It’s difficult to have everybody like everything you do. I don’t know anybody that’s perfect and doesn’t have a zit somewhere.

Somebody who knows what they’re doing, who has a good track record, they come across as very articulate, bright and looking for a challenge – that’s absolutely my kind of hire.

We tax air passengers like cigarettes and alcohol – we impose sin taxes on travellers.

Do you know how much faster I can fix an airplane when I want to fix it than when I don’t want to fix it?

It’s not about market share. If you have a successful company, you will get your market share. But to get a successful company, what do you have to have? The same metrics of success that your customer does.

In airplanes you have a choice between chocolate and vanilla. One year could be vanilla or it could be chocolate. I don’t attach any relevance to which one.

The airline business is the biggest team sport in the world. When you’re all consumed with fighting among yourselves, your opponents can run over you every day.

Whether I’m at the hangar or at the airport or on an airplane, I get respect. And that’s the best part of my day.

It’s not a testosterone-driven industry any longer. Success is making money, not in the size of the airline.

It’s like telling Mozart that there are too many notes in an opera. Which one do you want us to take out?