Who benefits from seeing Ryanair nosedive?

You cannot make scrambled egg without breaking an egg or two. Likewise you cannot grow and operate one of the most successful airlines in the world, using a business model that is anathema to many vested interests, without annoying a few people — or in the case of Ryanair — an awful lot of people.

Over the last few days, the airline industry has been in the news again. Aer Arann, aka Aer Lingus Regional, got a mention on its impending pay strike. It’s no wonder, though, given claims that unionised Aer Arann was paying its pilots who were qualified between five and 10 years as little as €30,000 per annum. If those claims are true that’s much less than your average Dublin Bus driver.

Unsurprisingly, Ryanair took the greatest share of the spotlight. According to one report the airline spews out as much carbon dioxide as Cyprus. That does seem horrific on the face of it. It’s an apparent inference that Ryanair is somehow doing something wrong. In fact, that claim is further underscored with a statistic that Ethiopia, with its 85m population and the highest number of cattle in the world, produces less carbon dioxide than Ryanair.