Ryanair is to be investigated by Irish and Spanish aviation authorities following accusations from pilots’ leaders that the budget airline is ‘courting disaster’ by flying planes with near-empty fuel tanks to cut costs.
Spanish pilot union leaders accused Ryanair of ‘operating on the very limits of legality’ in the way it fuels its planes.
Ryanair denies any wrong-doing and insists its planes are safe with sufficient fuel reserves.
The decision to investigate came at a meeting of Irish and Spanish air safety experts in Dublin on Tuesday.
The investigation relates specifically to the diversion to Madrid of a Ryanair flight from Paris to Tenerife on Sunday.
But it follows a spate of incidents in Spanish airspace involving Europe’s largest budget airline – including a number where flights have declared ‘emergencies’ and demanded to land because they were running low on fuel.
In a joint statement Ireland’s Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport and the Spanish Ministry of Development met ‘to discuss oversight of Ryanair’s operation in Spain.’
The Irish have become quite cocky bastards of late, so they have…
