Analysis: Michael O’Leary walking away is a distinct possibility

RYANAIR has had a tempestuous relationship with many airports in the past and this has seen it drop large chunks of business at some places, such as Aberdeen where it ended flights to Dublin.

Chief executive Michael O’Leary has already rattled the cage of some airports by getting rid of other routes, including some at Edinburgh. However, the wild card is that Edinburgh airport is for sale and Ryanair making these noises has added a serious dimension to this.

Many things at Edinburgh airport have necessarily ground to a halt until it is decided who will be the new owner. Apparently, the airport cannot negotiate until it knows who the new operator is going to be.

At the same time once a new airport owner is in place it will very likely wish to maximise its operator base. As things stand with the sale, the airport is constrained in terms of what it can actually do with future business.

This strengthens the hand of Ryanair at the moment, but a new owner might be tempted to look further afield for additional airlines and routes.

I suspect that a lot of the flights affected by today’s announcement are associated with leisure travel, but there would be some affect on the business community in Edinburgh too. Under these circumstances the Edinburgh business community would look for other airlines, perhaps a firm such as Easyjet, which has moved in before in similar circumstances or in the case of Germany the airline Lufthansa.

The Scottish aviation community feels Mr O’Leary is playing serious hardball, but would he be prepared to cut off his nose to spite its face? Ryanair pulling out of Edinburgh would inevitably have a negative impact in the short term and the prospect of them walking away would appear not out of the question.

• James Ferguson is an aviation writer based in Aberdeen.