Ryanair landing problems need investigation now

20 February 2007

Commenting on today’s Guardian report that the Irish government may investigate Ryanair’s record of dangerous landing approaches, Ingo Marowsky, Civil Aviation Secretary of the ITF (the global union that set up Ryan-be-fair in response to the concerns and requests for help of the airline's workers), said: “Good, we urge the government to investigate. There is a problem here that is widely known in the industry and it’s a problem that has its roots in the Ryanair operating model – not in ‘jet jockeys’ as Michael O’Leary would prefer us to think.”

He continued: “We – and others – have researched Ryanair and seen just how pressured the schedules are, how tight the turnaround times, and how there appears to be a corporate culture that does not make safety its first and overriding priority. With the regulatory authorities taking an interest Michael O’Leary has reacted with a clumsy attempt to shift the blame. These anomalous approaches aren’t a result of professional pilots suddenly turning into mad aerobatic stuntmen, they’re a result of flight crews being made to work too close to the edge of what is humanly possible.”

ENDS

For more information contact ITF press officer, Sam Dawson.
Direct line: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260.
Email: dawson_sam@itf.org.uk

International Transport Workers' Federation - ITF:
HEAD OFFICE
ITF House, 49 - 60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DS
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7403 2733
Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7375 7871
Email: mail@itf.org.uk
Web: www.itfglobal.org

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