Ryanair CEO sees drone disruption as an irritant that won’t hit profits

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By Conor Humphries

DUBLIN (Reuters) -Drone disruption is likely to become an irritant for the airline industry but is unlikely to affect profitability, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said on Thursday. 

It is governments rather than airports or airlines who should cover the cost of defending against them, he added. 

The Irish airline, Europe’s largest by passenger numbers, had flights disrupted when Poland shot down several Russian drones earlier this month. Drone incursions this week have closed airports in Denmark and Norway, further exposing the vulnerability of European airspace. 

In an interview following a news conference in Dublin, O’Leary said drones were less likely to cause persistent disruption than air traffic control worker strikes.

“It is going to be an irritant. I’m not sure it’s going to be constant,” O’Leary said. “It’s hard to believe it will impact the  business in a significant way…. It disrupts our operations. We recover pretty quickly. You know, the airlines are used to dealing with that.”

Asked whether airlines or airports should cover the cost of protecting against drones, O’Leary said the issue was for governments. 

“This is a security issue for national governments. It’s not something you’d ask airports to do.”

O’Leary said defensive technology around airports was improving but that governments would need to make significant investments to boost defences. 

Authorities should assume that incidents like last weekend’s cyberattack that disrupted operations at several major European airports are geopolitical unless proven otherwise, he said. 

“Our first instinct should be assume it’s geopolitical or it’s a bad state actor, unless there’s evidence to the contrary,” he said.

(Reporting by Conor HumphriesWriting by William JamesEditing by Paul Sandle)