Originally Posted by
KARFA
Is it tho? FR seem to be doing very well operationally over the last few months with very few cancellations, yet the conditions for their staff are generally not great.
Ryanair has some deeply questionable ways of treating its staff, and even worse standards for suppliers (you don't want to be an airport that depends on FR, or a handler whose main customer is FR), but there is a big point to make: they have a very smart man at the helm.
MO'L might behave like a buffoon, but I strongly believe he's one of the (if not THE) smartest men in the industry. Unlike Alex Cruz, his master Willie and John Holland-Kaye he's a man who looks long term. He builds sustainable growth (unlike Wizz, I'd say) and was one of the few, again if not the only one, to say that demand was going to bounce back post pandemic, all while IATA and the supposedly 'knowledgeable' consultancies swore that winter was coming and lasting 'til 2025. He hasn't fired people, he stuck to his guns and FR is back to solid profits.
The disaster that HAL is in is 10% due to the government's slapdash approach to the pandemic and 90% self-inflicted. Ditto for IAG. They had a choice to think long term but no, they decided to grab a few bucks. And while the lesson might be learned over in IAG, or at least I'm seeing some promising signs, it doesn't seem like that at HAL based on how they're behaving right now.