No señoras: Ryanair’s racy calendar lands a ban

Ryanair’s racy calendar featuring stewardesses in bikinis has been banned in Spain for being sexist.

Judge Amanda Cohen ordered the low-cost airline to drop its annual Girls of Ryanair campaign after a formal complaint from consumer group Adecua, which has asked for it to be banned for the past five years. The ju-dge described the calendar as “illegal, discriminatory, and unfair”. She ruled the cabin crew are shown in “a sexually suggestive manner” and that “the female body is being used as a mere object”. She said it was “obvious” the calendar was being used to sell tickets.

But last night, Ryanair said the ruling only related to last year’s calendar and would not stop the sales of this year’s edition. It is appealing the decision.

Ryanair says it sells 10,000 copies of the calendar a year and has raised €700,000 for charities since 2008.

Meanwhile, the magic of Christmas will come alive for 3,000 lucky children as Ryanair is running free 40-minute flights from Shannon where children can meet Santa.

The flights, supported by the airport, will operate six times daily on Saturdays and Sundays this and next weekend. Tickets are being allocated on a first-come- first-serve basis and can be booked on www.shannonairport.ie or by phone on 061 712093/712094.

Meanwhile, Ryanair has agreed to pay out €50,000 to a child who was injured when a piece of luggage fell out of an overhead locker on one of its flights three years ago.

Klaudia Adamczyk suffered a fracture to the right side of the base of her skull when the piece ofluggage, which had been allegedly forced into the overhead bin earlier by cabin crew, tumbled out when a passenger opened the locker on landing.