There is “blind panic” in the UK about Omicron, Michael O’Leary the firecracker chief executive of Ryanair says, the air punctuated by swearwords. “There’s this mass hysteria about Omicron generally driven by Downing Street and Boris Johnson, probably to cover up all of the party messes that they were having 12 months ago,” he bellows. “I think it shows the inept political leadership in the UK that is not replicated in the rest of Europe. They’re not all panicking in Italy or Spain or Germany or Holland.”O’Leary, known for his inflammatory statements, is particularly animated when we speak, barely drawing breath between sentences. After 20 months of travel restrictions, the industry is staring down the barrel of yet

Source: The Times December 18, 2021 20:04 UTC