ATC in Palma de Mallorca decided to close the airport for arrivals today because of weather, while it was still open for departures. We don’t have additional info about this decision and we can’t comment on it.
Ryanair issued a press release in their usual strong language, calling the decision “nonsensical” and putting “weather” in quotes, making it sound irrational. According to their press release, Ryanair apparently tried to contact the head of Spanish ATC without success and they want to escalate the issue to the level of the transport minister.
It is not the first time that Ryanair brings ATC issues to the public and they have had public disputes with NATS in the UK and DFS in Germany and they regularly put pressure on EUROCONTROL as well. Even their yearly report contains strong criticism towards ATC.
Is this a good way to proceed?
It is not the first time that airlines and ATC have conflicts, but those are usually handled behind close doors, or at least not in the press and not pointing fingers and calling decisions “nonsensical”. You never see Lufthansa, Iberia and other large airlines behave this way.
Will this help? Does such a course of action help discussing and addressing issues? Likely note. Is it just a communication trick? Only time will tell, but it is definitely not new from Ryanair, and this likely was not the last time…
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