‘Drop travel tests and limit air travel to vaccinated people,’ urges Ryanair boss

Exclusive: Michael O’Leary, chief executive, shares his vision for the future of safe travel

Happier times: Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary at his airline’s Irish HQ (file photo) (Simon Calder)

In a stinging attack on the UK’s travel restrictions, the boss of Europe’s biggest budget airline has said flying should be limited to vaccinated passengers – with Covid tests dropped.

Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, accused the UK government of “making up rules as they go along”.

He told The Independent: “It seems to us that their policies are designed specifically to discourage people from travelling by air, particularly when people are fully vaccinated.

“There is this omicron hysteria in the UK, most of it generated by Downing Street and the government – I suspect to cover up their day-to-day mismanagement of almost every aspect of life.

“People are travelling reasonably normally in Spain, Italy, Germany and most of the rest of the EU countries.

“I see no justification for the UK government rules that passengers who’ve already done the sensible thing and got vaccinated now have to take tests before they travel and, more ludicrously, two days after they travel.

“I would however support encouraging more and more of the unvaccinated minority to get vaccinated. Instead of introducing mandatory vaccination policies you have to make it more and more attractive for people to become vaccinated.

“So I would support limiting air travel to vaccinated people.”

He said of people who choose not to be jabbed: “We fully recognise your choice, your individual freedom to be unvaccinated, if you really believe that there is some ludicrous conspiracy between government and ‘big pharma’.

“But if that’s the case, please sit at home and order your meals and your pharmaceuticals by delivery. You should not have the same freedoms that all the people who have been vaccinated and have got their boosters have and can enjoy.”

The Ryanair chief executive singled out the transport secretary and the prime minister for criticism, saying: “Grant Shapps and Boris Johnson have specialised in mismanaging air travel for the entire period of the Covid pandemic.

“But to be fair Johnson’s government have specialised in mismanaging almost every aspect of life. I mean, these are the people who did bring us Brexit and look what a success that’s been.”

As the Ryanair boss was speaking, the aviation minister, Robert Courts, was defending the government’s record on coronavirus travel restrictions at an evidence session of the Transport Select Committee.

He said: “Of course I’m keen to see testing requirements reduced and [travel] made easier.

“As I’ve always said, I want to see travel that is seamless, that is cheap and easy for people to be able to do, and I want to get back to that position as soon as we can.

“The overall drive of government policy is to ensure that we can allow people to get about, to travel and for the industry to operate.”

The minister said that the government had put in place £8bn in support for the aviation industry.