THE UK AVIATION authority says that Ryanair has confirmed it will book passengers whose flights are cancelled onto rival airlines.

Ryanair last week announced it plans to cancel 40-50 flights daily for the next six weeks (to the end of October) to improve its punctuality.

The airline said its punctuality has fallen below 80% in the first two weeks of September.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said tonight that it would abide by a European Commission directive. Following an intervention from the CAA, Ryanair has confirmed to the UK regulator that it will reroute passengers on other airlines.

The directive effectively ensures that where there is a significant difference in the time that a re-route can be offered on the airline’s own services, then it would be reasonable to ask them if a re-route could be made on another airline.

Decisions on rerouting would be dependent of the specific circumstances and the differences in times and frequency of available flights.

The CAA told TheJournal.ie, it would be monitoring the situation closely, to ensure that Ryanair is offering the best rerouting options available to the passenger. The CAA has said that if Ryanair does not fulfil its legal obligations, it will consider its next steps which includes enforcement action.

CAA chief executive Andrew Haines, said:

“Passengers affected by the disruption caused by Ryanair’s cancelled flights are protected under EU law.

The welfare of passengers must be the priority for any airline experiencing disruption and we fully expect all EU airlines to meet their obligations regarding passenger rights.

“Ryanair is well aware of these passenger rights and we have written to the airline to clarify their legal obligations and seek assurances on how and when they will provide alternative flights with other airlines.”

A Ryanair statement said:

“Given the fact we have already re-accommodated 75% of our affected customers and given the size of our network, it’s unlikely we will need to, but will do so if necessary, and have been doing so, in full compliance with EU261 legislation.

“Any customers whose flights have been cancelled have been contacted, and we advise customers to liaise with our customer service team so that we can take all necessary steps to re-accommodate them. Ryanair fully complies with all EU261 legislation.”

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