Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said there was a"premeditated breach" of global aviation rules and regulations when a plane carrying an opposition Belarusian journalist was diverted into Minsk in May.
O'Leary spoke to a British Parliament committee Tuesday about the altered flight, which was supposed to trek from Greece to Lithuania before Minsk air traffic control contacted the plane with claims that"a bomb on board would be detonated" once they entered Lithuanian airspace. Raman Pratasevich, the journalist, was arrested once the plane landed in Belarus.
O'Leary testified the plane's captain asked multiple times to speak with Ryanair's control center, but Minsk air traffic control claimed they weren't answering calls. He also said the pilot was put under"considerable pressure" to land in Minsk rather than an alternative country, like Poland. "He wasn't instructed to do so, but he wasn't left with any great alternatives," he told members of the Parliament committee.Ryanair flight FR1884 from London Stansted lands in Humberto Delgado International Airport a day after Great Britain announced Portugal reverts to"amber list" during the COVID-19 pandemic on June 4 in Lisbon, Portugal.
They"repeatedly attempted to get the crew to confirm on video that they had voluntarily diverted to Minsk," the Ryanair executive said. The crew refused to provide such confirmation, he said.leaders swiftly slapped sanctions on the country, including banning Belarusian airlines from using the airspace and airports of the 27-nation bloc and telling European airlines to skirt Belarus. U.K. authorities took similar actions.
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