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05 August 2020 Ryanair is violating the anti-coronavirus health rules on board aircraft: ENAC is ready to suspend flights if the critical issues are not resolved and the company will be required to re-protect the tickets sold. 

The National Civil Aviation Authority announces that in recent days it has written to the low cost airline, "at the same time informing the homologated Irish authority, on the repeated violations of the anti-Covid health regulations ordered by the Italian government to protect the health of passengers" .

The ENAC airport directorates "have found that Ryanair systematically does not comply with the provisions envisaged in Italy to limit the health risk deriving from the coronavirus on board aircraft departing and arriving at national airports. Not only is the obligation to distancing between passengers, but also the conditions that allow the derogation from this distancing are disregarded "and therefore informed the airline" that, in the interest of public health, should Ryanair continue violations of the rules and incorrect behavior and disrespectful of the sanitary measures in force in Italy, the Authority will order against the airline an exclusion provision of the possibility of derogating from the obligation of distancing, with the consequence that the filling of the plane would be allowed only up to 50% of the capacity ".

"If further - adds ENAC - the further non-compliance with the obligations established by national regulations is ascertained, ENAC will be forced to apply the provisions of the Navigation Code and to impose the suspension of all air transport activities in national airports, requesting the carrier to simultaneously provide for the re-protection of all passengers already in possession of a travel document ".

Aicaf: distancing by plane without scientific basis
Meanwhile Aicalf, an association that gathers low cost airlines, says that the measures adopted on board aircraft for coronavirus prevention decided by ENAC have proven their validity, guaranteeing the maximum level of safety, but reintroducing the distancing on board aircraft "would be absurd and incomprehensible, without any scientific basis".

"The members of Aicalf (which includes Ryanair, in addition to BlueAir, EasyJet, Norwegian, Volotea and Vueling) which represent over 50% of the traffic in Italy - reads a note - are concerned about the serious consequences if the social distances on board the planes: thousands of people would now be forced to give up on planned trips, not to mention the chaos linked to the responsibility for cancellations and the supply of vouchers and refunds. The risk of jeopardizing the already precarious tourist season in Italy is concrete, with thousands of possible canceled flights and an important stop to the territorial connectivity that they guaranteed with the islands ".

According to the president of Aicalf, Matteo Castioni, "compared to other means of transport, in fact, on the planes there are no front seats, the air exchange is guaranteed every three minutes by Hepa filters", certified at European level, "reason for which you can travel by plane in a different way than other means of transport. In addition, the personnel on board are in control of the fact that everyone always wears masks. Not to mention the measures put in place by the airport managers before boarding ".