Ryanair is beefing up its staff. New board member ‘knows everyone in Brussels’

Effective April 1, Elisabeth Koestinger and Eamonn Brennan will join the Board of Directors of Ryanair Holdings. Both of them received positions as a non-executive director, that is, they will not be responsible for the current activities of the carrier, but will become independent advisers at Ryanair, Rzeczpospolita reports.

Ryanair with new board members

Ryanair announced in a press release that Koestinger and Brennan will be involved in preparing Ryanair’s strategy.

These nominations are interesting in that both of them previously worked in places that gave them extensive connections. Elisabeth Koestinger came to Ryanair from a world of high politics: she represented Austria in the European Parliament from 2009-2017, then became Minister of Agriculture, Sustainable Environment and Tourism in the governments of successive Chancellors Kurz, Schallenberg and Nehammer. .

Eamonn Brennan, on the other hand, has worked as a pilot and for the last 5 years he has been the CEO of Eurocontrol, a European organization that brings together air traffic control agencies such as the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency. He previously headed the Irish Aviation Authority, the Irish civil aviation regulator.

Ryanair warns of paralysis of European airports during the holidays

Although the holidays are still months away, Ryanair is already sounding the alarm. According to the Irish carrier, if the EU does not take decisive steps, Europe will face a real paralysis. More than a million flights have been canceled or delayed this year alone, according to the Irish carrier. All of these difficulties must have been linked to the air traffic controllers’ strike in France, which has already happened 14 times this year and more are planned.

The strikes in France have huge implications for traffic in Europe. Interestingly, people flying to and from France, as well as within this country, do not experience any difficulties. According to French law, domestic flights, as well as flights to and from France, have priority in the event of protests. However, the consequences are being felt by passengers who will only be crossing French airspace.

Due to the risk of real paralysis over European airspace during the holidays, Ryanair has started collecting signatures for an online petition. The Irish carrier is demanding the protection of flights over France during the strikes and the introduction of rules along the lines of those in force in Greece, Italy and Spain. This will avoid the worst-case scenario and flight cancellations.

However, this is not the end. Ryanair also wants to allow European controllers to control traffic over France during protests by inspectors there. The third postulate is to force the French to participate in the arbitration instead of holding further strikes.