A new book offers insight into the dance of death that world aviation faced in 2020. Aerdogs by Tom Lyons, a journalist with The Currency, purports at first glance to offer a dry account of Declan Ryan’s attempts to export his father’s low cost model around the world, in the aftermath of the death of Tony and Cathal Ryan 66 days apart, in 2007-8.
But aviation is too exciting an industry to make this another corporate chronicle.
Having succeeded at Ryanair, a small group of Irish entrepreneurs set out to make low-cost air travel accessible to billions globally: Irelandia was designed to expand Ryanair’s low-cost model by investing in airlines such as Tiger Airways and VivaAerobus.
The sight path leads back to Tony Ryan, known for founding Ryanair nowadays but first better known for the leasing giant GPA, and extends to Irelandia, which was spearheaded by his son, Declan Ryan. Irelandia was an odd creation, dealing with property and even a rugby club (London Irish) which, in turn fell off the ball park after its exit. It was Irelandia it turned its focus back to aviation that the creative energy of the group was seen.
In his 2013 biography of Tony Ryan, the historian Richard Aldous said: “What did make Tony exceptional was that he turned the dreams he shared with his generation into reality. That came about not because he wanted to make a fortune – although he was happy when he did – but because he had the vision to see where the market was imperfect, the courage to stake his claim and the tenacity to see the job through Tony was the epitome of what it meant to be an entrepreneur.”
There was turbulence along the way. Ryanair came close to collapse on many occasions, and the leasing industry daddy Ryan founded did collapse after a miscalculated and mistimed IPO. Each of the six airlines the next generation Ryan had its troubles.
Latin America is the last great frontier for low-cost airlines, and this is where the aerdogs hunt for new frontiers becomes intriguing.
Daddy Ryan told his son “trees do not grow to the sky.” “Airlines have this horrendous ability to suck up all the money you have and more,” Declan tells the author.
Like most journeys, it is the people we meet along the way that turn this story in to something extra special. The two Mexican aviators who owned an airline and hated each other. The slick salesmen with nothing to sell but pretending to be big shots and living high lives they could not afford. The multi millionaires who new nothing about aviation treated owning an airline as a fashion accessory. The stern lessors who could close an airline with one recall, and boy did they know it.
We follow their movement, (amongst others) Jason Bewley, Barry Biffle, Alan Bird, Ruairi Blaney, the wonderful Paula Doherty who grew to love the industry she joined, John Goode, Michael Lynch,, Steven Maxwell, Howard Millar, Tom Mullins and Brian Mulvihill with Declan Ryan, always Declan, at the helm.
An astonishing and worrying number of them were pals from school in county Kildare. Even the Cliff at Lyons, a hotel that struggled to make an impact in Tony Ryan’s old homestead at Ardclough, was sold off by Declan to a Clongowes school mate
The details read like a thriller. The climax comes in 2020 when Viva, the aerdogs’ Colombian airlines, faced almost certain bankruptcy, that the story gathers pace. You can almost hear the Mission Impossible theme music playing as we read about meetings organized at short notice to save money, , and get the lead players out of Colombia and home to Dublin before lockdown on a near empty flight to Miami and a charter jet back to Dublin because commercial services had come to a halt.
The book self consciously sets out to treat of resilience and entrepreneurship within the airline industry. For those of us who wilL never have to close a billion dollar deal, it is a great read. Like Conor McCarthy’s advice in the Viva Aerobus deal to watch the body language, get the price down with your mannerisms.
“ We would keep Declan for the last stages”, one official tells the author, the hard man for the last twenty minutes like a rugby impact sub.
The final word comes from Howard Millar, another Ryanair vet, “Manufacturers are never going to move until they feel like they’re going to lose. You must make them fear losing. Boeing and Airbus are happy if you don’t buy from either one, but they don’t want to miss out.”
Don’t miss out. This is the best aviation book you will read this year.
- Aerdogs is published by Eastwood Books on February 28, 2025 €16.99.
