Uproar on Ryanair flight to Tel Aviv
Ryanair airline has apologised for the incident, where a flight attendant told passengers they were landing in Palestine, calling it an "innocent mistake".
(With Times of Israel) – A FLIGHT attendant on the Irish budget airline Ryanair caused an uproar on a flight to Tel Aviv earlier this month, telling passengers they were landing in Palestine.
According to media reports, during the flight from Bologna, Italy, to Tel Aviv, a flight attendant repeatedly said over the PA system in both English and Italian that the final destination was “occupied Palestine”.
When passengers asked her to correct herself, she refused and an uproar broke out. Passengers tried to photograph the flight attendant and identify her but were threatened with arrest upon landing, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
Last Thursday, Ryanair airline apologised for the incident, calling it an “innocent mistake”.
“A junior crew member on this flight from Bologna to Tel Aviv (June 10) made a routine descent PA [announcement], mistakenly saying ‘Palestine’ instead of ‘Tel Aviv’. This was an innocent mistake with no intent and was immediately corrected and apologised for by the senior crew member on board,” the airline said in a statement to the UK’s Jewish Chronicle.
On June 15, Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson wrote to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s Rabbi Abraham Cooper reiterating that the crew member made “an innocent mistake with no political overtones or intent”.
“Several passengers did complain onboard and when the crew realised what had been announced, the crew member made a second PA announcement apologising and correcting this error,” he wrote.
“A small number of passengers, despite this apology, continued to be abusive towards the crew and the police were called to meet the aircraft on landing in Tel Aviv.”
He added, “It is not Ryanair policy to refer to Tel Aviv as being in any country other than Israel.
“Israel is an important partner for Ryanair. We are Israel’s second-largest airline and we plan to continue to invest in Israel, and grow traffic and connectivity both for Israelis travelling to Europe and also to bring much-needed inbound tourism to Israel.”
The controversy follows an incident last year in which Ryanair made 50 Israeli passengers on a flight from Berlin to Tel Aviv undergo extensive security checks, making them miss their flight.
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