Yahoo Finance ‘We don't listen to Greta Thunberg,’ says Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary
Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary has criticised the “flight-shaming” movement promoted by Greta Thunberg and other climate campaigners, saying they are peddling a “fallacy” that air travel could be replaced by other modes of transport.
Mr O’Leary said efforts by campaigners to reduce air travel have so far had no impact on reducing airlines’ carbon footprint.
“I don’t pay too much attention to them,” the Irish executive said. “There is very little evidence of the impact of flight-shaming or Greta Thunberg.”
The comments came as Ryanair posted record half-year profits of €1.4bn, higher than the €1.2bn posted in 2019 – the last relevant comparator given the impact of the pandemic. The results were broadly in line with investor expectations.
The aviation sector’s emissions are under the microscope at the UN's Cop27 climate change summit in Egypt this week. The global aviation industry emits around 2pc of all human-made CO2 emissions, according to industry figures.
Ms Thunberg has been a leading voice in the flight shame or “flygskam” movement in recent years, which encourages people to reduce their air travel because of its environmental impact. Ms Thunberg refuses to fly and even sailed across the Atlantic on a boat with no toilet, beds or showers to a climate change conference in New York.
However, Mr O’Leary said the idea of the public using alternative modes of transport to replace air travel was impractical.
“We live on an island in Ireland and the UK,” he said. “The idea that we can all simply go by train on weekends when there aren't train strikes is a fallacy.”
He continued: “I was on BBC Radio 4 this morning and of course they had enough climate scientists rabbiting on about how air travel was one of the greatest causes of emissions.
“[The aviation sector generates] 2pc of Europe's CO2 emissions. Road transport is 27pc. Now nobody believes we can eliminate road transport. But equally if you live on an island or on the periphery of Europe, you can’t eliminate air travel either.”
Ryanair said on Monday that it intends to invest in the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which is made from a variety of products including used cooking oils, household waste and used clothes.
Mr O’Leary said: “We have to look at every way of improving or reducing the fuel consumption of air travel.”
The easiest short-term fix, the Ryanair chief added, was to “fix Europe’s broken ATC [air traffic controller market]”.
By removing state monopolies and allowing more free-market competition, delays could be cut by 90pc, Mr O’Leary said.
He added: “[This] would reduce fuel consumption for all 20pc. We don't have to wait around for the huge technological developments that might take 20, 30, 40 years. Deregulating air traffic control across Europe allows the national providers to compete against each other instead of protecting them. We would have a dramatic reduction in the environmental impact of aviation.”
Ryanair fares over the summer were 15pc higher than three years ago as holidaymakers took advantage of the dropping of Covid-related travel restrictions, Mr O’Leary said.
He said the budget airline was well-placed to benefit from a potential recession as consumers look for cheaper alternatives.
“We've been surprised at how strong October, November, even Christmas seems to be. But they could get derailed by any kind of COVID or Ukraine development this winter,” he said.
Full-year profit is expected to be between €1bn and €1.2bn following the impact of the loss-making winter months. The airline expects to carry 168 million people in the year to March 2023, above the previous expectation of 166.5 million.
