Ryanair calls for Dublin Airport contingency plan

Low-cost airline Ryanair today called on the Government and Aer Rianta to produce a contingency plan to keep Dublin Airport open during future strike actions.

Aer Rianta claimed that in a strike situation the Dublin Fire Service or Army personnel are not trained to keep the fire service and runways open.

Ryanair’s head of communications, Paul Fitzsimmons, said: “Aer Rianta has still made no effort to train Dublin Fire Brigade or Army personnel to provide fire cover and keep Dublin Airport's runways open during strike actions."

Last week, Ryanair made an application to the High Court against SIPTU to prevent the closure of Dublin Airport on March 18, which was subsequently called off at the last minute. The airline had claimed that if the action had gone ahead it would have disrupted over 50,000 passengers.