The Irish Aviation Authority and its Spanish counterpart AESA are to jointly examine the incident at Madrid Airport on Sunday 16th September when a Ryanair flight from Paris to Tenerife was diverted to Madrid due to a technical fault.
There have been a number of diversions and emergency landings by Ryanair in Spanish airspace in recent times.
A statement issued yesterday by the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport and the Spanish Ministry of Development said: “A delegation from the Spanish Ministry of Development led by the Secretary General for Transport met representatives of the Irish Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport, led by the Secretary General, with the Irish Aviation Authority in Dublin today (Tuesday) to discuss oversight of Ryanair’s operation in Spain.
“The Irish authorities gave an assurance of the IAA’s rigorous oversight of Ryanair’s operations and on their satisfaction with Ryanair’s safety standards which are on a par with the safest airlines in Europe.
“The Irish authorities extended an invitation to the Spanish authorities to send an expert delegation to visit the IAA and to be briefed in detail on the oversight of Ryanair’s operations.
“It was recognised that there is already good co-operation between the IAA and its Spanish counterpart AESA and it was agreed that the two organisations will develop a Memorandum of Understanding on increased co-operation.
“The Directors General of Civil Aviation in the two jurisdictions will also meet regularly.
“As an example of this increased co-operation it was agreed that the circumstances of a specific incident in Madrid Airport on 16th September would be jointly examined by IAA and AESA.”
Ryanair Response
In a statement, Ryanair responded: “Ryanair welcomed today’s joint statement from the Irish and Spanish Transport Ministries which affirms that Ryanair’s safety standards are on par with the safest airlines in Europe.
“Ryanair had invited the Spanish Ministry to send a team of inspectors to Dublin to correct any (misplaced) concerns about Ryanair’s compliance with Europe’s highest operating and maintenance standards by providing them with unfettered access to Ryanair operating, maintenance and flight training facilities and unlimited access to Ryanair’s safety, flight management, engineering and maintenance personnel.”
