A UK Civil Aviation Authority Spokesperson said:
“The UK CAA plays a key role protecting passengers as well as enabling growth in the UK aviation sector. We encourage UK operators to create strong resilience plans for when planes have to be grounded to minimise the impact on passengers. These plans need to be consistent with the legal framework that applies to UK aviation following EU Exit, which requires UK based companies to have sufficient UK registered aircraft to operate their schedule.
"Ryanair has been well aware of this position for a considerable period of time. Ryanair UK has chosen to operate a flight schedule that requires 18 aircraft, but has only allocated 15 aircraft to its UK registered business to fulfil this schedule.
“Ryanair has prioritised the placement of aircraft within their other EU based business over the UK, leaving UK passengers at a higher risk of disruption.”
Background
- Protecting people is the UK’s aviation regulator’s core goal. We encourage airlines to have in place resilience plans. These plans should enable continued operations when, as often happens, technical failures or disruption occurs. This has been achieved by other UK based operators.
- The CAA and the UK Government require UK based operations to be run by UK registered business and planes so companies are not reliant on overseas assets to maintain their schedule. This is consistent with the legal framework that applies following the UK’s departure from the EU.
- Ryanair UK’s current schedule requires 18 aircraft. It has made the business decision to register 15 aircraft in the UK, leaving them at higher risk of disruption in the event that issues that might ground an aircraft.
- The CAA has shown some flexibility on this issue for a transitional period following EU Exit but has been consistent with Ryanair UK that the UK would need apply its legal framework. This includes being explicit that Ryanair would need to bring more planes on its UK register to in order to support its UK business’s scheduled services.
- In deciding to structure its business this way, Ryanair UK knew the potential disruption to their passengers this would bring.
- The CAA plays a key role in supporting UK aviation to enable growth in the economy, and getting passengers to where they want to go safely. This work is not supported by Ryanair UK’s approach of not having the appropriate number of UK aircraft used for their UK flight schedule and instead relying on their EU fleet.