Have Ryanair Finally Lost it? LMAO!

My god, this is the type of thing people joke about in threads about Ryanair. But it sounds like its come true! Suppose its not funny really, whether your a paying passenger or a member of staff, not nice sitting on a toilet for 2 hours!

Taken From The Irish Times:

Low-cost airline Ryanair faces an investigation after flying from Girona in Spain to London’s Stansted airport earlier this week with people seated in the aircraft’s toilets, writes Dominic Coyle

The airline, which was reported to the regulator following the incident, has acknowledged that the flight was overcrowded and that it should not have happened.

“Ryanair does not overbook its flights,” a spokesman said. “We are taking it very seriously and it is the subject of an internal investigation.” It is understood that the passengers seated on the toilets for the duration of the flight were Ryanair staff. Other staff not on duty on the particular flight were sitting in jump-seats in the passenger cabin.

The Irish Aviation Authority, which regulates the behaviour of all Irish-registered aircraft regardless of where in the world they are flying, confirmed last night that it had received a complaint from a passenger on the flight and had initiated an investigation.

The authority has contacted the airline but was unable to say whether it had yet received a formal response. A spokeswoman said the investigation was focusing on safety issues rather than any concern about security.

Ryanair said the incident occurred because too many off-duty staff were allowed on board. A spokesman for the airline said it was seeking explanations from the flight crew and ground staff at Girona airport. Ground operations at Girona are handled for Ryanair by Lesma Handling.

The news emerged as Ryanair yesterday escalated its clash with the British Airports Authority (BAA) over services at Stansted. The airline filed suit in the London High Court accusing the airport owner of abusing a monopoly situation by continuing to charge it a £5 million fuel levy each year to fund a fuel hydrant system the airline claims is long paid for. The BAA has said it intends suing the Irish airline for over £1 million that Ryanair has withheld in increased passenger charges and the fuel levy.

Ryanair has also announced a $240 million expansion of its base at Luton airport, run by rival airport operator TBI, with the investment in four new Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

However, it said it was halving its daily service from Stansted to Derry from October, and warned it may have to pull out of Derry airport altogether because its runway cannot handle the larger planes Ryanair is acquiring. The president of Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Éamonn Stephenson, said any reduction in Ryanair services to the north-west would be a serious blow for business and tourism in the region.

And More Ryanair News. O’Leary and his big mouth again. Taken from the Guardian:

Ryanair yesterday accused airports operator BAA of “scamming” its customers at Stansted and said it was going to build up its operations at Luton.
Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s founder and chief executive, lodged a writ at the high court against BAA on the grounds that it was abusing its dominant position at Stansted.

“It’s a low-cost airport with a high-cost fuel scam,” fumed the Irish entrepreneur at a briefing yesterday at which he launched nine routes from Luton and unveiled plans for $240m (£130m) worth of new aircraft.

The attack on BAA follows threats by the operator of Stansted to take Ryanair, its biggest customer, to court for alleged failure to pay £1m worth of aeronautical charges.

Mr O’Leary said his company was refusing to pay increased levies imposed by BAA because it wanted the airport operator to negotiate over fuel charges.

“We can no longer allow BAA to charge £5m per annum in fuel levies to recoup the cost of a fuel hydrant system that was built 14 years ago for £12.5m. The fuel charge is a rip-off,” said Howard Millar, Ryanair’s chief financial officer.

Mr O’Leary insisted his company had no intention of abandoning the Essex airport, but it could cut back and he made clear the battle over fuel charges was only one of many grievances he had.

He would be looking for a reduction in charges for Ryanair of up to 50% when his 10-year contract with Stansted came up for renewal in 2007 on the basis that BAA was getting double the number of passengers it was built for. Asked whether he was not concerned that a writ from BAA over unpaid charges might not damage the reputation of the airline, he answered: “I’m amazed that people think that just because we have received a writ that the walls of Jericho are going to come tumbling down.”

Mr O’Leary ripped into BAA over its grandiose “Taj Mahal” plans to expand, against the wishes of customers.

“The regulatory regime is encouraging BAA to waste millions building completely useless facilities,” he said.

BAA last night defended its charges and plans, saying the fuel pricing had been passed by the competition authorities in a 2002 review while it had no detailed plans for expansion that could be written off as wasteful or grandiose.

A spokesman admitted Ryanair’s decision to expand at Luton would increase competition, but insisted that capacity there was “limited” while Stansted should be able to offer plenty of scope for expansion.