One of the things that the Germans are really good at is “extracting the maximum price from people”, which is why they bought Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Swiss and never expanded, Wilson stressed, in statements to the Efe news agency.

For the Ryanair leader, the Portuguese company has a good market in South America, especially in Brazil, and “Lufthansa can retain some of that”.

“They would be stupid not to do it, but the company will not grow and will be smaller”, he warned.

Regarding the future of the Italian company ITA Airways after its integration into the German group, Eddie Wilson considered that they will initially establish more routes to Milan and Rome and then place them back in Lufthansa’s hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.

It is “a very simple business model”: buy the airline for half of nothing, restrict capacity, increase prices, not compete on short-haul flights and operate all long-haul traffic through Germany.

“So, unfortunately, the Italians will eat more sausages in Munich and Frankfurt,” he said ironically.

On the other hand, for Wilson, the International Airlines Group (IAG) has done “a good job”, as when it bought Aer Lingus in Ireland, it made it a success, although it made it grow more as a long-haul airline than a short-haul airline.

Just like what happened with British Airways, which became a long-haul carrier, it is therefore a group “focused on growth”, he stressed.

IAG owns several airlines, including Iberia and Vueling, and is the third largest operator in Spain.

In addition to Lufthansa, IAG and Air France-KLM are also interested in privatizing the Portuguese airline.

As for the possibility of Ryanair carrying out some kind of corporate operation in the future, the CEO of the Irish low-cost airline refused to rule out this scenario.

Wilson explained, however, that he would prefer to add 50 Boeing aircraft to Ryanair's fleet rather than buy an airline with 50 aircraft.

"My preference is organic growth, but if there are opportunities, you always have to look for them," he added.

Ryanair believes that consolidation in the sector is a good thing and supports it because having fewer airlines "is more stable and is better for consumers in the long term," he assured.