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* Ryanair says there was a non-compete clause in bonus
scheme
* Bellew's lawyer says his client felt 'pushed out'
(Adds Ryanair CEO)
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 delay the move until 2021.
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 partners.
Delays to the 737 MAX have slowed down Ryanair's growth
plans and could halt 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, adding that it would be
far less relevant in a year's time.
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.
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.
STAFF UNREST
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 by late 2018, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told the
court, there were "problems emerging on a weekly basis" and in
November he sent Bellew a memo to say his performance was
unacceptable.
O'Leary read out parts of a reply Bellew had sent a few days
later, describing the operations chief's response the the
criticism as "gobbledygook" and "waffle".
In March 2019 Bellew was told in an annual performance
review that he would not be offered fresh share options.
O'Leary learned of Bellew's plans to move to easyJet only a
day before the British company announced the plan, Hayden said.
Correspondence between Bellew and O'Leary became "quite fulsome"
after this, Hayden told the court.
Bellew has not commented publicly on the case, but his
solicitor John Rogers told the court that his client felt he had
been "pushed out" of Ryanair by O'Leary.
An Irish national, Bellew had been viewed in some quarters
as a possible successor to O'Leary. Bellew described his return
to Ryanair in 2017 as "a form of national service" to help what
he described as Ireland's greatest company.
An easyJet spokeswoman declined to comment on the case,
which is expected to last until the end of the week.
($1 = 0.9073 euros)
(Additional reporting by Padraic Halpin
Editing by Mark Potter and David Goodman)
