Ryanair COO to resign in wake of rostering mess-up

Ryanair chief operations officer Michael Hickey will resign from the end of the month, the airline said on Friday, becoming the first executive to leave since a rostering mess-up led to the cancellation of thousands of flights. The Irish airline, the largest in Europe by passenger numbers, has in recent weeks disrupted the plans of more than 700,000 passengers by failing to have enough standby pilots to ensure the smooth operation of its schedule.
Hickey was responsible for rosters when the disruptions began but that function was taken over by Ryanair's Chief People Officer, Edward Wilson, on September 27 when the airline announced its second wave of cancellations. "Over the past 30 years Mick Hickey has made an enormous contribution to Ryanair, especially the quality and safety of our engineering and operations functions. He will be a hard act to replace," Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said in a statement.