Ryanair threatens to ground domestic flights in Italy in January over ID documents dispute

Ryanair threatens to stop local flights in Italy

ROME — Ryanair is threatening to stop domestic flights in Italy starting next month amid a dispute with the country’s authorities over new rules on ID documents that passengers can show at airport gates.

Domestic flights operated at 10 Italian airports, including Rome and Milan, will be grounded from Jan. 23 until the issue is resolved, the Irish budget airline said in a statement posted Wednesday on its Italian Web site.

Last month, Italy’s civil aviation authority, known by the acronym ENAC, ordered airlines to accept driving licenses, government badges, fishing and hunting licenses and other documents to identify passengers at boarding gates for domestic flights.

Ryanair said that since it started operating entirely with online check-ins, passengers are asked at booking time to show their passport or identity card before boarding. It said in the statement that the documents now allowed are less secure and this threatens flight security.

“We are really sorry for the inconveniences that this decision will cause,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said in the statement.

“It’s completely inappropriate for ENAC to introduce measures that reduce security on Italian domestic flights, compared with the security measures successfully used on all Ryanair flights in the EU and all Ryanair domestic flights in every other EU country,” he said.

ENAC dismissed Ryanair’s protests, saying that the new rules were based on a law passed in 2000 and that all other carriers had complied with them.

“No carrier can operate on the national domestic market without respecting the rules,” the authority said in a statement. “Ryanair is the only EU and international operator that demands to fly in Italy without respecting Italian law.”

ENAC said it would lodge a protest with the Irish civil aviation authority and inform Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini of the situation.

Last week, an administrative tribunal in Rome rejected Ryanair’s request to suspend the new rules. The company said Wednesday it would appeal to a higher administrative court.