in 1986 he became the head of london european airport , a business in which aer had bought an 85 % stake . this position , however , quickly dropped as the carrier became ryanair uk and was then merged entirely with aer . over the second decade , cathal remained both on the executive deck of the airlines and as a manager , although he resigned from the job by 1996 . he remained with ryanair until leaving the board 2002 , by when times he was a three - millionaire relative to the success of the enterprise .
Ryan was Cathal's father.