Ryanair has resigned from the UK Aviation Council, calling it ‘ineffective’.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said the council, led by Aviation Minister Baroness Vere, was a ‘talking shop which delivers no benefits, no reform and no change for UK aviation or UK passengers’.
He signed off the airline’s resignation letter on the day the council had gathered to meet for a second time on Tuesday.
The first meeting was in February and the second meeting, due to take place in April, was postponed at short notice by Baroness Vere, Ryanair said.
“We joined the UK Aviation Council in February when Transport Minister Mark Harper assured us it would be used as a ‘delivery body’ to improve the resilience of UK aviation,” he wrote.
“Sadly, this has proved to be an empty promise.”
He added: “We don’t have time to waste meeting with an ineffective industry council, which doesn’t/hasn’t delivered any practical change or reform since its first meeting last February.”
Ryanair said it called on Baroness Vere in February to implement various measures to improve UK aviation, including increasing staffing levels at National Air Traffic Service and at UK border control, and pushing for effective air space reform in Europe.
The airline added that Baroness Vere and the UK Aviation Council have delivered ‘no action whatsoever over the past six months on any of these achievable goals’.
A Government spokesperson called Ryanair’s decision ‘disappointing’, adding: “The Aviation Council was set up to bring the industry and Government together to address shared challenges facing the sector and ensure the UK aviation sector remains one of the strongest and successful in the world.”