Ryanair hits back at safety accusations in Spain

RYANAIR CHIEF executive Michael O’Leary has accused the Spanish government of orchestrating a press campaign against his airline following a series of alleged safety incidents involving the company’s planes.

In a letter sent to the Spanish public works minister Ana Pastor yesterday, Mr O’Leary called on her department to “take action against the leaking of false information” about Ryanair.

The letter cited an article in El Mundo newspaper published on Monday which said the airline had caused 1,201 security incidents in the last six months. Mr O’Leary said the figure was “false”.

On Monday, Ms Pastor had warned that the Spanish government was planning to stiffen sanctions against airlines that failed to meet safety requirements. She also announced plans to lobby European authorities for tougher action against foreign airlines that fail to comply. Her comments were seen to be aimed at Ryanair, due to the Irish airline’s involvement in several incidents in Spain over the summer.

“Low cost is fine, what we can’t have is low safety,” said Ms Pastor.

She cited July 26th, when three Ryanair aircraft requested permission to land ahead of other planes when approaching Valencia airport, due to fuel shortages. All three planes had been diverted from their planned destination of Madrid because of bad weather.

Last week, two Ryanair flights in Spain were forced to turn back to their airports of origin shortly after take-off, due to depressurisation problems. Ryanair has insisted that passenger safety was never at risk during the incidents.

The European Commission yesterday suggested that any Spanish plans to clamp down on foreign airlines could be hard to implement.