Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary admits they should have been 'nicer' to customers
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He's the airline boss who called his own customers 'stupid' and told refund-hunters to 'f*** off'.
But it seems Ryanair's Michael O'Leary is finally ending his not-so-friendly approach to customer service - and admits he should have done so a long time ago.
With profits and passenger traffic on the rise amid a charm offensive, the divisive chief executive told MailOnline Travel: 'We should have been nicer to customers earlier than we have been'.
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Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said the airline should have been 'nicer' to customers in the past
The Dublin-based carrier has long faced public criticism for its surcharges and treatment of customers, and now it appears Mr O'Leary feels that his management style may have been too abrasive.
Mr O'Leary said he realises that his mentor and Ryanair co-founder, the late Tony Ryan, was on to something when he campaigned for a customer-friendly airline.
He said: 'The thing that we repeatedly would have clashed over was my determination to make Ryanair the lowest cost airline in Europe and Tony's desire to make it the most beloved airline in Europe.
'I think the Always Getting Better programme we've launched in the last 12 months and the significant improvements we've made in the customer experience, and the way that customers have responded to that, would suggest that he was right.'
Mr O'Leary added: 'He wanted it to be very low cost and very profitable but then he also wanted it to be winning awards for customer service and being beloved, and the two generally don't match, but I think he was probably a little bit too extreme on the customer service side and I was certainly too extreme on being low cost and mean.
'But I'm leaning over the last year or two that a lot of what he was saying was actually right, we should have been nicer to customers earlier than we have been.'
In response to his critics or sceptics, Mr O'Leary insists the no-frills carrier's friendlier approach is not a gimmick or a temporary effort and they are 'real' and 'genuine' changes.
Mr O'Leary says the carrier's attempt to improve customer service is not a gimmick or temporary effort
Ryanair's effort to win over customers includes a softer stance on baggage charges and booking conditions
He said: 'This is a change. We have just completed the first year, I think we have two more years of the program to roll out where you're going to see more and more focus on improving the experience and actively listening to customers and trying to provide them with the services they're looking for.
'As I said myself if I had known being nicer to our customers was going to work so well I would have done it years ago.'
Ryanair has implemented a number of measures to improve its image and address the impact that poor customer service has had on sales.
It has softened its stance on baggage charges and booking conditions, overhauled its website and introduced allocated seating, a new business class service and a family discount scheme.
Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Transport Roger Lewentz (left) and Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary hold a press conference at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport in Lautzenhausen, Germany on 12 May 2014
Ryanair expects to carry 87 million customers, an increase of one million from the previous forecast, this year
But as for what Ryanair has planned next for its customers, Mr O'Leary remains tight-lipped.
He said there are plans to in-flight wifi and a holiday brand, but declined to identify additional measures. He said the carrier is 'looking at a couple of things' and plans to cut fares and will 'never say never' to easing other surcharges.
Travellers appear to be warming up to Ryanair's effort to revamp its image with the airline expecting more passengers and a higher net profit than originally forecast this fiscal year.
It expects to carry 87 million customers, an increase of one million from the previous forecast, and it has raised its full year net profit towards the upper end of its previously guided range of £484m to £507m.
It comes as Ryanair plans an aggressive expansion across Europe and into new markets, including North Africa, Israel and the Gulf States with the purchase of up to 200 new Boeing 737 Max 200 aircraft.
Mr O'Leary told MailOnline Travel that the airline is also looking to offer flights between Ireland and Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia, but talks that began six months ago are facing a hurdle.
He said: 'The problem at the moment is the Irish Tourism Authority, despite the fact that they say Russia is one of their target markets, aren't willing to support the launch of services into Russia so we're not willing to open up Russia until we get support from the Irish authorities.'
The 53-year-old Irish executive has been at the helm of Ryanair for 20 years and recently agreed to a five-year extension that will keep him with the airline through 2019.
He spoke to MailOnline Travel to promote a biography of Mr Ryan, who took Mr O'Leary under his wing as a personal assistant at Guinness Peat Aviation, the aircraft leasing company he founded, in 1987.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, centre, speaks to Tony Ryan, right, in this photo from 2001
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said he had a 'quasi father-son relationship' with airline co-founder Tony Ryan
Mr O'Leary said he was interviewed by the book's author, Richard Aldous, to provide 'unvarnished recollections' of Mr Ryan.
The book details how their relationship became strained over Mr O'Leary's brash management style and aggressive strategy for the airline.
Mr O'Leary described it as a 'quasi father-son relationship' that had its ups and downs, and said he owes much of his success to Mr Ryan.
He said: 'We fought a lot made up a lot and achieved a lot together.
'I learned his ambition, his world vision. He was never content to be a big noise just in Ireland, he wanted to go and conquer the world. I think that outward looking vision is what has made Ryanair a success, the quest to always get bigger and better.
The biography, titled Tony Ryan – Ireland's Aviator, has already been published in Ireland and goes on sale in the UK on Monday.
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