IATA may be right that Europe poses special market challenges to airlines, but the ongoing success of LCCs in the market proves that IATA members may need to look inwards for the answers to their woes. And much as Tyler might want it to, the infrastructure argument just doesn't hold water.
Is the rise of Gulf carriers like an Internet bubble that will burst and reshape the trajectory of alliances, codeshares and aircraft purchasing economics? Ryanair's O'Leary is suggesting it may be, or at least that's his hope.
Is Google on the cusp of destroying Skyscanner, Kayak and Expedia in one fell swoop? We've heard that kind of hyperbole before, and few obituaries have been written. That being said, it would seem premature for Google to swap out Google Flight Search for something new when the product is so young.
Spirit's Ben Baldanza appears to be a kinder, gentler Michael O'Leary. Baldanza takes inspiration from Ryanair's market share as Spirit is slated to add about 90 additional planes by 2021 to help take a much bigger piece of the pie.
Well, at least O'Leary didn't have a problem maintaining his "voice" on Twitter. He probably didn't do much to appease Ryanair's detractors, but at least he was out there on social media getting involved a bit.
We hope that Ryanair will use its Twitter account to broadcast the most audacious quotes from CEO O'Leary rather than deal with customer service complaints, a flood of which will likely return us to the days of the Twitter fail whale.