Ryanair is the best airline in Europe.

Yup, that’s right. The most hated and ridiculed carrier on the entire continent is the best. The uber-loathed, toilet-charging, seat-removing Michael O’Leary leads an airline that carries more passengers, makes more money and is worth more than any other airline in Europe.

The business side of the argument is easy. After a week of trading updates from Europe’s main airlines, Ryanair emerged by far the strongest. The Irish no-frills carrier put out a profit warning, but compared to rivals it was like the Queen complaining of a shortage of horses.

It said it would make profit ‘only’ at the lower end of a 200-300 million euro range, but 200 million euros? BA lost 110 million euros in the first quarter alone, and the shares rose. Even Lufthansa, the strongest of the main European airlines, is forecast to make a measly 8 million euros this year.

EasyJet is doing well, and will make a profit this year - just. Ryanair is streets ahead.

Now for the service argument.

Ryanair -bashing is a popular past-time among the very tedious, but the company’s mission is very simple - fill planes at all cost regardless of ticket prices. People complain about the so-called ‘hidden costs’ of flying Ryanair, but many of them are avoidable and the total fare is not exactly hard to obtain — just tick the boxes and press submit.

As for the service, Ryanair spends as little as possible on luxuries and staff and is totally up front about it. What is wrong with this? Air travel is not a public service. If you want so-called luxury (although frankly I have never felt comfortable on an aeroplane) fly Virgin first class.

If you want a cheap flight fly Ryanair.

The one worry is that Ryanair could become too powerful. In the past year BA has ditched its model of keeping prices high and sacrificing passengers to the other way around — the Ryanair way.

This week it said it would ditch ‘free’ meals on some short haul flights. Again, like Ryanair. If the current downturn continues, it stands to reason that airlines will become more and more like your favourite Irish airline.

And wouldn’t the Ryanair bashers love that.

Willie Walsh likes to tell it as it is.

Recent weeks have seen smatterings of good economic news. Sectors that took the full weight of the recession last year said they were staggering to their feet now spring is here.

Retail: John Lewis had its best week of the year so far from 2nd-9th May.

Leisure: Pubs group Greene King said things have ‘generally improved’ since the start of the year.

Then along comes the British Airways CEO to spoil everyone’s fun.

“I see no signs of recovery anywhere,” Willie Walsh told BBC radio’s Today programme following publication of the airline’s full year results. “Globally we see economic conditions continuing to be very weak. We have a global network so we are operating in pretty much every country around the world, and what we see is pretty much the same everywhere.” Cheers Willie.

British Airways’ numbers are an absolute horror show. Having made a record profit in the year to March 2008, it managed to set another record last year – this time for losses. Its fuel bill nearly doubled to three billion pounds. It is losing passengers hand over fist, grounding planes, slashing thousands of jobs – Walsh himself has even waived a year end bonus.

And now he warns of more of the same. So should we listen?

Walsh describes his company as an “excellent barometer of what is happening in the world today” and it is hard not to agree. Air travel is a luxury for the confident consumer, and there are clearly few of those. It is also a sign of a thriving business – sending staff off to New York (usually on BA) to thrash out the latest deal.

BA’s premium (first and business class) traffic is falling by double digit percentages every month. That tells its own story. Shops and pubs may have started to welcome back the punters, but air travel is a far more revealing indicator of what is really happening.

Don’t talk to Walsh about ‘green shoots’.

The Competition Commission has ordered airport operator BAA to sell Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow aiport, once it has completed the sale of Gatwick. The commission has been looking into BAA’s dominance of airports in Scotland and England’s south-east for two years and decided that the lack of competition between airports has been detrimental to passengers.

The commission’s final report also recommends that the airports be sold within two years and that they be sold in sequence, starting with Gatwick.

BAA was acquired by Spanish company Ferrovial in 2006 for 10 billion pounds but has been hit hard by the economic downturn. The firm has said that it may challenge the order to sell because such quick sales in such conditions could be impractical.

Whether the order to sell will actually benefit air passengers is a much debated issue. A spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic told The Times that the airline supports the move. ““The break-up of BAA is something Virgin Atlantic has requested for many years and it will undoubtedly benefit consumers. Better airport facilities in the UK and lower prices will be the result and we therefore congratulate the CC on its findings.”

Paul Whelan, head of industry body the Small to Medium Airports Group, disagrees, telling the BBC that it will do nothing for the consumer. “There are a lot of airlines including Ryanair using Edinburgh and it is doing a good job, while Stansted has also been good for airlines.” The BBC also has this Q&A which asks if this is a good move for air passengers.

The Telegraph’s Transport Editor, David Millward, meanwhile writes that the Competition Commission’s report is a ‘weak compromise.’ “After all it is not BAA that has suddenly decided to charge for the clear plastic bags people need to carry liquids through security. It is Manchester Airport, whose owners have been tipped to bid for Gatwick or Stansted.

“In many ways the Competition Commission report is a weak compromise. Many are disappointed that Heathrow was not broken up with terminals competing against each other for business. That worked at JFK in New York and it could well have worked here.”

So who will possibly step in to buy the airports up for sale? It’s a complicated business; the commission has ruled that each should be bought by a different company and potential owners will be put under tough scrutiny. The Guardian has published this guide to the companies in the running.

What do you think of the Competition Commission’s decision? Do you think forcing BAA to sell some of its airports will improve customer experience? What do you think of the current standard of the airports in question?