Inside the penny-pinching life of Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary – but this is the one thing the airline will NEVER skimp on
RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary is known for his penny-pinching ways, and will do anything to ensure that the airline’s costs are at a minimum.
The CEO even once joked that he would make passengers pay to use the toilet, saying: "If someone wanted to pay £5 to go to the toilet I would carry them myself. I would wipe their bums for a fiver."
But it turns out the CEO isn't just stingy towards passengers - he's equally careful with the cash in real life.
Sun Online Travel spoke to Matt Cooper, the author of a new biography on the controversial Ryanair boss, who told us: “Michael is utterly ruthless and pathological about how much he hates spending money.”
While Michael was named as the 16th richest person in Ireland in 2018’s Irish Rich List from The Times and is worth more than £1billion, Matt revealed that he is “simply a man who simply does not like spending money.”
For instance, after years of a highly successful partnership with horse trainer Willie Mullins that raked in €3million in Ireland (£2.6million) and another £1.6million from UK races, Michael still parted ways with him in 2016.
The airline boss is obsessed with horse-racing and over the years he has owned over 100 horses, because he enjoyed the competitive thrill of racing horses at the biggest National Hunt jump races.
The author revealed in the book that Michael and Willie had been "the post powerful owner/trainer partnership in the sport in Ireland and Britain.
"By the end of 2015/16, the combination of [Michael and Willie] had enjoyed 158 winners.
"Of those, 16 were at the highest level, Grade One. They had won 11 races at Punchestown Festival and four at Cheltenham."
But Michael’s obsessive cost-cutting even touched this pricey hobby.
Matt said: “He still got rid of the trainer. He’s not afraid to do it."
The author revealed in the book that Michael’s obsessive money-saving also extends to his own clothes shopping.
Matt said: “[Michael] does not have an extensive range of clothing, owning few suits and preferring open-neck casual shirts under a jacket with jeans wherever possible, but what he needs he buys from a local menswear shop in Mullingar."
Unlike when you buy from a high street shop, the local store sends a monthly invoice for the amount of clothes bought.
But Matt added: “It is not unusual for him to mark down the price when the invoice arrives.”
Then there's the infamous attitude to customer refunds.
The book's author quoted Michael as having said: “What part of no refunds don’t you understand? We don’t fall over ourselves if they say, ‘My granny fell ill.' You are not getting a refund, so f*** off.”
When it comes to press conferences for journalists, the boss is similarly penny-pinching.
Matt Cooper's book revealed: "Ryanair had always held conferences, but usually in cheap hotel conference rooms, airport meeting rooms, or its own offices, all to keep the costs down.
"If reporters got a cup or tea or coffee, it was [only] because the hotel had provided it."
While the boss dislikes spending money, Matt reveals that he can be very savvy when it comes to advertising.
Michael reportedly isn’t a fan of left-wing broadsheet newspapers, but has regularly bought front-page adverts in them.
This clever move means that Ryanair gets an advert on Sky or the BBC when the newspaper front pages are shown on the late-night news.
Matt said: “He is a man of contradictions. He hates to spend money, and we all saw the recent news about the pilots and cabin crew striking over their pay packet.
“But he will spend the most enormous amounts of money within the company on its aircraft because he wants to ensure Ryanair’s future.”
There is one thing that the miserly boss will never skimp on -customer safety.
Matt said: “Michael doesn’t want any crashes as that will undermine confidence in the airline. This is what all airlines fear most.
"He will spend big on safety and always makes sure that Ryanair has the most up to date fleet of planes in the business.”
Ryanair became the world’s safest airline in April this year.
This was after Southwest Airlines lost its untainted safety record after the catastrophic engine failure on board flight 1388 when passenger Jennifer Riordan was killed after she was nearly sucked out of a window.
Ryanair has not suffered a single fatality since it launched in 1985 – and has carried over 1.1 billion passengers since its inception.
Michael O'Leary told Sun Online Travel: "Willie Walsh the CEO of IAG has not been 'sounded out”' to join Ryanair.
"I meet Willie, and the CEOs of Europe’s other leading airlines, on average once or twice a year to advance the Airlines 4 Europe (A4E) agenda.
MOST READ IN TRAVEL
He continued: "I have long been an admirer of Willie Walsh, but have frequently explained that when I eventually step down from Ryanair, I expect the Board will make a decision on my replacement, choosing from a number of excellent internal candidates, while also advertising externally, so that they can select the best candidate to replace me to lead Ryanair."
We previously revealed that the boss could be looking to leave the company in 2019 - as long as he can find the right person to step into his shoes.
Michael O’Leary by Matt Cooper is out on September 27 from Penguin Portfolio.