Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has criticized the European Union for failing to protect European airports and said that unmanned drones that disrupt air traffic should be shot down, he said in an interview with Politico.
"Why aren’t we shooting these drones down?" he said in response to a question about drone incidents over European airports.
The Ryanair CEO also wondered why this doesn't happen "if a Russian military aircraft flies over NATO airspace."
"Our operations were disrupted three weeks ago when drones overflew Poland and the Polish airports were closed for four hours," Michael O'Leary stressed, referring to the incident attributed to the Russian Federation.
He also recalled that last week, Copenhagen and Aalborg airports in Denmark were closed for two hours due to UAV flights.
"It’s disruptive, and we’re calling for action," the airline's CEO emphasized.
Despite the need to protect European airports, Michael O'Leary believes that a "drone wall" is not the solution.
"I don’t think a drone wall has any effect whatsoever. Do you think the Russians can’t actually launch a drone from inside Poland?" he said.
The head of the budget airline also expressed skepticism about the EU's intentions. He stressed that he does not trust "European leaders sitting around drinking tea and eating biscuits."
"If you can’t even protect overflights over France, what chance do we have of them protecting us against Russia?" he added, referring to the cancellation of flights over France during air traffic controllers' strikes in that country.
As you know, incidents have recently been recorded in Europe in which unidentified drones violated the airspace of EU countries, in particular, affecting the operation of local airports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy then said that the Russians could have used tankers in the Baltic Sea to launch drones.
According to him, if the tankers used by Russia serve as platforms for drones, then they should not have the right to operate freely in the Baltic Sea.