EU investigation into Ryanair crew memo
Pilots group claim internal document raises ‘serious concerns’
AN internal memo issued by Ryanair to its cabin crew is due to be investigated by the EU Commission and the European Aviation Safety Agency, the MoS can reveal.
The European Cockpit Association, which represents 38,000 pilots, has also urged the Irish Aviation Authority to investigate the memo ‘as a matter of urgency’.
The memo, which was issued on July 11, states that over several weeks ‘a number of cabin crew have refused to complete their duty on the uninformed assumption that they have “discretion”’.
Citing examples, it alleges cabin crew have, in the past, decided to ‘inconvenience’ passengers by cancelling flights because they made a judgment on how much food is on board, or the level of air conditioning’. The memo was issued to all cabin crew under the subject line ‘refusal to complete duty’.
‘This behaviour has resulted in delayed/cancelled flights, aircraft out of position, and unacceptable delays and inconvenience for our passengers,’ it states.
‘This behaviour is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.
‘Cabin crew do not have “discretion” under the Ops manual to decide what flights they are not going to operate.
‘On the rare occasion where there is an issue of operating into discretion, the Commander makes that decision for all the crew. The Commander of the Aircraft is the only person who can exercise discretion.
‘The needs of our customers and their convenience comes first and we will not allow their travel plans be disrupted because a tiny number of cabin crew refuse to operate flights.
‘Please be advised that any such refusals will be dealt with through the disciplinary procedure up to and including dismissal.’
Now, the European Cockpit Association has written to the EU Commission and the European Aviation Safety Agency asking them to investigate the memo.
They said the language used is ‘highly problematic and must be investigated more closely’.
The ECA said they had to raise their ‘serious concern about the wider impact such a memo potentially has on the safety and reporting cultures among aircrew in an air carrier’.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: ‘We haven’t seen any such pilot union letter but the EU Commission do not oversee airline regulatory matters.
‘These are dealt with by the IAA in the case of Ryanair. Commander’s discretion is not an issue in Ryanair with our 5 on/4 off pilot rosters.’
‘Refusal to complete duty’