Italy threatens to ban Ryanair for 'breaking coronavirus regulations'
Italy’s national civil aviation authority ENAC has threatened to suspend Ryanair’s permit to fly in the country over alleged non-compliance with coronavirus safety rules.
It accused the budget airline of ‘repeated violations of the COVID-19 health regulations currently in force and imposed by the Italian government to protect the health of passengers’.
‘Not only is the obligation to distance passengers not respected, but the conditions for making an exception to that rule are also being ignored’, the ENAC said in a statement on Wednesday. Ryanair has rejected the accusations as ‘factually inaccurate’.
ENAC said it would ‘suspend all air transport activities at national airports, requiring the carrier to re-route all passengers already in possession of tickets’ if the carrier continued to break the rules
Italy was the first European country to be hit hard by the pandemic and imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.
More than 35,100 people have lost their lives to COVID-19 in the country and over 248,400 have been infected by the disease.
After initially being the epicentre of Europe’s outbreak, Italy brought levels right down and is yet to see signs of a second wave that have caused concern in other countries, such as Spain. Traveller’s returning to the UK from Italy don’t have to self-isolate because it is deemed ‘safe’, making it a popular destination for Brits this summer.
In a statement provided to Euronews, a spokesperson for Ryanair said: ‘Ryanair complies fully with the measures set out by the Italian government and our customers can rest assured that we are doing everything to reduce interaction on both our aircraft and at airports to protect the health of our passengers when flying Ryanair.
It argued that it encourages all passengers to check-in online and that specific boarding procedures have been put in place to ‘avoid unnecessary gathering of passengers both at boarding gates and onboard the aircraft’.
Ryanair operates out of more than 25 Italian destinations. Like other airlines hit hard by the pandemic, it is facing the challenge of persuading people it is safe to fly as it seeks to recover from record-breaking losses.
The company said it suffered the ‘most challenging’ quarter in its 35-year history when countries shut their borders to control the spread of the disease.
It flew just 500,000 passengers from April to June this year, compared with 41.9million in the same period last year. Revenue collapsed from £2.1 billion to £113million, with the Dublin-based carrier saying a second wave of the disease was now its ‘biggest fear’.
‘Not only is the obligation to distance passengers not respected, but the conditions for making an exception to that rule are also being ignored’, the ENAC said in a statement on Wednesday. Ryanair has rejected the accusations as ‘factually inaccurate’.
ENAC said it would ‘suspend all air transport activities at national airports, requiring the carrier to re-route all passengers already in possession of tickets’ if the carrier continued to break the rules
Italy was the first European country to be hit hard by the pandemic and imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.
More than 35,100 people have lost their lives to COVID-19 in the country and over 248,400 have been infected by the disease.
After initially being the epicentre of Europe’s outbreak, Italy brought levels right down and is yet to see signs of a second wave that have caused concern in other countries, such as Spain. Traveller’s returning to the UK from Italy don’t have to self-isolate because it is deemed ‘safe’, making it a popular destination for Brits this summer.
In a statement provided to Euronews, a spokesperson for Ryanair said: ‘Ryanair complies fully with the measures set out by the Italian government and our customers can rest assured that we are doing everything to reduce interaction on both our aircraft and at airports to protect the health of our passengers when flying Ryanair.
It argued that it encourages all passengers to check-in online and that specific boarding procedures have been put in place to ‘avoid unnecessary gathering of passengers both at boarding gates and onboard the aircraft’.
Ryanair operates out of more than 25 Italian destinations. Like other airlines hit hard by the pandemic, it is facing the challenge of persuading people it is safe to fly as it seeks to recover from record-breaking losses.
The company said it suffered the ‘most challenging’ quarter in its 35-year history when countries shut their borders to control the spread of the disease.
It flew just 500,000 passengers from April to June this year, compared with 41.9million in the same period last year. Revenue collapsed from £2.1 billion to £113million, with the Dublin-based carrier saying a second wave of the disease was now its ‘biggest fear’.