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PARIS (AP) – Storms, strikes, computer crashes – you can now add "your plane has been seized by the government" to the list of things that can delay your flight.
In France, 149 pbadengers were preparing to take off for London Thursday night when the French authorities ordered the impoundment of their Boeing 737 Ryanair.
The budget company owed money and it was "regrettable that the state was forced" to evacuate the plane, said the civil aviation authority.
The pbadengers had gone through pbadport control and security and were about to walk on the tarmac to board the plane when the airport authorities told them to turn around, said pbadenger Boris Hejblum.
"The airport staff told us that there was a problem with the plane," he told the Associated Press in an email.
No Ryanair staff was available, and the only communication from the airline was two SMSs stating simply that the departure had been delayed and a 5 Euro ($ 5.75) voucher for food – "less than that a sandwich cost coffee at the airport, "said the 30-year-old Frenchman.
"I found it strange that the police were the only ones to give us information," he said.
The pbadengers took another flight which finally took them to London Stansted airport, five hours late.
The multi-million dollar jet, meanwhile, was released only Friday after Ryanair paid a bill of 525,000 euros ($ 610,000).
The scene took place at the airport of Bordeaux-Mérignac, in the west of France, where authorities said the airline had been ordered to repay funds that the company had to pay. European Union had declared to be illegal subsidies. Ryanair has not publicly commented on the seizure.
The spokesman of the French aviation agency, Eric Heraud, said that the regional authorities that had initially granted the subsidies had been trying since 2014 to recover the money and had sent their last legal warning. in May. After six months without Ryanair's response, he decided to act on Friday.
The confrontation with the French authorities will not help Ryanair, which, more than most carriers, has come to symbolize the unfailing attention of low-cost airlines on the net result to the detriment of customer service.
Ryanair has become the largest airline in Europe in terms of number of pbadengers by constantly offering some of the cheapest fares available. This ensures that his planes are packed.
He then earns money by adding additional rates. In addition to charging for choice of place and food – now common practice on economy flights around the world – travelers pay for all hand luggage that is larger than a purse.
It manages to reduce costs by flying in airports off the beaten track at odd hours to get slots at cheaper airports.
Its managing director, Michael O'Leary, embodies the airline's frantic approach, in conflict with unions and EU authorities. And despite the fact that we conceded in 2013 that "we should try to eliminate the things that needlessly annoy people," the airline maintains its reputation of being supported to fly cheaply in Europe.
"I would say that we view this as another problem with Ryanair without any information from them," Hejblum said about Thursday's incident. "When we learned the seizure, I would say that the general feeling was to blame Ryanair for not complying with the law."
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