Italy’s national civil aviation authority ENAC threatened on Wednesday to suspend Ryanair’s permit to fly in the country over alleged non-compliance with coronavirus safety rules.

It accused the Irish low-cost airline of “repeated violations of the COVID-19 health regulations currently in force and imposed by the Italian government to protect the health of passengers”.

“Not only is the obligation to distance passengers not respected, but the conditions for making an exception to that rule are also being ignored”, it said in a statement.