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Ryanair faces ban from Italy over 'failure to follow coronavirus rules'

Ryanair has restored 60% of its August schedule - reuters
Ryanair has restored 60% of its August schedule - reuters

Italy’s civil aviation authority has warned Ryanair it could be banned from the country over allegedly ignoring national coronavirus safety rules.

The Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile (ENAC) accused the low-cost carrier of "repeated violations of the Covid-19 health regulations currently in force and imposed by the Italian Government to protect the health of passengers".

"Not only is the obligation to distance passengers not respected, but the conditions for making an exception to that rule are also being ignored," it said in a statement.

Airlines operating into Italy are exempt from running at 50 per cent capacity - to aid social distancing on-board - if they are able to meet other regulations. ENAC said Ryanair was failing to do so.

If Ryanair continued to break the rules, ENAC said, it would "suspend all air transport activities at national airports, requiring the carrier to re-route all passengers already in possession of tickets".

Ryanair, which on Thursday said it had restored 60 per cent of its original flying schedule for August, refuted the claims, describing them as “factually incorrect”.

A spokesperson said the airline is “committed to the highest level of safety for our passengers and crew at all times”, adding: “The claims made in ENAC’s press release today are factually incorrect. Ryanair complies fully with the measures set out by the Italian government and our customers can rest assured that we are doing everything to reduce interaction on both our aircraft and at airports to protect the health of our passengers when flying Ryanair.”

It added its procedures are in line with the “safety recommendations and measures set out by the Italian Government and also the European Safety Agency (EASA) & European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC)”.

Ryanair said its safety measures included contactless boarding, limits to carry-on baggage, a reduced in-flight service and the mandatory wearing of face masks by customers and staff.

The Irish airline said it will increase its flight frequencies throughout August, with more than 1,600 routes and over 11,000 weekly flights.

It said it “encourages all passengers to observe the healthy flying measures it has had in place since mid-May, including the mandatory use of facemasks and a reduced in-flight cashless service”.

This week website AirlineRatings.com said it was introducing a grading system for carriers and their compliance with coronavirus rules.

The world's only safety and product rating website said it would award airlines a Covid19 "star" if it passed four out of six criteria: website information on Covid-19 procedures; face masks for passengers; personal protection equipment for crew; modified meal service; deep clean of aircraft and social distancing on boarding.

Editor-in-Chief, Geoffrey Thomas, said that: "it was concerning to find that many airlines did not appear to comply with the COVID-19 agreed standards for protection of passengers and crew."

It has not yet announced which airlines comply with its criteria.