Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has said that taxing air travel will “do nothing” in terms of reducing emissions as he insisted that he believes the climate has been changing for “billions of years”.
The billionaire said he does not believe in taxing fossil fuels, a plan, he says, will only raise more money for Governments, which they will then “squander.”
“That is not the way forward,” the Westmeath businessman said in a new interview last night on Virgin Media.
“I object to this ‘climate denier’ kind of attack. Do I believe the climate is changing? Absolutely. But it’s been changing for billions of years. Do I believe that the globe is getting warmer? Yes, it clearly is for about the last twenty years,” he said.
He agreed that fossil fuel and aviation fuel was contributing to this, adding: “We do need to decarbonise.”
“But the solution to this – to tax fossil fuel – just raises more money for governments, which they then squander. That is not the way forward; new technology is the way to reduce and decarbonise our economy.”
“The greatest contributor to emissions is road transport – it accounts for 26% of Europe’s CO2 emissions. By the early 2030s, most of that will have been electrified. Now where is the electricity coming from? Natural gas or nuclear, because we don’t produce any ourselves. Aviation accounts for 2%. We don’t have any alternative – we can’t electrify,” added O’Leary.
“We are being picked on. We are. Every time the media want to show global warning, it’s the contrails of an aeroplane taking off. They never show you the buses going around Dublin because they’re moving too slowly. We will dramatically transform road transport in the last ten years by electrifying it. That is the greatest contribution we can all make. Taxing air travel will do nothing for emissions or global warming.”
The airline boss also denied the suggestion put to him that a tax on air travel would be a progressive tax – given that “the wealthy are the people who fly more often.”
“No,” he said. “The people who fly on Ryan Air are your average Joe. Our average fare is about €45. We live on a rock in the West of Ireland. There isn’t an alternative to getting on and off the island unless of course you’re a green politician and you can wander round taking ferries and bicycles for the next three weeks because you’ve nothing else to do.”
He denied that any “attacks” he has made on Irish politicians – including calling them dunces – were personalised.
“I don’t think they are,” he said. “The Greens were dunces. After five years in power, we’ve the second most congested city in the world. We’ve the second most expensive electricity in Europe. They have been useless. I criticise Micheal Martin, but I criticise his performance.
“You’ve a 20 seat majority. They were running on a ticket that was going to abolish the cap at Dublin airport. 16 months later, nothing was done on the cap at Dublin airport. This Government, with a 20 seat majority, won’t get off its backside and scrap the cap.”
“Give me a break,” he said at the suggestion that scrapping the passenger cap was a priority for the government.
“If you want to ram through legislation and really deliver change, you ram through legislation. I mean, I would forgive the government if they had passed it by February or March or April of 2025, but we’re sitting here in April of 2026.”
TRUMP HAS BEEN RIGHT ON ‘EMBARRASSING NATO’
O’Leary, when asked about his opinion on Donald Trump, seemed to suggest the US leader may have some redeeming qualities.
“I think he’s a nutjob. He’s certainly made a mess of things in Iran. There are certain policies in the States, on the economic side, that I think he’s been very good at.
“He has been absolutely right in embarrassing NATO. The lack of defence spending in Europe, particularly in Ireland, and we’re one of the wealthiest countries in the world, our ability to be neutral is over. We should be a member of European defence policy.
Mr O’Leary said he spoke to Trump on the phone, after he phoned him when he bought Doonbeg golf club in Clare beside Shannon Airport and was looking for extra flights.
“He’s very charming, very talkative. It’s very hard to get a word in edgeways with him, he tells you how wonderful you are.”
It comes as Mr O’Leary warned that jet fuel supplies could be disrupted in early May if the conflict in the Middle East continues.
Oil prices have continued to climb due to Iran’s block on tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Ryan Air boss said Ryanair was “reasonably well hedged” on 80% of its fuel, however, it is now paying almost double, at roughly $150 a barrel on the other 20%.
He said the more immediate concern was over jet fuel supplies.
“Fuel suppliers are constantly looking at the market. We don’t expect any disruption until early May, but if the war continues, we do run the risk of supply disruptions in Europe in May and June, and we hope the war will finish sooner than that and the risk to supply will be eliminated,” he told Sky News.
“We think there is a reasonable risk, some low level, maybe 10% to 25% of our supplies might be at risk through May and June, so like everyone else in this industry, we hope the war ends sooner rather than later.”