The chief executive of Ryanair has accused Sir Richard Branson of trying to "fleece" the British taxpayer as Virgin Atlantic bids for a government loan to stave off collapse during the coronavirus crisis.
Michael O'Leary used a wide-ranging interview with Sky News to slam rival airlines seeking COVID-19 state aid beyond help to pay furloughed staff - mechanisms utilised by Ryanair as it continues to ground most flights.
He argued Sir Richard Branson had more than enough money to cover Virgin Atlantic's needs beyond wages, after fellow-owner Delta refused a bailout.
Sir Richard revealed in an open letter to Virgin staff this week that he had offered his luxury island home Necker as security against a UK government loan - believed to be up to 500m - and that he was also seeking help from the Australian government to save Virgin Australia.
Just hours later, it was confirmed that Virgin Australia had entered voluntary administration.
Mr O'Leary said: "Now you have Virgin Atlantic owned by Delta and a Caribbean island-based, non-resident billionaire.
"Frankly if he's worried about Virgin he should write the cheque himself. It's not like he's short of money."
He also compared Lufthansa to a "crack cocaine junkie" after it requested €10bn from the German government.
The Ryanair boss told Ian King Live he expected the airline to be flying around 40% of its services by late June or early July.
But he warned any condition that middle aisle seats be left empty to maintain social distancing, a move to be adopted by rival easyJet, be paid for by governments.
Mr O'Leary also apologised for delays to refund payments, requested by passengers, amid frustration over how long it is taking customers to get their money back.
He urged people to secure flight vouchers because it is an automated system - insisting Ryanair was doing its best but that it could take months for a cash refund payment to be processed.
"In a normal month, we process about 10,000 refunds for occasional flight cancellations - things like that.
"We're staffed up for that. At the moment, we're working with about a quarter of that normal refund staff because of social distancing and bans on people travelling to work.
But we're dealing...just in the month of April with 10 million refunds because all the fights have been cancelled.
"So, we have 25% of the staff, dealing with about 10,000 times the normal level of refunds," he explained.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXJ5YW5haXItYm9zcy1hY2N1c2VzLWJyYW5zb24tb2YtdHJ5aW5nLXRvLWZsZWVjZS10aGUtdGF4cGF5ZXItMTE5NzgwOTjSAXFodHRwczovL25ld3Muc2t5LmNvbS9zdG9yeS9hbXAvY29yb25hdmlydXMtcnlhbmFpci1ib3NzLWFjY3VzZXMtYnJhbnNvbi1vZi10cnlpbmctdG8tZmxlZWNlLXRoZS10YXhwYXllci0xMTk3ODA5OA?oc=5
2020-04-24 12:56:15Z
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