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RYANAIR’S MARKETING BOSS has accused the media of making a bigger deal out of its self-described ‘cancellations cock-up’ than was justified.
Speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Kenny Jacobs detailed how the low-cost carrier’s “love-hate relationship” with the press played out during one of the most turbulent period’s in the airline’s history.
This was the marketing chief’s first public appearance since the airline announced that it was cancelling thousands of flights in September.
Jacobs – who appeared on the PandaConf stage for marketers – described the controversial decision as “a self-inflicted thing” caused by the mismanagement of rostering pilots.
“We ended up having to cancel 700,000 passengers’ flights, which sounds like a lot,” he said.
Jacobs apologised to affected customers but said about 0.5% of Ryanair’s overall customer base was affected by the decision, adding: “I think the media has made it sound like a big, big deal.”
The marketing boss was speaking in conversation with the Wall Street Journal’s Lara O’Reilly, who interrupted to say it was a big deal for the passengers who had their travel plans ruined.
“Fortunately not a huge amount of people were stuck,” Jacobs said. “What we ended up doing was cancelling flights far into the future. These weren’t that heavily booked.”
He also accused the media of trying to overplay its ongoing issue with pilots, some of whom have rejected pay increases and formed a pan-European trade union, which Ryanair refuses to negotiate with.
“Some parts of the media got hold of this (story) and said, ‘Oh, there’s chaos at Ryanair’ or ‘Pilots don’t want to work at Ryanair.’ That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Jacobs said.
He did, however, admit there are “things we need to improve” in terms of the airline’s relationship with its pilots.
“We’ve set out a plan now that we want to become the most desirable place for pilots to work in Europe. That will work. That will take away any issue that we had.”
Jacobs said he was proud of the airline’s response to the cancellations crisis, saying that the majority of customers were re-routed or given a refund within two weeks.
‘Worth a fortune’
During the interview, Jacobs was asked about what it was like to have Michael O’Leary as a boss. He said O’Leary is one of the most outspoken airline chief executives for nearly 30 years.
“He loves taking risks and he’s willing to take a risk. That has allowed us to change to the degree that we’ve changed. Of course at times you’ll have different opinions,” Jacobs said.
He described the CEO as “one of the golf clubs in the bag” and jokingly referred to him as a sand wedge – the club golfers use to pitch a ball out of a bunker.
“(O’Leary) alone is worth a fortune in terms of free media coverage,” he said. “From my point of view, that’s great.”
Separately, Ryanair announced today that it has launched a Chinese website, which means customers can now book its flights in 19 languages.
It has also rolled out ‘Ryanair Tickets’, which allows passengers to purchase tickets for events like West End shows through Ryanair’s website or app.
The service has been rolled out in partnership with Coras, a Dublin-based startup that has received backing from U2 guitarist The Edge.
Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie
Ireland… The best little country in the world to screw the self employed…
The best country in the world to be a politician
Having Noonan in charge of Finance is like having a fox in charge of a hen house. .
If they do away with usc they will increase lpt dont be so naive the banks were guaranteed.
Having 1000 plus children in hotel rooms B and B ect and having an 85 year old woman pass away after 2 days on a trolley should be addressed first !!
Take the 13 Billion from Apple or whatever the government can get at this stage and put some prosperity back into Ireland.
What a load of useless wasters the above people are. Half a billion for the total budget for Ireland.A fiver for the old age pensioners……
Waffle waffle waffle.
Don’t forget drag the Apple debacle out for another five years while the people of Ireland struggle because of Noonan.
Are you really so naive to think that Apple will just hand over 13 billion to the Irish government and then continue happily employing the thousands of people nationwide?
Cathal how long would it take for apples workforce to pay €13bn in tax? There are I think 6,000 of them.
Let’s not be fooled here. It’s not a billion euro giveaway. It’s a 3 billion euro giveaway. That’s how much government spending is increasing over the past year. Why the difference? Because the other 2 billion is eaten up by government “commitments”, ie increases in public sector pay and more money into the black hole health budget, most likely eaten up by consultants fees. The 1 billion is what is left to “play with”.
Imagine we had not increased public sector pay this year. We could pretty much half the USC in a single year. The government is using and abusing the middle class and private sector who create the wealth by retaining the USC to feed the insatiable public sector, welfare recipients and health consultants.
Yea your right lets knock teachers, nurses and gardai pay down to minimum wage…that will surely attract the best and stop them emigrating to Dubai etc!!
