It was vintage Michael O'Leary. On May 13, the 42-year-old CEO of Dublin-based discount airline Ryanair outfitted his staff in full combat gear, drove an old World War II tank to England's Luton airport, an hour north of London, then demanded access to the base of archrival easyJet Airline Co. With the theme to the old television series The A-Team blaring, O'Leary declared he was "liberating the public from easy-Jet's high fares." When security―surprise!―refused to let the Ryanair armor roll in, O'Leary led the troops in his own rendition of a platoon march song: "I've been told and it's no lie. EasyJet's fares are way too high!" This is a terrible year for the world's airlines, the worst perhaps in the 100-year history of the aviation industry. American Airlines Inc. is flirting with bankruptcy. Germany's Lufthansa just announced an operating loss of $486 million in the first quarter of 2003. SARS has forced Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and Singapore Airlines Ltd. to ground big chunks of their fleets.
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