DISABLED PASSENGERS

The airline has come under heavy criticism in the past for its poor treatment of disabled passengers. In 2002 it refused to provide wheelchairs for disabled passengers at Stansted Airport, greatly angering disabled rights groups.[18] The airline argued that this provision was the responsibility of the airport authority stating that wheelchairs were provided by 80 of the 84 Ryanair destination airports[19]. A court ruling in 2004 judged that the responsibility should be shared by the airline and the airport owners;[20] Ryanair responded by adding a surcharge of £ 0.50 to all its flight costs. In 2005, the airline was criticised for ejecting nine blind and partially sighted passengers from a flight at Stansted, because the group meant the plane would be carrying more than the four disabled passengers permitted by the airline's safety regulations.[21] In 2006 Ryanair apologised after refusing to provide an eldery injured passenger .[22][23] and a sick cancer sufferer[24] with a wheelchair in separate incidents.