The Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadjov will file a complaint with the Commission for Protection against Discrimination on Monday regarding the case of a Bulgarian family with a 9-year-old disabled child removed from a plane because of his wheelchair battery.
“The Ministry of Transport and Communications remains firmly committed to protecting the rights and dignity of all passengers and to removing any unjustified barriers to the mobility of people with disabilities“, it also says.
According to the minister, Ryanair's attempt to shift the blame onto the ground operator is unacceptable because it does not answer the most important questions:
1. Has the airline initiated an internal investigation into the specific incident?
2. Why was safety not endangered on two previous flights on July 24 with the same airline, with the same assistive device, and now the opposite is claimed?
3. Is there a documented procedure on the part of Ryanair for loading wheelchairs on board or is only the subjective judgment of the pilot sufficient?
4. Why was the assistive device accepted by the ground operator as suitable for loading on board the aircraft, but was it not allowed on the aircraft?
5. Who determines the criteria for an “aggressive passenger“ in Ryanair's practice? In a previous case at Sofia Airport, a crying woman was defined as aggressive - what criteria were applied then? And in other similar situations?
6. What specific actions and measures were taken by Ryanair before the passengers were disembarked? According to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006 concerning the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air, disembarking passengers is a measure of last resort, which may only be taken after all reasonable alternatives have been exhausted. The air carrier or its representative is obliged by regulation to make all reasonable efforts and to offer the family an alternative option.
These are the questions to which Ryanair must provide clear, specific and documented answers before attempting to exonerate itself and escape liability. Who is at fault in this case will be decided by the competent Bulgarian authorities – not the airline.
Therefore, an immediate inspection by the DG “Civil Aviation Administration“ has been ordered, which is already underway. All facts and circumstances will be clarified, and on Friday next week the official decision of the competent authority will be announced.
Earlier, Ryanair sent a position.
„These passengers had booked a trip on this flight from Sofia to Milan Bergamo (August 8) with a wheelchair powered by a gel battery. For safety reasons, the gel batteries of the wheelchairs must be isolated in order for the wheelchair to be accepted for air transport. Since the ground staff at Sofia Airport - who were responsible for loading the wheelchair onto the aircraft - were unable to determine whether the battery was isolated, they were unable to load the wheelchair onto the aircraft. When the passengers were informed that ground staff at Sofia Airport could not load the wheelchair, they became aggressive on the plane and were removed by local police,“ the airline's position states.