Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has accused aviation authorities in Italy of jeopardising the safety of passengers and crew.
The budget airline, Liverpool’s second biggest, is to suspend all internal flights in the country from Januray 23 in protest at two directives issued from Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile.
The directives ordered ground staff to accept a wider range of ID documents from passengers who had checked in online.
Ryanair said that in some cases it would have to accept passengers who were carrying “nothing more than fishing licences”.
Mr O’Leary said: “Ryanair’s passport/ID card policy has been approved by every other EU country, including ENAC itself, some four years ago.”
