Ryanair apologises after flight attendant calls Tel Aviv 'occupied Palestine'
Budget Irish airline Ryanair apologised on Friday for an “innocent mistake”, after a crew member on a flight from Bologna to Tel Aviv announced the destination as “occupied Palestine”.
"All passengers are requested to return to their seats as the plane is about to land in Tel Aviv in occupied Palestine," the attendant said on the 10 June flight, according to Israeli news channel i24NEWS.
The announcement, which was made in both English and Italian, led to several complaints from passengers.
In a statement to Middle East Eye on Friday, Ryanair said a junior crew member of staff made a routine announcement regarding the plane's descent and “mistakenly” said “Palestine” instead of “Tel Aviv”.
“This was an innocent mistake with no intent and was immediately corrected and apologised for by the senior crew member on board,” the statement said.
The cabin crew issued an apology during the flight, but passengers "continued to be abusive", Ryanair’s chief executive Eddie Wilson said. As a result, the police had to be called to meet the aircraft when it landed.
"It is not Ryanair policy (or our crew practice) to refer to Tel Aviv as being in any country other than Israel. The crew member in question has been spoken to and received a warning to ensure that such an error is never repeated," Wilson said in a further statement.
"Israel is an important partner for Ryanair," he added.
The airline chief also apologised to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group, and the Israeli ambassador to Ireland.
In a letter to Ryanair, the Simon Wiesenthal Center said it had received "numerous complaints" about the incident and urged the airline to investigate.
“If Ryanair considers Tel Aviv to be in Palestine then perhaps they should only do business with the Palestinian Authority. Israel and Israelis can make their own way to and from the Jewish state,” it wrote on Twitter.
This is not the first time that airlines have run into hot water in the region.
In 2002, arguments broke out between passengers and crew on an Air France flight from Paris to Tel Aviv after a pilot described the final destination as "Israel-Palestine".
A year later, an Alitalia pilot said "Welcome to Palestine" as he landed in Tel Aviv, leading to strong reactions amongst passengers.
The airline sent an apology to the Israeli ambassador to Italy, and said the pilot would no longer fly to Israel.
This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.
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