O'Leary gets serious about Aer Lingus takeover

Colourful Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary put his antics aside today as he revealed his bold bid to buy-out struggling rival Aer Lingus.

Refusing to even give the thumbs up for the cameras, it was clear to photographers that this was no day for the chief executive to be playing the fool.

There were no funny faces, fancy dress costumes, jumping on tables, or bikini-clad air stewardesses as he hosted a press conference in Dublin flanked by board members and a leading stockbroker.

Mr O’Leary even wore a suit jacket and kept the swearing to a minimum as he painstakingly picked out failures in Aer Lingus’ most recent performance results.

“It’s shambolic,” said the boss of the budget airline of Aer Lingus’ failure to fill seats from its new Belfast base. “You really have to be remarkably incompetent to only fill 40% of seats to somewhere like Amsterdam.”

Mr O’Leary sent a stern warning to Aer Lingus and the Irish government that it had a bleak future without joining Ryanair. He revealed the airlines could run side by side – just like the Sun and The Times are owned by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

“We would be the Sun to Aer Lingus’ Times,” he joked.

He then slammed Aer Lingus' costs this year, taking a pop at its €50m budget for advertising and selling – comparing its soft-toned television ads featuring floating feathers to the carrier’s board of management.

But the airline chief was quick to put his feet back firmly on the ground and reinforce just how serious he really was about the proposed takeover.

“This is a serious offer, in serious times and it needs to be treated seriously,” he continued.

“We are not here to promote free flights and we’re not here promoting cheap seats or charity calendars.

“We want to merge two Irish airlines to form one strong Irish airline group and I think the logic of it and the industrial logic and the national logic of it is compelling.”