O’Leary: ‘Imaginary black cloud’ cost Ryanair €50m

THE “imaginary black cloud” has upset people’s confidence about flying and has cost Ryanair about €50 million, according to Michael O’Leary.

The airline chief wants to get the European regulation overturned, whereby airlines mustrefund or compensate passengers when delayed.

Mr O’Leary said one customer stranded in the Canary Islands, hoping to return to Dublin, put in a claim for €3,000 for a luxury apartment.

“There was no ash cloud,” he said. “It was mythical. We’ve not been able to find it.”

He went on: “It’s become evident the airspace closure was completely unnecessary.”

Ryanair said the full exceptional cost won’t be known “for some time” and will depend on the number of claims received.

The budget carrier said it has begun to refund people but refused to say how many claims have been received.

However, it has taken on 100 new staff to process refund claims and around one million claims are likely to be processed over four weeks.

Ryanair cancelled around 9,400 flights because of the ash crisis.

Aer Lingus said that in May it processed more than 40,000 refunds from customers whose flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash disruption.

A spokeswoman said the airline has received “a very significant volume of claims” since the volcanic disruption began in mid-April.

“We have dedicated extra resources to ensure that our customers receive as speedy a response as is possible,” she said.

Some passengers have complained about the refund process with Aer Lingus saying they have been waiting for more than the 28 days deadline the airline said they would receive compensation.

The spokeswoman said the time frame for refund requests and compensation claims varies depending on each individual case.

Meanwhile, Ryanair said it responded to the ash cloud by cutting prices. Mr O’Leary also said he is not “holding his breath” that he’ll get anything back from the European Governments in terms of compensation for airlines.