Portugal’s Left Bloc parliamentary party has filed an official complaint against the Irish airline, Ryanair, whose management has refused to send a Director to answer MPs’ questions.
The president of the Left Bloc’s parliamentary group, Pedro Filipe Soares, said, "It is a protest about the way Ryanair treated the house of democracy in Portugal."
"We already knew that Ryanair did not respect the law, that Ryanair disrespects the rights of its employees, that Ryanair has an arrogant way of acting but we believe that it now has crossed all limits, not coming to parliament at the request of a parliamentary committee," huffed Soares.
Ryanair should present someone senior to the Portuguese parliament to answer questions about, "to violations of the law, disrespect for workers' rights and the way it deals with public money that it also receives."
This last point is moot as Ryanair soaks up ‘per seat per flight’ cash from Portugal’s tourism promotional budget. Observers believe that the current boom in tourism is the right time to stop payments to Ryanair as the routes flown to Portugal now are self sustaining.
Ryanair said it was too busy to send someone to talk to the parliamentary committee, a snub that has not gone down well in government circles but one that is par for the course for the single-minded yet arrogant management clique that drives airline profitability despite its frequent public relations blunders.
See also, Ryanair snubs Portugal's parliament
