Ryanair CEO reproached, mocked Orbán cabinet harshly: will they leave Hungary?

Michael O’Leary, the CEO of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, mocked and reproached the Hungarian government again in an interview with Forbes. He added he would bring 5-6 million more tourists to Hungary annually if the government abolished the departure tax he called ‘idiotic’.

Ryanair CEO thinks the government should not buy Budapest Airport

Mr O’Leary expressed his thoughts about the Hungarian government’s planned acquisition of the Budapest Airport. He said that the governments are bad owners of airports and airlines. The CEO added that the bankruptcy of MALÉV, Hungary’s national airline, was thanks to the government. He said governments are bad owners because they follow voters’ will, and instead of long-term investments, they focus on short-term gains and popular measures, hvg.hu wrote.

“I go to Boeing and order 150 aircraft for 1.5 billion dollars, if I want. A government, regardless its intentions, cannot act similarly because it has to protect public money,” he highlighted.

Regarding the possible state purchase of Liszt Ferenc International Airport, Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said on the Thursday government briefing that the Orbán cabinet was negotiating with the airport’s owners, and they trusted that the current owner “is thinking in terms of big investments”. He said all details would be published once an agreement was reached. He said it was possible that the airport would also have another owner beside the state as several parties were lined up as potential buyers. He also cleared that he was not sure the Hungarian state would be an exclusive buyer in the transaction.

Further expansion with one condition

Economic development minister Márton Nagy said this week that they are at the finishing line concerning the airport deal. In contrast, the owner cleared they would not like to sell it because they regard it as a long-term investment.

O’Leary said they were expanding in Budapest before the departure tax’s introduction. However, they will not bring additional capacities to Hungary until its abolishment. Instead, they will invest in Slovakia and Austria. However, if the government annuls the measure, they will bring 5-6 million more passengers to Hungary annually.

To cut things short, Ryanair will not leave Budapest and Hungary, but they will not expand here either.