DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ryanair (I:RYA) said it met a demand by Britain's aviation regulator to fully inform customers affected by flight cancellations of their rights before a Friday deadline.
More than 700,000 passengers due to fly between September and March have been hit by a recent wave of flight cancellations caused by a shortage of Ryanair pilots.
Britain's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had said the airline failed to properly inform customers and had given it until 1600 GMT on Friday to explain to customers on canceled flights how they could be re-routed on rival airlines and compensated for some out-of-pocket expenses.
A Ryanair spokesman said the airline had posted a notice near the top of the main page of its website on Friday, which met aviation authorities' demands in full.
"We apologize again sincerely for the disruption and inconvenience our rostering failure has caused some of our customers," Ryanair's Chief Marketing Officer said in the notice.
He said all passengers had been given a 40 euro travel voucher per affected flight and that he hoped all compensation under European Union rules would be processed by the end of October.
Ryanair said in a press release that the move was made to comply with the Irish Commission for Aviation Regulation rather than the CAA, but said the demands of the two organizations were the same.
The CAA did not say what action it would take if Ryanair did not comply, but it has the power to take court action against carriers that fail to comply with consumer rights laws.
Senior politicians weighed in behind regulators on Friday with Britain's Aviation Minister Martin Callanan and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar both calling on Ryanair to fulfil its obligations.
Ryanair said it had enough pilots for the flights in question but that the cancellations were required as it did not have enough to provide back-up service in the event of disruption. It said the cancellations accounted for a small percentage of its total flight schedule.