An initial refusal by Ryanair to accept help from Aer Lingus with a tyre change has been blamed for unnecessarily delaying passengers. The Ryanair aircraft was blocking a runway.
Sources close to Aer Lingus claimed the refusal resulted in delays of several hours for passengers embarking on transatlantic flights and led to incoming flights being diverted to Dublin and Cork.
It is claimed it took a "highlevel" telephone call from Aer Lingus to Ryanair before the offer of help was taken up. The tyres on the Ryanair aircraft became deflated following an aborted take-off.
When contacted yesterday Ryanair said it was the ground handling company, Servisair, which was responsible. However, a Servisair representative in Manchester said it was concerned solely with passengers and did not have any engineering role at Shannon Airport.
"There is absolutely no way we would get involved in saying yes or no because it is not our role," the representative said.
When contacted later the Ryanair spokesman, Mr Michael Cawley, said he wanted to be quoted as saying he did not know anything about the allegation. He said that when a plane stopped at speed its wheels automatically deflated, but this did not result in any undue delay. He said the runway was clear within two hours.
He said Ryanair would be happy to avail of Aer Lingus assistance at any time and Aer Lingus had eventually helped Ryanair's own engineer at Shannon to change the tyres.
The take-off was aborted by Ryanair after the pilot received a warning of a possible engine problem. It subsequently emerged that there was no problem with the engine.