Ryanair are accusing Eamon Ryan of “strangling” the Irish aviation industry.
And Ryanair CEO, Eddie Wilson, is making an impassioned plea to Mr Ryan to “act now to save travel connections for Christmas to reunite Irish families.”
"The airline has told the Oireachtas transport committee in a statement this morning that the Minister for Transport is jeopardising 465,000 jobs with his “absence of a coherent aviation policy.”
Ryanair believes the 140,000 jobs in Irish aviation, and 325,000 in tourism, are at risk by keeping the skies shut during the second Covid lockdown.
And they argue that airplanes are the “safest places on the planet” for people who gather in a confined space because of the strict compliance rules airlines impose.
Ryanair’s chief executive, Mr Wilson, says: “The Summer 20 season was lost directly due to Government policy failure and direction that people should not travel.
“Instead of using the time during the summer to beef up Track and Trace and hospital capacity, Aviation was and continues to be used as a scapegoat for the transmission of C19, when the data and science conclusively shows that Airline Travel is the safest place on the planet where people congregate.
“This is due to a combination of 100% compliance with mask wearing, hospital grade HEPA filters and safety policies and procedures endorsed by EASA and the ECDC.
“Now that we are in the midst of a second wave of C19 driven entirely by domestic factors and Govt policy failures, we call on Minister Ryan to act now to save travel connections for Christmas to reunite Irish families.
“Minister Ryan also needs to open his own aviation report that has been on his desk for 4 months and implement those recommendations in full including restoration of connectivity to our largest markets, and a scheme of rebates on charges for all airlines for 3 years to attract traffic for S21 to support the 140,000 jobs in aviation and the 325,000 jobs in tourism that directly depend on airline capacity.”
