The chief executive of the Ryanair Group has said it would be “absolutely unconscionable” to pay the daa chief executive a reported €1.2m to leave his role following a rift with the board of the semi-state.
Michael O’Leary said he believes the daa board of directors should be removed instead.
RTÉ News previously reported that an agreement had been reached in principle between Kenny Jacobs and the board, under which he will leave his role in the new year.
It is estimated the exit package, which would require ministerial approval, would be in the region of €1.2m, given the period of time remaining in Mr Jacobs’ contract.
Mr O’Leary said while he does not know the detail of what’s going on between Mr Jacobs and the daa board, he said if it is costing €1.2m to get him out of the position, “frankly, they should keep him and get rid of the board”.
“If it was me, I’d fire the board, but that would require a government with a spine, or a government in this country that is capable of making decisions,” Mr O’Leary added.
He said while he is “not a great fan” of the work that Mr Jacobs has done in the daa, he said he also has “nothing but sympathy” for his former colleague.
Mr Jacobs previously worked as chief marketing officer at Ryanair.
Mr O’Leary said he believes “Kenny is as good a CEO of the daa as you’re going to get”.
“We do have major problems with the daa and their continued plan to build a tunnel under the airport that nobody needs, but he is as good as anybody else who’s likely to come in and replace him.”
Yesterday, daa said the charges airlines currently pay at Dublin Airport are unsustainably low and will need to rise, after it reported lower profits.
The Ryanair boss said if daa wasn’t paying the reported exit deal, “their costs would be considerably lower”.
“If the change at [the] top of daa is going to cost €1.2m, then I see no purpose, no point in having that change,” added Mr O’Leary.
O’Leary calls again for passenger cap to be abolished
Meanwhile, Mr O’Leary renewed his call on the Government to abolish the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, which he wants scrapped before the end of the year.
Mr O’Leary accused the Government of “blatant inaction” and doing “nothing” to address the 32 million passenger limit, despite a pledge in the Programme for Government.
Earlier this month, the Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien said he will be bringing legislative options to Cabinet on lifting the cap.
But the Ryanair boss has criticised the move and said any such legislation would not be passed until next year, which is too late.
“They have a 20-seat majority. Pass the legislation to scrap the cap before the end of December,” he stated.
On the issue of drone disruption at European airports, including in Denmark, Mr O’Leary said drone flying over airports should be “shot down” or “electronically disabled”.
He also said the tourism industry is facing “considerable challenges” at the moment and he said a removal of the passenger cap will help in addressing the issues.
Mr O’Leary also urged the Government not to cut the VAT rate for the food-led hospitality sector from 13.% to 9%, which he described as “a scam”.
But he also said labour costs should not be passed onto the sector through an increase in the minimum wage, as recommended by the Low Pay Commission.
‘Patronising’ to suggest older people cannot move to mobile technology
The Ryanair boss also defended plans to move to 100% paperless boarding passes over the winter.
The airline announced a further delay yesterday to the change, which will now take effect from 12 November, to avoid the busy mid-term break.
The move will mean passengers will no longer be able to download and print a physical paper boarding pass.
Instead, passengers will have to use a digital boarding pass, which will be generated in the myRyanair app when checking in.
The airline said almost 80% of its more than 200 million passengers already use its digital boarding pass, which means around 40 million do not.
In response to criticisms of the move from groups representing older people, Mr O’Leary said it was “patronising” to suggest older people cannot and would not move to mobile technology.
He said the airline will “certainly be reasonably forgiving” of people showing up with their paper boarding passes, through November, December and January.
“I suspect we really tighten up that when we get into the next summer, for the peak of next summer,” Mr O’Leary said.
“Nobody would be cut off at the knees,” he added.
The Ryanair group chief executive said the airline’s app is “pretty simple, pretty easy to use”.
“My mother, who is now 86, is a frequent user of the Ryanair app. So, if she can do it, so can anybody else,” he said.
Ryanair also today announced an increase to its winter schedule at Dublin Airport.
The airline will operate 96 routes, including a new service to Rabat in Morocco.
There will also be an increase in flight frequencies on 28 routes, such as Birmingham, Budapest, Krakow, Milan and Valencia.
