Ryanair’s chief is on a mission to wreck EU airline rescues

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair Holdings’s combative CEO, is picking a fight with Deutsche Lufthansa AG as he ramps up a legal battle with rivals being doled out state aid to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. After challenging a handful of government measures that have favored national carriers while excluding the scrappy Irish discounter, O’Leary said his next target is Lufthansa as Germany and other states ready billions of euros to help the region’s biggest airline overcome the worst slump in more than a century of commercial aviation. “Lufthansa is going around hoovering up state aid like the drunken uncle at the end of a wedding, drinking from all the empty glasses. They can’t help themselves,” O’Leary said. “We don’t want state aid, but we’re now being asked to compete with not one hand, but two hands tied behind our back.” As well as vowing to challenge the expected EC approval for the Lufthansa aid package, he said Ryanair would also seek to topple France’s $8b rescue package for Air France.<br/>