MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s national civil aviation authority, which has accused Ryanair <RYA.I> of failing to comply with COVID-19 health and safety regulations, on Thursday said it has held discussions with representatives of the budget carrier.
The authority, ENAC, warned last month that it might ban the Irish airline over what it said were systematic failures over safety rules. Ryanair denied violating any of the measures.
“ENAC reminded Ryanair of the requirement for the carrier to ensure that measures laid down in Italy to limit the health risks from coronavirus are respected on board its aircraft and on departure and arrival in national airports,” the authority said in a statement.
It said the meeting, which took place on Wednesday, was conducted in a cordial atmosphere and that Ryanair had given a commitment to respect the rules and had agreed on the need for proper safety measures to support the recovery of the air transport sector.
Irish state broadcaster RTE on Thursday quoted Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary as saying that reports of complaints about Ryanair’s adherence to public health requirements in certain Italian airports were completely untrue.
“We had a meeting yesterday with the Italian authorities, who have fully accepted that we are in full compliance with these measures,” he told the broadcaster.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Additional reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Mark Potter and David Goodman)
