Ryanair won't pull out of Italy
Budget airline backs down on threat, agrees to new ID policy
08 January, 21:57
(ANSA) - Rome, January 7 - Budget carrier Ryanair withdrew its threat to suspend domestic service in Italy on Thursday and agreed to the Italian aviation authority ENAC's new policy on passenger ID.
Last month, the company said it would cancel all ten of its internal routes by January 23 unless ENAC rescinded a new policy allowing passengers to board flights using forms of identification other than passports and state-issued ID cards. Ryanair said that a ''relaxed'' boarding regime would compromise the safety of its passengers and infringe upon its prerogative to choose what kinds of ID to accept.
''This policy would allow a person to board a plane carrying nothing more than a fishing license,'' the company complained.
The threat came just days after a foiled attempt by an Al Qaeda-trained Nigerian man to bomb a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day.
It sent a ripple of unrest through Italian airports, where Ryanair is closing in on Alitalia to become the nation's leading domestic carrier.
It also irritated ENAC, which accused the company of leveraging its market share to dictate civil aviation policy and making a mountain out of a molehill.
ENAC also railed against the airline for insinuating that airport security in Italy wasn't up to scratch.
After a round of negotiations on Thursday, ENAC chief Vito Riggio announced that the airline had ''apologized'' for the implication and accepted the new policy.
Ryanair later confirmed the statement, hailing a revised version of the policy as a ''major improvement''.
''We will accept all forms of identification issued by European Union member states in addition to passports and national ID cards,'' the company agreed. It explained that expanding the range of acceptable ID any further would make it impossible to verify a passenger's identity via the airline's online check-in system. Transport Minister Altero Matteoli praised both parties ''for resolving the dispute without any cancelled flights or inconvenience to passengers''.
