Interview: Michael O'Leary, the no-frills boss who keeps one foot on the ground

He has made Ryanair into a bigger airline than BA. Now O'Leary is looking to profit from the crisis in aviation Michael O'Leary steeled us for the worst earlier this year when he said Europe needed a "good, deep, bloody recession". This week it became clear that the Ryanair chief executive is getting what he wished for. And more. Admitting that he might have, for once, undercooked his comments, he says: "We might be talking about a depression. I would be very bearish for the next four or five years." O'Leary is talking hours after another scenery-chewing press conference. Not so much answering questions as working the room like a stand-up, he covered a range of subjects from global warming to journalists' luxury travel habits with a characteristic mix of sharp insight and expletives. Away from a larger audience, the quick... [read full story]