BUSINESS NEWS
Ryanair is advising passengers to ‘minimise checked-in luggage’ in contravention of official Covid-safety guidance
Ryanair rejects luggage rules as ‘nonsensical’
Carrier’s dismissal of Covid guidance risks confusing passengers. By Ian Taylor Dale Keller, chief executive of the
Airline dissent on Covid-19 safety rules risks confusion among passengers as the industry restarts after Ryanair dismissed part of UK government guidelines as “rubbish”. The government signalled an
important step towards restarting flights when it published Covid-19 safety guidance on June 11 which confirmed the need for passengers to wear face coverings on flights and to minimise hand baggage. The guidance states: “Airlines
should strongly promote the carriage of baggage in the aircraft hold and minimise any hand/cabin baggage”.
32 25 JUNE 2020 However, Ryanair, which
restarted flying on June 21, dismissed the guidance as “rubbish” and recommended “passengers minimise checked-in luggage”. In a statement, Ryanair said: “This is more nonsensical advice. The UK should stop issuing rubbish advice to passengers.” In fact, the government’s Interna-
tional Aviation Taskforce drew up the guidelines in collaboration with the industry and health experts and they follow the protocols already established by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
UK Board of Airline Representatives, noted: “The UK is one of the first to put ICAO and EASA guidelines into guidance. It’s important to bring some commonality.” The EASA guidance states
airlines “should minimise the amount of hand luggage taken into the cabin to expedite the boarding and disembarking procedure and to reduce movements and potential contamination in the cabin. Operators
Continued on page 30
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