Two long-running defamation cases taken by Ryanair arising from a TV programme broadcast in 2013 have been struck out by the High Court after being settled on undisclosed terms.
Ryanair had sued UK broadcaster Channel 4 and Blakeway Productions Limited over a 2013 broadcast of Dispatches that focused on alleged fuel level concerns of pilots in Spain in July 2012.
In 2013, the airline said it rejected “false and defamatory claims made by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme” which, it alleged, “impugn and smear” Ryanair.
The company said Ryanair had an “outstanding 29-year safety record” and claimed the programme was based on “nothing more than anonymous hearsay claims made by individuals whose identity was concealed”.
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The Dispatches episode, Ryanair: Secrets from the Cockpit, aired in August 2013 and featured anonymous pilots raising concerns about the airline’s fuel policy.
After it was aired, a spokesperson for the company released a statement confirming Ryanair had instructed its lawyers to issue proceedings for defamation.
“Ryanair looks forward to this matter being resolved in the courts and the safety of Ryanair’s operations being thoroughly vindicated,” said a spokesman.
Channel 4 said the station was “standing by” its journalism.
Ryanair also took defamation proceedings against John Goss, a veteran Ryanair pilot of 25 years’ service, who had his employment at the airline terminated in the aftermath of the programme.
When the High Court was asked last December to hear both cases together, Paul O’Higgins SC, for Mr Goss, said he was a Ryanair pilot and a contributor to the programme.
The litigation was to be heard in June next but Mr Justice Alexander Owens, who manages the High Court civil jury list, was told on Monday by Martin Hayden SC, for Ryanair, both cases had settled and could be struck out with no order. Mr O’Higgins consented to that.
