Ryanair Pilot Group criticises airline for warning witnesses

The Ryanair Pilot Group has condemned the airline for warning witnesses who appeared at a recent European Parliament committee that they will face legal action if they repeat statements about the company in any other forum.

The Irish airline wrote to a number of academics and industry figures, who spoke about its employment practices at the parliament’s employment and social affairs committee, that it would take action if they made “defamatory claims” in any other forum.

Reacting yesterday to the news, the Ryanair Pilot Group said the action was “nothing short of scandalous”.

The organisation also dismissed the airline’s criticisms of a Ghent University study of conditions in the aviation industry that criticises the Irish company’s hiring practices.

Ryanair has several times questioned whether any respondents to the Ghent study worked for it, or anywhere in aviation, and said that the university itself has failed to respond to its queries relating to the research.

The pilots’ group called on Ryanair to publish the terms and conditions of workers crewing its aircraft.