Michael O’Leary plans Fox News ads to put passenger cap on White House agenda for St Patrick’s Day
US President Trump is known to be an avid Fox News watcher and the campaign is timed ahead of Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s annual St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House.O’Leary expects US airlines, including the lobbying group Airlines for America (A4A), to also intensify their efforts on the issue putting the passenger cap “front and centre” for the Taoiseach’s US visit. This month, Airlines for America (A4A) made a formal complaint to the US Department of Transport regarding the passenger cap. It has complained to Washington that the Irish government is restricting their growth at Dublin Airport.The airlines want the White House to curtail transatlantic flights from Ireland to America in response, unless the passenger cap at Dublin Airport is removed.Michael O’Leary said he believes blocking flights from Ireland for a period is now a live possibility. “There’s no doubt US airlines are furious, they see Aer Lingus adding new US routes – rightly – but they (American operators) can’t get extra flights into Dublin. I think there is a real prospect the US will block flights by Aer Lingus to New York for a day or so, to force the issue.”That would finally compel the Irish Government to bring forward long promised legislation to scrap the airport passenger cap, he said. The Ryanair boss was commenting as Ryanair Holdings published financial results for the third quarter of its 2026 financial year. Traffic for the 2026 financial year – which ends in March – is set to rise 4pc to almost 208 million passengers, up from the 207 million predicted in November, Ryanair said.That’s on course to go to 216 million in the 2027 financial year – which includes the coming summer – thanks to deliveries of new planes from Boeing. The airline expects the final four Max 8 models to be delivered by February, while the newer Max 10, which hasn't been certified yet, is set to come into Ryanair's fleet in spring 2027.Today's News in 90 Seconds - Monday, January 26The new planes mean more seats per flight and lower fuel costs.Ryanair said it's "cautiously guiding" for full-year profit, after tax excluding exceptional items. of €2.13bn to €2.23bn for the current year. Profit fell in the third quarter, to €115m, excluding a provision of €85m for a fine from Italy's competition authority.The provision is around a third of the total size of the fine, which Ryanair is appealing. Michael O’Leary says the group's Italian legal advisors are confident of over turning the fine on appeal, which he expects to take one to two years. Meanwhile, O’Leary said he expects fares in the coming summer to be flat to modestly higher, helped by lower fuel costs, but cautioned that the consumer confidence is brittle and global affairs are potentially volatile and unpredictable. The results come after Michael O'Leary turned an online spat with Elon Musk over the US billionaire’s SpaceX's Starlink Wi-Fi service into a public relations opportunity to put a spot light on Ryanair. The row generated 1,500 news articles in 56 countries, Michael O’Leary said.He estimated that it generated around €30m of free publicity for Ryanair and a €20m boost in additional bookings."You have to lean into these things, I always say there is no such thing as bad publicity, unless it is about safety,” he said.
