Ryanair, Channel Four to give files to each other

Ryanair has been ordered to give Channel Four TV Corporation documents related to its fuel policy between 2010 and 2012 in advance of the hearing of proceedings brought by the airline over alleged defamation.

The corporation has in turn been ordered to give Ryanair documents relating to investigation, research or inquiry made by it, or by Blakeway Productions Ltd, concerning a programme entitled Secrets from the Cockpit, made by Blakeway and broadcast on August 12, 2013, as part of Channel 4’s Dispatches series.

The Court of Appeal made various orders yesterday in an appeal on pre-trial discovery issues in proceedings by Ryanair alleging it was defamed in the programme. Both sides appealed against various discovery orders made by the High Court.

Giving the appeal court’s judgment, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said the Dispatches programme featured interviews with several Ryanair pilots. The general theme of the programme was to the effect Ryanair had endangered passenger safety by operating a low-fuel policy and by pressuring pilots to take as little fuel as possible, he said.

He said the programme also recounted events involving Ryanair aircraft alleged to have taken place at Valencia Airport in Spain on July 26, 2012, and at Memmingen Airport in Germany in September 2012.

The judge said Ryanair immediately issued High court proceedings alleging the programme was defamatory. The defendants denied defamation, pleaded the allegations were true in substance and in fact, and they were entitled to the defence of honest opinion.

Both sides later sought discovery with Ryanair effectively seeking all material used in making the programme and related to editorial decisions. Channel Four sought all documents related to in-flight fuel-related incidents and correspondence between Ryanair and the Spanish and Irish regulatory authorities concerning the Valencia incidents.

Nothing in the court’s judgment was to be taken as expressing any view how issues concerning sources should ultimately be determined, the judge said.

Given that the discovery outcome amounted to a “score-draw”, Mr Justice Birmingham said both sides should pay their own costs of the appeal.