Michael O'Leary in his own words

[Ognir]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009 ... e-industry

Never one to be polite when there's a chance to be offensive, Michael O'Leary, the Ryanair boss, was on characteristically bullish form this week as he explained how the budget airline's first ever corporate loss of £146m was really a stonking profit if you stripped out the cash it had lost in its stake in Aer Lingus. So, just in case you had missed them, here are some selected highlights of O'Leary's - um - wisdom.

On charging for using the toilet
"All this pious stuff about ... you can't charge for entering the toilet. All right then, we'll charge you to exit the toilets."

On charging for using the toilet (part two)
"If someone wanted to pay £5 to go to the toilet I would carry them myself. I would wipe their bums for a fiver."

On the company that runs Stansted airport
"A bunch of overcharging rapists."

On opening up new routes
"I don't give a toss where people want to go. I'm in the business of creating a market for people to go where they have never heard of."

On launching a Frankfurt route
"Jürgen [Weber, Lufthansa chairman] says Germans don't like low fares. How the fuck does he know? The Germans will crawl bollock-naked over broken glass to get them."

On Ryanair's no-refund policy
"What part of no refund don't you understand? You are not getting a refund so fuck off."

On the recession (in Feb 2008)
"We would welcome a good, deep, bloody recession in this country for 12 to 18 months ... It would help see off the environmental nonsense."

On environmentalists
"We want to annoy the fuckers ... The best thing we can do with environmentalists is shoot them ... They are luddites marching us back to the 18th century."

On women
"If you want to stay on your knees, by all means I'd encourage you ... Sorry, I've forgotten the question ... there was a very pretty girl on her knees there in front of me."

On himself
"I don't give a shit if nobody likes me."