Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) CEO Michael O'Leary says his airline's interest in Cyprus Airways (1947) (Larnaca) concerns only the carrier's Air Operators Certificate and not its actual business. Announcing a 152% surge in first quarter profits earlier this week, O’Leary said Ryanair's decision to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the struggling Cypriot carrier came after Larnaca requested it to do so.
“We are not particularly interested in Cyprus Airways which has huge legacy issues: pension scheme, historic losses (and) it looks like it may have to repay about €100million in legal state aid,” he told Reuters.
In his typical blunt manner, O'Leary further added that Ryanair has absolutely no intention of rescuing "that barrel of rubbish”.
However, the CEO did note that the acquisition of Cyprus Airways' AOC would allow Ryanair to use Cyprus as a base aimed at providing low-cost flights to Russia and throughout the Middle East - Israel, Lebanon, Jordan among others.
Of the twenty or so entities that have so far expressed an interest in the Cypriot government's 93.67% stake in the carrier, four are airlines which, in addition to Ryanair, also include Aegean Airlines (A3, Athens), Blue Air (Romania) (BLA, Bucharest Henri Coanda) and Arkia Israeli Airlines (IZ, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion).
