Ryanair chief in fighting form

Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary was in fighting form at NCB's annual equity conference last week. Clad in his trademark black jeans and open-necked shirt, he told the sober suits of the investment world what Aer Rianta and the travel agents have long known - that Ryanair is "obsessive" about costs.

He then went on to indulge in a little Churchillian rhetoric, telling his audience: "We will fight anybody, anytime, anywhere about costs." Needless to say, this includes Aer Rianta, but Ryanair's displeasure with the airports' authority extends beyond the cost of using Dublin Airport. Mr O'Leary is also less than happy with conditions there, particularly between Thursdays and Mondays when he believes the airport resembles "the Black Hole of Calcutta". Fighting talk, indeed.