It’s not been a painless teething period for Ryanair since the Irish airline set up shop in Copenhagen.
In March, protesters blocked the company’s first flight from leaving Kastrup to demonstrate against its refusal to enter into Danish collective employment, and this week, Copenhagen Lord Mayor Frank Jensen banned municipal employees from using the low-cost airline for official purposes.
READ MORE: Protesters blocked Ryanairs first departure from Copenhagen
READ MORE: Mayor bans Copenhagen employees from flying with Ryanair
Tribute to the free market
But a number of mayors in Jutland have responded with bewilderment to the move, Berlingske reports. “We don’t go in for rules like that, even though we could,” Egon Fræhr, the mayor of Vejen, told the newspaper.
“Ryanair is a company like any other. We pay tribute to the free market, and that’s that.”
As well as being opposed to a Ryanair ban as a matter of principle, Fræhr explained it would pose practical difficulties for municipal employees in parts of Jutland being forced to boycott the airline.
“If we wanted to fly from Billund to Brussels, for example, we wouldn’t be able to if we didn’t fly with Ryanair,” he said.
Other Jutland mayors, such as Vejle’s Arne Sigtenbjerggaard, share Fræhr’s amazement at Jensen’s policy.
“I wouldn’t dream of interfering with that,” he said. “We have no particular policy with regard to Ryanair.”
