RYANAIR ALTERS POLICY ON VISION IMPAIRED PASSENGERS *
Ryanair today (Thursday, 17th November 2005) announced that following consultation with the National Council for the Blind of
Once approved by the IAA, vision impaired passengers who are traveling with a sighted companion, on a one to one basis, will no longer be required to pre-advise Ryanair and will not be included in the aircraft safety limit of 4 reduced mobility passengers per flight.
Des Kenny, Chief Executive of the National Council for the Blind of
“Ryanair are to be congratulated for taking the lead in improving what has been a problematic area for vision impaired passengers when flying. It is also a major step forward for the European Aviation industry as a whole and I hope that other airlines will follow Ryanair’s example.”
Ryanair’s Head of Customer Services, Caroline Green announcing details of the policy change said:
“This year Ryanair will carry 35 million passengers and we are committed to ensuring that all consumers can take advantage of Ryanair’s low fares. This is a common sense change, which follows an incident where a group of vision impaired passengers were not able to travel because the aircraft safety limit for reduced mobility passengers was exceeded.
“This policy change will increase the number of vision impaired customers able to travel with us, as the aircraft safety restriction will not apply when a vision impaired passenger is traveling with a sighted companion on a one to one basis. However, vision impaired passengers traveling alone remain part of the safety limit of 4 reduced mobility passengers per flight and will still be required to pre-advise us of their condition or special assistance requirements so that we may continue to provide them with priority services.”
* Subject to IAA regulatory approval
ENDS
For further
Peter Sherrard – Ryanair
Tel: 00 353 1 8121228 Tel: 00 353 1 4980300