@Eoin McDonnell:
Eoin if we had halved the USC instead of giving pay rises, the nurses, guards and teachers would have benefited too.
@ Fred totally agree
Not too mention the scroungers year after year on the dole
It’s not an increase in public sector pay.. Its a very partial restoration of pay and then only for certain grades !
I don’t know anyone in the public sector who has had a pay rise, I know the younger more vulnerable members have had ONLY A FRACTION of their pay RESTORED but nope no pay rises I am afraid…
@Eoin McDonnell:
“Restore” to what? 2008 levels? Based on tax revenues from an unsustainable property bubble? Have a think about that.
You have no moral right to 2008 levels of pay. We couldn’t afford it then and we can’t afford it now, they use the USC to pay for it.
@Karl: Yes but a cut to USC benefits all workers across all sectors.
Fred yes if the ps didn’t get a pay rise you could cut usc. How much inconvenience do you think the resulting strikes would cause you. Public sector workers are running out of patience as it is. They won’t take much more bs.
Yes Fred but that would not be what we were promised. We agreed to a temporary pay cut to help us get out of a tight spot. We are out of that spot apparently so pay us. Keep the recovery going ;)
@Fred Johnson: Thats short sgihted public private nonsense , it was some wealth created there in the 2010 when the Troika landed to convert private to sovereign debt. The public service shouldered it on the double pay cuts, usc and Fempi as well as no budgets to properly complete jobs. This was right and fair.
Public workers now continue to pay USC , pay reductions and the emergency reductions in FEMPI, so roughly double your USC that’s what comes out of a nurse,garda,firefighter,civil servant pay cheque. You would swear a public servant lives in a different economy or eats a different type of bread and their kids automatically have storks delivering uniforms and football boots. So when Dublin Bus gets 12% Luas workes 18% , these people are completing with public servants among others in the housing market.
Seriously consider inviting Apple/Google/Pfizer here and saying to them unfortunately we have no Gardai working today so the army is on the streets but its not as bad the hospitals were closed last week. No investment. The jobs these people do are real jobs and necessary job roles in a functioning society. We’re all in this little place together and truth is without foreign direct investment we’d still be a basket case economy and without stability you can’t have that.
It’s not a giveaway. It was our money before the government forcibly took it from us. At most, it’s the Mafia boss sending us a wedding present after years of running a protection racket.
@Ben McArthur: Who are the government….a foreign power???
@Get Lost Eircodes: They are the proxy of foreign powers such as the IMF and the EU. They have no loyalty to the Irish people, that’s for sure.
Racketeers who have acquired the veneer of legitimacy by pretending every so often that we have the chance to throw them out. If politics stopped tomorrow, the real government would continue. Look at Belgium, who supposedly had no government for over a year. Does anyone think it really made any difference?
First priority will be the golden circle closely followed by the gombeens, cronies and sleeveens.The only difference the ordinary punter will notice is the increase in government advertising/self promotion in the poddle like media,
Sew up your pockets, Jabba the Hutt wants to remove the contents and turn them inside out .
“incentives will be rolled out to encourage entrepreneurship”. I fell off my chair reading that and I’m sure I’m not the only one. After the way small business has been treated for years anyone with sense will go elsewhere with their energy, brains and passion to start a business. Ireland exports its young qualified people and its potential indigenous businesses. When the multinationals all go to China or somewhere what will there be left here? Just fat politicians on massive pensions who will tell us it’s our own fault.
29,000 sign on Change.org petition for Reform of the daft Irish Motor Tax system … €280 for new Merc … €580 for 10 yr old 1.6L … the most regressive unfair motor tax system in the EU. poor subsidising the rich … a disgusting society to live in.
Pre-budget submission made to Dept of Finance on behalf of 29,000 signatories …. 87,000 visited the Change.org site.
I’d have no problem with self employed receiving more tax credits but they cants prove their income. Can other employees claim expenses and vat back too?
Free the Journal 50
@now-now-now:
Haha. Let the cat out.
Powerabbey
Sep 19th 2016, 10:15 AM # 33 1
Free the Journal 50
@LITTLEONE: You can see Dane’s hand writ large all over the comments section, every now and again he trips himself up. It must be hard for the most profilic profile maker to keep track of them all, especially in between driving lessons, I just hope the haste is not him texting whilst driving..:)
Free the 50 accounts
@now-now-now: Are they that bad at buying a round?
Ah sure Ireland’s a wash with money no other country can afforded to turn down € 13 billion in un-payed taxes. There will be at least a fiver for everyone in the audience.
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