By Kerry Ezard in London
Irish low-cost carrier fails in court plea to identify authors of website comments
Dublin's High Court has ordered Ryanair to pay legal costs amounting to over €1 million ($1.3 million) to two pilot unions following a judge's decision to dismiss the Irish carrier's request to identify certain pilots who had posted anonymous comments on a union-hosted website.
The ruling follows legal action taken by Ryanair against the British Air Line Pilots Association (BALPA) and the Irish Air Line Pilots Association (IALPA), in which the carrier sought to identify the names of some of its pilots involved in anonymously posting comments on the Ryanair European Pilots Association (REPA) website established by the two unions in 2004.
BALPA says the REPA website was launched to enable Ryanair pilots to exchange views on the carrier's move to make individual pilots responsible for repaying the €15,000 training costs associated with the operation of larger Boeing 737-800s in the event that the airline enters union negotiations within five years.
Ryanair says it took legal action to identify "three individuals who made anonymous postings on the REPA website advocating threats, including slashing car tyres, against specific Ryanair employees who had accepted posts in Dublin".
It adds: "Had Ryanair not taken action to identify and prevent the publication of these threats, Ryanair may have been accused of allowing its employees to be bullied or intimidated by these pilot trade union activists."
BALPA claims that Justice Thomas Smyth dismissed Ryanair's request because the evidence surrounding it was "baseless and false". Union chairman Mervyn Granshaw adds: "The judge's comments that the management style of Ryanair bears all the hallmarks of oppression were spot on and should sound another warning to governments, regulators, investors and the travelling public."
Ryanair says the carrier is "disappointed" with the High Court ruling, and is considering appealing against the decision.
Source: Flight International
