Ryanair Says it Will Suspend Internal Italian Flights

Apparently Ryanair will plan on suspending all of its internal Italian flights due to the dispute with Italian authorities over ID’s at check in. The Irish budget carrier says that the Italian civil aviation authority’s determination to widen the number of documents acceptable as IDs threatens the security and the safety of their passengers.

Due to this, Ryanair has said that it will now suspend its operations from Alghero, Bari, Bergamo, Brindisi, Cagliari, Bologna, Ciampino, Pisa, Trapani, and Pescara as of January 23^rd of 2010. The chief executive of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, said that they sincerely regret any kind of inconvenience this new choice has made to their Italian domestic passengers. Mr O’Leary added that they feel it is entirely wrong for the Italian civil aviation authority to introduce lower safety measures on Italian domestic flights than the safety and security measures that are already operated on Ryanair flights in other areas.

A statement on Ryanair’s website said that due to the fact that it operated a web only check in policy, passengers had to agree to produce either a valid passport of ID card when they arrived at the airport. The Italian directive means they need to produce nothing more than a fishing license at the airport for safety and security.

The airline went on to say that the flights will only be restored if it can be certain that the safety and security of its operations will not be undermined by these unlawful interferences. Separate to this matter, the Italian civil aviation authority has fined easyJet £99,000 for delays and cancellations on its flights between Lamezia Terme and Rome’s other main airport at Fiumicino.