Michael O'Leary

Michael O'Leary
Born	Michael Kevin O'Leary[1] Micheál Caoimhín Ó Laoire (1961-03-20) 20 March 1961 (age 51) Kanturk, Co Cork, Ireland
Residence	Delvin, Co Westmeath
Nationality	Irish
Education	Clongowes Wood College
Alma mater	Trinity College
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Chief Executive Officer of Ryanair
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Anita Farrell
Children	Matt (born September 2005) Luke (born April 2007), Tianna (born 2009) Zach (born October 2010)
Parents	Ted and Ger O'Leary

Michael Kevin O'Leary (Irish: Micheál Caoimhín Ó Laoire) is an Irish businessman and the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish airline Ryanair. He is one of Ireland's wealthiest businessmen.^[2]

Early life

Michael O'Leary was born 20 March 1961, the second in a family of six, in Mullingar in Westmeath.^[3] He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare. In 1979 he began a four-year Bachelor in Business Studies programme at Trinity College. He graduated from Trinity in 1983.^[4] He then worked as a trainee with Stokes Kennedy Crowley (later known as KPMG). He studied the Irish tax system. He left after two years in 1985, setting up profitable newsagents in Walkinstown and Terenure, Dublin.

In Stokes Kennedy Crowley, O'Leary met Tony Ryan, head of GPA (Guinness Peat Aviation, a leasing company), who was one of the firm's clients. He advised Ryan on his personal income tax affairs. In 1987, Ryan hired O'Leary as his personal financial and tax advisor. Ryan's main interest was in GPA. Ryanair was established around this time. The fledgling airline followed a traditional business model, but quickly began to lose money. O'Leary was sent to the USA to study the novel Southwest Airlines business model.

Ryanair career

O'Leary was deputy chief executive of Ryanair between 1991 and 1994. In January 1994 he was promoted to chief executive of Ryanair. Under O'Leary's management, Ryanair further developed the low-cost model originated by Southwest Airlines.^[5] O'Leary may have described the inauguration of the ancillary revenue movement during a 2001 interview in The Sunday Times.^[6] "The other airlines are asking how they can put up fares. We are asking how we could get rid of them." The business model envisioned by O'Leary uses receipts from on board shopping, internet gaming, car hire and hotel bookings to replace the ticket revenue from selling airline seats. Savings are also made by negotiating discounts with airports for reduced landing fees. In many cases, regional airports have made no charges so as to secure flights that bring passengers and wealth into their area.

The deregulation of Ireland's major airports and a transformation of traditional full-service airlines are among his demands.^[4][7]

He claims he was approached to front the BBC's version of The Apprentice but declined as it was "too much of a distraction".^[8]

Controversy and reputation

O'Leary has a reputation for loose talk in the airline industry and among its regulators. Many press articles have often described him as arrogant, and prone to making comments which he later contradicts.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]} He has been extravagantly outspoken in his public statements, sometimes resorting to personal attacks and foul language.^{[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]} His abrasive management style, ruthless pursuit of cost-cutting and his explicitly hostile attitude towards corporate competitors, airport authorities, governments, unions and customers has become a hallmark.^[25] He was reported to have been aggressive and hostile in dealings with a woman who was awarded free flights for life in 1988.^[26][27] In 2007, he was forced to retract a claim that Ryanair had cut emissions of carbon dioxide by half over the previous five years; the claim should have been that emissions 'per passenger' had been cut by half.^[28] O'Leary has been reported to have impersonated a journalist in an attempt to find information passed on to a newspaper following a safety incident on a Ryanair flight.^[29] On occasion he has apologised for personal attacks under threat of legal action.^[30] He has been criticized by a judge for lying, who said he was lucky not to be found guilty of contempt of court.^[31]

In a press conference discussing Ryanair's planned intercontinental service RyanAtlantic, O'Leary jokingly described the airline's planned business class travel experience as featuring "whores and rum".^[32] In 2002 he said that his company is against any long-haul transatlantic services., stating that:

The low-cost model only really works for short-haul flights [...] If we started flying farther afield, we'd have to do something stupid like introducing what I call a 'rich class' to make it pay.^[33]

Reacting to the decision to close European airspace in April 2010 over worries about the ash plume from an erupting Icelandic volcano he said "there was no ash cloud. It was mythical. It's become evident the airspace closure was completely unnecessary." Scientists later concluded that serious structural damage to aircraft could have occurred if passenger planes had continued to fly.^[34]

Registration of private car as taxi

In 2004 he purchased a taxi plate for his Mercedes-Benz, to enable it to be classified as a taxi so that he could legally make use of Dublin's bus lanes to speed up his car journeys around the city.^[18] A press report suggested that since he was stopped driving his own taxi, he has employed a driver with full PSV licence. In 2005 the Irish transport minister expressed concern at this abuse by O'Leary and others.^[35][36]

Personal life

O'Leary lives in Gigginstown House near Delvin in County Westmeath. He married Anita Farrell in 2003 and their first child a son Matt, was born in 2005 Luke followed in April 2007, their daughter Tianna was born in 2009 and Zach was born in 2010

He breeds Aberdeen Angus cattle and horses at his Gigginstown House Stud^[37] in County Westmeath. In 2006, his horse War Of Attrition won the Cheltenham Gold Cup.^[38] This is the blue riband of steeplechasing.

O'Leary has also been a Manchester City supporter since a young age and notably wore a Manchester City shirt when unveiling Ryanair's new destinations to and from Manchester Airport in 2011.^[39] O'Leary once declined a Manchester United sponsorship by burning the shirt that United sent to him.^[40]

References

External links

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• Ryanair
• Fortune magazine name Michael O'Leary as the European Businessman of the Year