Ryanair Threatens to Discontinue Local Flights in Italy

Apparently Ryanair is now threatening to discontinue its domestic flights in Italy starting next month. This news comes after a dispute with the country’s authorities surfaced over new rules on ID documents that passengers can show at airport gates.

Right now Ryanair operates 10 domestic flights at Italian airports. This does include flights in Rome and Milan. These flights are set to be grounded starting January 23 unless the issue gets resolved before then.

Just last month, Italy’s civil aviation authority ordered airlines to accept driving licenses, government badges, fishing and hunting licenses, and other documents to identify passengers at boarding gates for domestic flights. Ryanair went on to say that since it started operating entirely with online check ins, passengers are asked at booking time to show their passport or identity cards before boarding. They added that the documents now allowed are less secure and this threatens flight security.

Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, said that they are sorry for the inconveniences that this new decision will cause. It’s completely inappropriate for these new measurements to be introduce, because it lowers security when compared to the security measures that are used on all Ryanair flights in the European Union.

However, the Italy Civil Aviation Authority went on to dismiss Ryanair’s protest saying that the new rules were based on a law that was passed back in 2000, and all other carriers have complied with them. They went on to say that no carrier can operate on the national domestic market without respecting the rules. Ryanair is the only European Union and international operator that demands to fly in Italy without respecting Italian laws.