UK airline bosses back Ryanair over Belarus forced landing

‘Our sympathies are with Michael O’Leary and the team at Ryanair dealing with something no airline should ever have to face’ – Jonathan Hinkles, CEO, Loganair

Off course: the path of Ryanair flight 4978 from Athens (FlightRadar24)

Bosses of UK airlines have condemned Sunday’s forced diversion of a Ryanair jet by Belarus.

Speaking at an Airlines UK online news conference, Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2, said: “What’s happened is nothing short of disgraceful.”

His opposite number at Loganair, Jonathan Hinkles, said: “From what I can see so far the right approach has been taken.

“Our sympathies are with Michael O’Leary and the team at Ryanair dealing with something no airline should ever have to face.”

The Ryanair Boeing 737 was flying from Athens to Vilnius when it was ordered to land at Minsk on Sunday afternoon so that a Belarusian dissident who was onboard could be arrested.

UK airlines have been requested to avoid Belarus airspace and the Belarusian airline, Belavia, has been banned from the UK.

While the Airlines UK meeting was taking place, the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, told MPs and officials in Minsk that a bomb warning about the Ryanair plane originated in Switzerland.

The leader said: “As we predicted, ill-wishers from outside and inside the country, have changed their methods of attacking us.

“They have crossed many red lines and crossed the boundaries of common sense and human morality.”

Meanwhile the Lithuanian prime minister, Ingrida Simonyte, has described the forced landing as an attack on the wider world.

She told BBC News Channel: “I see this as an attack not only on my country, but also on the European Union and the international community.”