Irish carriers relationship hits Twitter turbulence as Aer Lingus photo bombs Ryanair advert
Ryanair head Michael O’Leary may be seeking to keep his passengers sweet in a new found spirit of bonhomie following a series of profit warnings – but such sentiments it seems do not stretch so far as industry rivals Aer Lingus.
Aer Lingus was alerted to a tweet sent by Ryanair of an online ad with a plane flying in the background, which turned out to be the former aircraft carrier (see image gallery.)
Epic #photobomb by EI-DVM on Ryanair's website! Even they know we're Best for Business pic.twitter.com/mYgDFbpg6P
— Aer Lingus (@AerLingus) January 15, 2015Despite being the single largest shareholder in the Irish carrier O’Leary mauled the business after it had the temerity to point out that Ryanair had inadvertently used a photo of one of its planes for an advert. Not taking kindly to having this oversight pointed out Ryanair stuck the boot in by claiming its business
Even @AerLingus is talking about @Ryanair Business Plus. FYI, he's smiling cos he saved a fortune & avoided another late @AerLingus arrival! — Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 15, 2015
Asked whether this was all just harmless banter or genuine rivalry Ryanair’s marketing team then went one further:
We stopped being rivals in the 90s @AerLingus @ReallyDes. We'd have to treble our fares & lose 81m customers to be your rival #EuropesNo1 — Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 15, 2015
The exchange comes as Ryanair celebrates 30 years in the skies, an occasion marked by the introduction of a new corporate logo.