus pilots over the key summer months. July to September is when both airlines make the bulk of their profits.
Aer Lingus made €196 million of its annual operating profit of €236 million between July and September last year. For Ryanair, the summer months accounted for €1.7 billion of its €2 billion operating profit.
The decision of Aer Lingus pilots to adopt a work-to-rule from next Wednesday, rather than an outright strike, is in theory particularly beneficial from Ryanair’s perspective. It means the disruption to Aer Lingus’s schedule will not be entirely predictable. Flights will be delayed and cancelled in an ad hoc fashion as pilots stop showing the flexibility that is necessary to keep an airline on schedule over the busy summer.
[ Work to rule will be more disruptive for Aer Lingus than one day strikes ] [ Aer Lingus passengers: ‘We’re really stressed. We’ve been planning a dream trip for the past year’ ] Among other things, this may mean bigger payouts for affected passengers. But the real damage is that many passengers will opt to fly with another airline rather than take the risk of their holiday being ruined at the last minute.
Ryanair is the obvious alternative. READ MORE Some 56 Aer Lingus flights cancelled t.