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(Updates with start of case; quotes from Ryanair lawyer)
By Conor Humphries
DUBLIN, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Ryanair launched a bid in
Ireland's High Court on Tuesday to prevent operations chief
Peter Bellew from joining arch-rival easyJet until 2021, saying
he possessed information of immense competitive value and that
he had signed a non-compete clause.
Europe's biggest budget airline said in July that the former
Malaysia Airlines boss, who denies that he is bound by such a
clause, would step down at the end of the year.
But after easyJet announced Bellew's appointment as
its new chief operations officer a week later, Ryanair
filed legal proceedings to try to block him.
On the opening day of the case, a lawyer representing
Ryanair listed information he said the airline could not allow
to be passed to its rival, including details of delays to the
delivery of Boeing's grounded 737 MAX aircraft as well
the terms of deals Ryanair has signed with airport baggage
handlers.
Delays to the 737 MAX have slowed down Ryanair's growth
plans and it said last month they risked effectively halting the
Irish airline's expansion next summer.
"Mr Bellew has all of this information ... in his head, and
it would be of immense benefit to a rival," senior counsel for
Ryanair Martin Hayden told the court.
A delay of 12 months would mean information would be far
less relevant, he added.
Hayden told the court that the initial contract Bellew
signed in October 2017 did not include a non-compete clause, but
said a bonus scheme accepted by Bellew at the time barred him
from joining a competitor for 12 months after leaving Ryanair.
Bellew received a bonus payment of 1.13 million euros
($1.25 million) in June this year, the court heard.
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, who sat across the courtroom
from Bellew, said in September the timing of Bellew's switch was
particularly sensitive because of the problems with the 737 MAX
and that he should only start the new job in January 2021.
Bellew left his role as CEO of Malaysia Airlines two years
ago to return to Ryanair, where he had been director of flight
operations before leaving for Kuala Lumpur in 2014.
Tasked with tackling a pilot revolt that resulted in
Ryanair's first ever strikes, Bellew was part of an effort to
patch up relations with staff and agree deals on pay and
conditions with trade unions that have quelled the unrest.
But he was told by O'Leary in March that he would need to
show "significantly improved performance" and would not be
offered a fresh share option, Hayden told the court.
Hayden said Bellew only told O'Leary of his plans to move to
easyJet a day before the British company announced the plan.
Correspondence between Bellew and O'Leary "gets quite fulsome"
after this, he told the court.
An Irish national, Bellew described his return to Ryanair in
2017 as "a form of national service" to help what he described
as Ireland's greatest company. Some observers had seen Bellew as
a possible future Ryanair chief executive.
An easyJet spokeswoman declined to comment on the case.
Bellew has not commented on the case since Ryanair initiated
proceedings.
($1 = 0.9073 euros)
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Mark Potter)
