In the years leading up to his transition into ‘Mr Nice Guy’ at the new ‘friendly’ Ryanair, chief executive officer, Michael O’Leary was a master at playing the world’s media. Love him or loathe him, the Irishman just knew the press couldn’t resist a juicy story or a little controversy. We had talk of gambling and pornography on the airline’s jets, standing room only areas, even talk of moving to a single pilot operation, but the one story that always seemed to catch the media’s eye was about charging for the use of the washrooms onboard its Boeing 737-800 fleet.
It was quite ironic that the airline that would regularly advertise sale air fares for just one pence was allegedly seeking to charge passengers to ‘spend a penny’. Through its out-spoken boss Ryanair’s profile was built on a strategy of antagonistic and controversial tactics to enhance its image. Although Public Relations professionals would advocate that this goes against all the rules of PR it proves that one size fits all strategy does not always succeed.
O’Leary now admits that Ryanair has grown up and overcome a challenging adolescence and is now working to enhance its reputation and strengthen its brand. This raises the question can negative publicity actually be a winner in the aviation business?
AND FINALLY…
Talk of charging for toilets links nicely to the news this week that a Hollywood actor has secretly registered an airline business in Belgium. Larger-than-life French actor Gérard Depardieu, famous for urinating into a bottle during a Paris to Dublin flight, has registered his very own private airline, Cyran’R, romantically named after his first major screen character, Cyrano de Bergerac.
According to Belgian business daily, L’Echo, the star of ‘Asterix and Obelix’ registered Cyran’R last November as a private limited liability company at the same address as the upmarket, Depardieu-owned bed and breakfast, Villa White Cloud in western Belgium. It is believed that the company will operate a corporate jet aircraft from Lille Lesquin Airport in France, close to the actor's home in the Belgian village of Wallonia. This will likely be used to shuttle Mr Depardieu himself, but also could be available for private charters and reports suggest he may be hoping to entice such wealthy individuals to fly on the airline.
Last week we asked you which film featured the lines about a solid gold A380. The answer was the animated comedy Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.
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