Ryanair to sue British government for £3m

Airline seeking compensation for cancellations and delays caused by extra security at British airports

Ryanair is to seek over £3 million from the British government in compensation for delays and cancellations caused by increased security measures at UK airports.

The airline said any proceeds from its compensation claim would go to charity.

However, the UK Department for Transport (DfT) said it believed Ryanair had no legal grounds to seek compensation.

Last week the airline said it would sue if security restrictions at British airports were not brought back to "normal" levels within seven days.

Ryanair said yesterday that additional security measures introduced in the wake of the alleged aircraft bomb plot earlier this month were "nonsensical and ineffective". These measures included allowing only hand baggage up to the size of a large briefcase onto aircraft, the introduction of body searches for every second passenger and the confiscation of bottles, cosmetics and toiletries at security check points.

The airline said the additional security measures would only give rise to large queues, frequent delays and further flight cancellations over this busy August bank holiday weekend in the UK.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said the DfT was doing nothing to restore normality at airports in Britain.

He claimed the DfT was "undermining the credibility of UK airport security and pandering to the extremists".

"We should not be moved - the way to defeat terrorism is to get back to normal. It is a pity that the UK government has so far failed to adopt the same rock-solid approach it took when it successfully restored the London Underground to normal within two days of the 7/7 attacks."

He added: "It is now two weeks since the government successfully averted the alleged terrorist/extremist attack at the UK airports, and it is time to return UK airports security to the same International Air Transport Association norms which apply at every other international European airport, and which have successfully prevented a terrorist/extremist attack at a UK airport or a UK aircraft for over 25 years."

Mr O'Leary said the DfT, by failing to return airport security to normal, is "handing the extremists an undeserved and unnecessary victory". He said the £3 million claim reflected Ryanair's losses from cancellations and lost bookings only for the period August 10th - 16th.

"The purpose of this claim is to encourage the DfT to restore UK airport security to the effective IATA norm, and to prevent similar breakdowns at UK airports during future security scares by putting in the necessary police and army personnel to carry out the extra security checks whenever the government decides to double or quadruple them again, without notice," he added.

A DfT spokesman said Britain continued to face a serious threat and security would not be compromised.