Ryanair CEO gives update on 'what caused' passenger to be partially sucked out of plane window
Michael O'Leary has offered some further information about what might have transpired before a passenger was 'sucked out' of a plane window.
The CEO of Ryanair shared the initial findings of an investigation that was launched into the terrifying incident that took place during a flight from Thessaloniki, Greece to the German town of Memmingen on 10 July.
After a cabin window 'dislodged' shortly after takeoff, 61-year-old passenger Ljubiša Karović ended up suspended head-first out of the aircraft, leaving him 'seriously injured'.
Ryanair has been reassuring passengers that its planes are safe to travel on in the days that have passed since Ljubiša's ordeal.
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The airline's chief financial officer, Neil Sorahan, said the firm is 'very happy' with the safety standards of their fleet and insisted they 'operate at the highest standards of European aviation regulations'.
He claimed bookings are still 'very strong', while adding: "We have a relatively young fleet and are very pleased with safety and maintenance within Ryanair group.
"There [have been] literally hundreds of millions of flights on these [Boeing 737] aircraft globally since they first came into being," Sorahan went on.
"They are probably the safest aircraft ever built, they are highly maintained and we have very well-trained crew."
He said that Ryanair have 'actively' maintained contact with Ljubiša and his traumatised wife Svetlana since he was partially pulled out of the aircraft in mid-air.
The couple were among the dozens of passengers onboard flight FR1879 when chaos erupted - causing the cabin pressure to plummet, masks to be deployed and panic to ensue.
Svetlana has since told how she was forced to desperately cling onto her husband's legs as his 'right shoulder and head were outside the plane', before two heroic passengers helped her haul him back inside.
"We pulled him back together," she said. "His entire face was deformed and blood was pouring from his nose and mouth."
When speaking to the media just days after the incident on the Boeing 737-800 occurred, she described Ljubiša as being 'seriously injured and in shock'.
"It's important to me that he's alive...his hand is particularly badly injured, and he's got burns," she said. "He's not able to communicate, he doesn't remember the whole event."
Ljubiša's wife said he 'starts shaking' whenever the topic of planes arises, while she admitted she is 'also in a very bad psychological state' after almost losing her husband.
She added: "I feared for our lives. I was afraid the plane was going to crash."
Ryanair's CFO Sorahan said the crew onboard the flight 'did a phenomenal job' at dealing with the incident. He added that it was 'way too early' to discuss the possibility of compensating the Karovićs.
"Our crew did a phenomenal job and got the aircraft back to Thessaloniki," he said. "Everyone bar none walked off the aircraft. It was a great job done by the cabin crew and the pilots."
In a previous statement shared with LADbible, Ryanair claimed that a 'passenger window dislodged inflight' shortly after takeoff, prompting the plane to return to Thessaloniki.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are leading the probe into the incident and Sorahan said that Ryanair are 'participating fully'.
He said of the NTSB: "They are going to do a full, independent investigation. We have people on the ground actively involved in assisting."
Initial findings of investigation
While discussing Ryanair's results for the April-June quarter, airline boss O'Leary announced that preliminary findings suggest 'foreign object damage' might have been to blame.
The CEO said: "Initial indication would suggest it looks like a foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki, but we don't have, we can't say that definitively."
O'Leary said the Boeing was 18-years-old and explained a draft report on the investigation into the incident would be issued in around 28 days. A more detailed report will then be released following this.
He stated that the plane's engine had been fully serviced and overhauled within the last two years.
Svetlana previously suggested that she suspected that part of the aircraft's engine had broken off and collided with the window next to her husband's seat.
"It was as if a part of the engine broke off and hit the window where my husband Ljubiša was sitting," she said.
Topics: Ryanair, Travel, World News
Olivia Burke