Buccaneering Ryanair to become a different beast

‘Heavy chop’ is a term used by air traffic controllers and commercial pilots to describe severe turbulence. To manage it belt tightening and calm decision-making are necessary.

Ryanair, Europe’s most successful airline, has just entered an area of ‘heavy chop’ and underestimating its consequences would be a grave mistake.

Once Ryanair said it would recognise trade unions, which it did last week, its share price fell by 15% and wiped €2.5 billion off the stock market value of the company. That was not a knee-jerk reaction by small shareholders but instead was a fundamental decision to divest by some institutional asset managers because of the potential consequences of union recognition.