Former chief operations officer of Ryanair, Peter Bellew, will rejoin the company after leaving his current role as chief executive at Malaysia Airlines giving the “Pilotgate” saga of Ryanair a new twist.
When the Irish airline cancelled 20,000 flights last months, disrupting plethora of travel plans for about three-quarters of a million people, the cuts were blamed on pilots’ rosters issue. Domestic links from Stansted to Edinburgh and Glasgow, and between Gatwick and Belfast International, were among the Ryanair routes cut for the winter.
As Peter Bellew would join the company, Mick Hickey, who took over from Mr. Bellew as chief operations officer would resign from the position at the end of October. In a letter to flight crew, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary revealed that the senior management team had been given reports about pilot cover which were untrue. Along with the announcement of Mr. Bellew’s reappointment, it is also said that such a major rostering issue would never be repeated again in future.
Mr. O’Leary said, “Peter will lead a significant transformation in the way we reward and interact with our pilots, improve their working environment and career development over the coming years as we grow the fleet to some 600 aircraft and expand our traffic, at lower fares, to 200 million customers.”
Mr. Bellew said that he is excited to return home to Ryanair and take up the challenge to grow the operation sustainably.
Mr. Bellew has brought a low-cost focus on costs to Malaysia Airlines, while at the same time strengthening its full-service proposition in a ferociously competitive market.
