Sounds to me that the announcement has rattled that cage to the point of panic and the representative opened his mouth without applying some common sense!
I let my wife book our holidays because she enjoys doing so and is a better organiser than I. The only rule I made about this is that she never books flights on that airline. Why? Because as a paying customer, I have a CHOICE.
Irrespective of alleged safety issues, I won't use any company if I don't like their attitude towards their customers. "Take it or leave it" arrogance seems to be their attitude, so in this case I'm simply going along with their own mantra.