Michael O’Leary, CEO of Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, has lashed out at the Austrian government.
In an interview with newspaper Die Presse on November 6, the 64-year-old executive accused Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker (Austrian People’s Party, ÖVP) of laziness. He also called infrastructure minister Peter Hanke (Social Democrats, SPÖ) a “liar”.
The confrontation started in September when Ryanair announced it was cutting back its operations at Vienna’s Schwechat airport over the partly State-owned airport’s “ridiculously high access costs” and Austria’s “harmful” aviation tax.
Austria charges airlines a tax of €12 per passenger, the third-highest in Europe, according to Ryanair.
The levy is harming the business of low-cost carriers, it is claimed. Shortly before Ryanair, fellow low-cost airline Wizz Air had announced it was closing down its Vienna base and moving its planes and personnel to other airports in 2026.
In the interview, O’Leary said he had presented Stocker and Hanke with Ryanair’s expansion plan for Austria. The company was willing to invest €1 billion in the country, including the stationing of ten new Boeing 737 planes in Vienna, O’Leary said – if the harmful tax was axed.
The airline’s commitment was met with lukewarm reaction.
O’Leary said: “At the meeting, Mr Stocker said ‘that was interesting’ and he wants to do something. And he said we would receive an answer by the end of September.
“Well, September is over and we have no reply. We are also angry with Minister Hanke’s reaction. He said he was open for talks. We held talks but they do not even bother to answer to us.”
He continued: “It is incredible to not even respond to a foreign investor who wants to invest €1 billion Euros and create more than 500 new jobs.
“Chancellor Stocker sits around twiddling is thumbs. Austria has a lazy Chancellor who cannot create growth in Austria. That is useless.”
O’Leary also reiterated Ryanair’s criticism of Hanke, who the company had previously accused of “lying about his budget and supposed further talks”.
The Ryanair CEO added that his company was now looking to shift operations to other airports close to Vienna such as Bratislava, which had reduced costs for airlines.
“The planes will land where they are more profitable. Even stupid politicians should realise this sometime,” he said.
O’Leary’s remarks have created a stir in Austria – where private companies usually only dare to criticise politicians in somewhat subdued tones.
Hanke accused O’Leary of “confusing blackmail with negotiations”. The minister also maintained he had not been part of the talks between O’Leary and Chancellor Stocker.
He admitted, though, to meeting with O’Leary in June and telling him that he would receive further information on the government’s plans for the tax in autumn.
Hanke’s ministry told Austrian media there would certainly be no change to the aviation tax in 2025 or 2026 and that the airport access costs were set by a law based on European Union regulations.
Stocker’s office did not comment on O’Leary’s remarks.
The contentious airline tax was introduced under a SPÖ-ÖVP coalition government in 2010 and first set at e7 per passenger for most flights within Europe.
In September 2020, under Austria’s then ÖVP-Greens coalition government, the tax was raised significantly to €12 per passenger and €30 on flights covering less than 350 km.
In 2024, Austria took in about €170 million from the tax.
