Poll: Do you think it's time for Michael O'Leary to step down as Ryanair boss?

The CEO helped turn the low-cost carrier into a multibillion-euro business.

By Conor McMahon Deputy editor, Fora

WRITING IN THE Sunday Business Post yesterday, columnist and Ryanair shareholder Michael Murray considered whether it was time for the airline’s boss, Michael O’Leary, to step down from his role after two decades.

In a digest of the recent landmark announcement that the low-cost carrier will recognise pilots unions, Murray acknowledged there’s no denying that O’Leary was the force that turned Tony Ryan’s fledgling airline into a multibillion-euro business.

However, he raised the point that some entrepreneurs are “mightily successful” at building and expanding companies, but less skilled at managing success and maturity.

“O’Leary has softened his communication and management approach slightly in recent times,” Murray wrote. “But does he have the capacity to earn the loyalty of his pilots and other staff?”

The airline boss’s current contract doesn’t end until 2019, but there has been speculation in light of the recent cancellations crisis that O’Leary and his board will begin to work on a succession plan in the new year.

With that in mind, we’re asking Fora readers this week: Do you think it’s time for Michael O’Leary to step down as Ryanair boss?