UK aviation watchdog gives Ryanair compliance deadline

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - Crisis-hit airline Ryanair was given a deadline to comply with legislation on customers’ rights by the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday.

The warning said the company had until 5 p.m. Friday local time to put in place an “orderly explanation” about re-routing and reimbursement of expenses after a string of cancelled flights.

This latest CAA announcement came a day after the Irish company -- Europe’s biggest budget airline -- was warned officially for not complying with the law, following the cancellation of 18,000 more flights.

"There is still no information here about how expenses will be treated where passengers are re-routed to and/or from other airports or where they otherwise incur additional out-of-pocket expenses as a result of the cancellations," the CAA said.

It instructed Ryanair to change details on its official website by the afternoon deadline.

"Further changes are therefore required to make it clear that any such expenses will be reimbursed by Ryanair," the CAA added.

"There are clear laws in place, which are intended to assist passengers in the event of a cancellation, helping minimize both the frustration and inconvenience caused by circumstances completely out of their control,” CAA Chief Executive Andrew Hainess said on Thursday.

“We have made this crystal clear to Ryanair, who are well aware of their legal obligations, which includes how and when they should reroute passengers, along with the level of information it provides its passengers,” he added.

Among 34 routes suspended by Ryanair include London Stansted to Edinburgh and Glasgow, Gatwick to Belfast and Newcastle to Faro.

Ryanair earlier cancelled up to 50 flights a day through to the end of October, also affecting 400,000 passengers.

The airline initially blamed a rota mistake, leading to a shortage of available pilots.