Ryanair says that the Dispatches programme on Channel 4 failed to produce any new evidence of any safety or security breaches in Ryanair despite five months of undercover filming. This follows a “manufactured” advert by Channel 4 of a cabin crew sleeping on an aircraft which was not a Ryanair aircraft.

The 20 allegations which were forwarded to Ryanair in writing on the 12th January have been comprehensively disproven by the factual evidence provided by Ryanair (all of which has been published on Ryanair’s website at www.ryanair.com).

Both the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK and the Irish Aviation Authority in Ireland have also confirmed that there was “no substance in any of the allegations made in the letter from the production company”.

It is interesting that the Dispatches program after 5 months of filming, covering over 100,000 flights, could only produce a couple of isolated examples of minor breaches by Ryanair cabin crew of Ryanair’s own policies and procedures.  Each of these will be investigated (as is normal in all such cases) and reported to both the IAA and the CAA.  Ryanair will not comment further on these isolated incidents until the conclusion of these investigations.

Commenting on this evening’s Dispatches programme, Ryanair’s Chief Executive, Michael O’Leary said:

“Ryanair operates to the highest safety standards in Europe.  The fact that a 5 month undercover documentary could not produce evidence of any breaches of safety or security policies, bears witness to the safety and security compliance of Ryanair’s operations, and the outstanding service that is provided to our 40 million passengers annually by the 3,500 professionals who work here. 

“The refusal of the Dispatches programme to accept Ryanair’s offers of an interview and their refusal to run Ryanair’s statement without editing it makes it clear that it is the Dispatches programme that had something to hide, not Ryanair.”

“As always Ryanair will let the travelling public decide.  We will release 3 million free seats at midnight on our website at www.ryanair.com for travel during the months of February, March and April.  All passengers have to pay will be the airport taxes and charges.  The airline is confident that the travelling public will continue to support and enjoy Ryanair’s service across Europe”.
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