Ryanair CEO Said He’d “Happily” Help with Rwanda Deportation Flights
Image Credit: Screenshot from Youtube
Ryanair CEO Said He’d “Happily” Help with Rwanda Deportation Flights
Text: Izzy Copestake
The bar for how low Michael O’Leary will go, is truly in hell.
Yesterday, the first asylum seekers to the UK set to be deported to Rwanda under Rishi Sunak’s highly controversial Rwanda Bill were detained. The policy is part of the UK Prime Minister’s “Stop the Boats” campaign, which strives to send “illegal” asylum seekers who have arrived in the UK “without permission” to Rwanda – regardless of their nationality. Despite a report finding the bill to be “incompatible with human rights obligations”, and the Supreme Court declaring the bill “unlawful” ast November, it now looks like Sunak is finally getting his wish. Surprisingly to few, CEO of Ryanair Michael O’Leary, has weighed in with a pitch.
In an interview with Bloomberg last week, O’Leary stated that he’d be more than happy to help Sunak with the unpopular (and potentially illegal) immigration plan, giving asylum seekers a one-way ticket to the African country. He stated: “If it was the winter schedule and we had spare aircraft sitting around and if the government were looking for additional deportation flights or any other flights, we would happily quote for the business.”
As it stands, the UK government has not approached Ryanair to carry out the Rwanda deportation flights. But it’s not just O’Leary’s desire to profit off this bill that is stirring up criticism. Conversation online has pointed out that Ryanair do not offer long-haul flights. Yet London to Rwanda is over 6,500km, with flights taking almost 9 hours. It begs the question: how far will Michael O’Leary go for a quick buck.
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