Paper recognises Ryanair’s safety standards

Ryanair yesterday secured yet another acknowledgement from a media outlet in the High Court of the quality of its safety record.

That record had been questioned in a Channel 4 Dispatches programme broadcast this year, in which a pilot spoke about the safety of the airline.

In a statement read out in the High Court yesterday, Mirror Group Newspapers Limited said: “On Monday, August 12, in connection to a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary scheduled to be broadcast that evening, we reported that, according to a survey, ‘most Ryanair pilots have serious concerns about passenger safety’.

“We acknowledge the Irish Aviation Authority’s independent confirmation, on 15 August, that Ryanair ‘fully complies with all European and international regulations in all of its operations’, and the previous confirmation given on September 18, 2012, of Ryanair’s safety standards being ‘on a par with the safest airlines in Europe’.

Ryanair solicitor Paul Tweed said the airline acknowledged the “prompt and categoric statement”.

He said it set the record straight “in relation to a survey organised by a group of pilots who work for Ryanair’s competitors, which is neither representative of Ryanair pilots’ views nor compatible with the full safety clearance Ryanair continues to receive from the Irish Aviation Authority and other regulatory bodies”.

He said the Mirror was the latest newspaper to recognise Ryanair’s safety record following statements by the Belfast Telegraph, Irish Independent, Irish Daily Mail, as well as the Mail Online.

“With one further apology due to be announced shortly, my client will be continuing to vigorously pursue their defamation action against Blakeway/Channel 4, the producers of the offending Dispatches programme, before the High Court... in Dublin.”

Ryanair director of flight and ground operations David O’Brien said: “We will now focus our efforts on defamation proceedings against Channel 4 Dispatches and Mr John Goss, who made unfounded claims about Ryanair’s safety in a recent TV programme.”