Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary hit out at rival European airlines Wednesday, claiming they opposed Britain securing a "favourable deal" over routes following Brexit. Britain accounts for about one-quarter of revenues earned by the Irish no-frills airline, causing O'Leary and Ryanair in general to be extremely vocal regarding perceived risks of the country exiting the European Union.
"There's no doubt in our minds that the German and French airlines in particular are opposed to the UK getting any favourable deal," O'Leary told a London press conference Wednesday. "They are in favour and are actively campaigning for a bilateral (deal) with the UK."
O'Leary said he had seen briefing documents, carrying the logos of Germany's Lufthansa airline and the French-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM among others, calling for any future flights to be under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
"They do not wish to be seen to bend the knee to the European Court of Justice or European regulations." O'Leary added: "There's huge upside for German and French airlines in disrupting British Airways flights between the UK and Europe, disrupting EasyJet's flights... and causing us some grief that means we have to move planes out of the UK into continental Europe."
But O'Leary, known for his forthright views, admitted: "If I was them I'd be doing exactly the same thing." And he used Wednesday's forum to once more forecast major disruption if Britain does not remain in the "Open Skies" agreement following its departure from the bloc, set for March 2019.
Britain's airline industry has soared over the past two decades under the Single European Sky system, which lifted trade restrictions on EU airlines. But fearing much turbulence because of Brexit, Ryanair's fierce British rival EasyJet last month secured an air operator's certificate in Austria to enable it to keep flying across the EU following the UK's departure.
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