Ryanair CEO Called Rival Airlines “Rapists” — Finally Apologizes After More Than A Week

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary called competing airlines “high fare rapists,” defended the remark when reporters challenged him, and then spent more than a week insisting he hadn’t trivialized rape. On Friday he finally apologized. He’d meant that other airlines were fleecing passengers. But O’Leary, who’s spent decades turning outrageous statements into publicity for cheap flights, acknowledged he went too far. Speaking to reporters at Ryanair’s Dublin headquarters ahead of their September 10 annual shareholder meeting, O’Leary argued that passengers abandoning Aer Lingus, Lufthansa and British Airways over prices would outnumber those choosing to avoid Ryanair. People, he said, “can’t afford to fly with the high-fare rapists around Europe.” Asked whether that language was appropriate, he answered “Absolutely.” When challenged about offense to victims, he redirected his response toward his willingness to offend the airlines. His argument is: you might not like Ryanair but everyone else is too expensive so you’ll suck it up and fly us I’ve written for years about O’Leary’s talk of making passengers stand and charging them to use the lavatory. Ryanair even floated the idea that onboard gambling could replace ticket revenue – airfare would be free. Each time the stories get repeated is a reminder that Ryanair is cheap. Even this particular insult was recycled. In July 2004, O’Leary called Stansted airport “a bunch of overcharging rapists” while arguign over the fees his fee-heavy airline was being charged. The most generous reading is that he’s using an extreme metaphor for financial exploitation. I don’t think he meant to trivialize sexual assault. Woke 1 is over in the U.S., we have a President who says far worse, but cancel culture hasn’t entirely abandoned Europe. It’s still a bad analogy because people voluntarily buy tickets on British Airways. By definition, rape is involuntary. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre called for an apology and offered O’Leary individual training. Its chief executive, Rachel Morrogh, said callers to the national helpline had been distressed by the remarks. (Really..?) O’Leary’s first effort to clear things up was to insist that he understood how serious rape is. In a September 11 letter, he maintained that his remarks hadn’t trivialized the crime and declined to apologize. By September 14, Irish prime minister Micheál Martin had weighed in. He said O’Leary might not have intended the implication, but urged him to reflect and listen to women. On September 18, O’Leary released a video saying conversations with family and friends, inside and outside Ryanair, had made him recognize the upset he’d caused, especially to survivors. He still defended the clarity of his earlier condemnation of rape, but then said: I am truly sorry for the offense and upset I’ve caused you by my careless use of those words. It won’t happen again. I will try to learn from this mistake and do better in the future. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre welcomed the apology. Morrogh welcomed his recognition of the hurt caused to survivors and their families, and said she hoped it would help people understand the harm that trivializing sexual violence can do. Hat tip to Paddle Your Own Kanoo. Topics on this page