I'm about as far from being a "corporate guy" as you can get. Ask anyone who's worked with me, they'll tell you I was never afraid to call a spade a shovel, even to the CEO himself. I have a good deal of experience in the application of regulations both as a regulator and on the industry side. And no, I am not (and have never been) with the IAA or Ryanair. Wrong side of the planet.
Virtually every regulatory structure I know of states quite clearly that if an applicant meets the conditions of issuance, then the regulator shall issue a certificate, whether they like the applicant or not. Once issued, the regulator can only remove that certificate when the holder no longer meets those conditions. Certificates can't be removed (or even threatened) on the basis of an opinion or a gut feeling. There are plenty of examples where one operator maintains compliance in one way while their competitor uses a different method. Regulators can't pick and choose methods of compliance, they can only validate that compliance is (or will be) maintained.
Once again, please tell us which regulation Ryanair (or any other operator) is breaking simply by having an alternative to head counts as a means of passenger verification. As a regulator, I have "taken a few flights" (many actually) with operators who use an alternative to cabin head counts. The process works very well both from a load control and a security perspective.
Last edited by J.O.; 7th Sep 2013 at 00:40.