Ryanair to campaign against Brexit

Ryanair is to actively campaign for Britain to remain in the EU, branding its planes with pro-Europe slogans, as it warned UK fares could rise after a vote to leave.

The chief executive of the budget carrier said Europe had allowed Britons to enjoy affordable holidays through deregulating the airline industry, and that Ryanair would invest less in the UK if it were outside the EU.

Michael O’Leary promised to “bore everybody to death” by repeating a pro-EU message until the June referendum. His company plans to back the remain campaign in the EU referendum with advertising and by lobbying its customers.

“One of the great things that most people in the UK will have benefited from is deregulation. Europe is the one [thing] that has delivered low fare air travel and cheaper holidays for British citizens,” O’Leary said.

He dismissed Boris Johnson and other leaders of the leave campaign as “career politicians” who “don’t employ anybody, don’t create jobs and are generally passengers when it comes to the economy”.

O’Leary warned that the idea of being part of Europe outside the EU was worse than staying in. “Look at Norway. You have to sign up for the single market – you will still pay and still obey, but have absolutely no influence on the rule-making and reform of Europe.”

Speaking in London on Wednesday, the 54-year-old Irishman said: “As the UK’s largest airline, Ryanair is absolutely clear that the UK economy and its future growth prospects are stronger as a member of the European Union than they are outside of the EU.

“Ryanair, our people, and I hope the vast majority of our customers will all work together over the coming months to help deliver a resounding yes vote on 23 June.”

The budget airline employs more than 3,000 people in the UK and flies more than 35 million passengers between the UK and Europe each year. O’Leary said Brexit “isn’t going to be armageddon” but said foreign investment would decline, and he added: “We as an airline will invest faster in other European companies such as the Czech Republic and Poland.”

But he said air fares risked rising faster in an independent UK, with taxes such as air passenger duty likely to increase as the economy stuttered after exit. He said that the government’s handling of airport expansion, by ruling only one extra runway could be built in the south-east, would limit competition and drive up fares. “The UK government will continue to push up the cost of air travel … I would fear more from UK bureaucracy than EU bureaucracy.”

He said the leave campaign was “selling an untruth to the British people” – that they would be free of European regulation and would not have to pay to be part of the single market. “Boris and George Galloway will continue to make merry in their political best interest, that’s what they do, but we’re businesses and we employ people and we don’t want to make footballs out of these issues,” O’Leary added.

Ryanair also announced plans to grow its traffic out of London by 10% this year as it launched its busiest winter schedule, with five new European routes and extended services to 18 destinations from Stansted, Gatwick and Luton. It expects to fly 23.6 million passengers, or about 20% of its total, from the London airports.