Posted on April 22, 2010 by Fiona Hilliard

Yesssss. FINALLY. He got his comeuppance. Well, it had to happen sooner or later. It just so happens that Michael O’ Leary ended up with egg on his face during the one of the worst weeks in history for the European aviation industry.

On a landmark day for fed up Ryanair passengers everywhere, the Ryanair chief exec has announced that Ryanair WILL comply with EU regulations that require airlines to reimburse passengers left stranded by the recent ash clouds.

EU rules state that airlines have to cover (at a reasonable level) the expenses of passengers who have receipts.

In typical O’ Leary fashion, he grudgingly said the company would comply with the regulations, which he called “absurd”. Why wouldn’t he? He spent the whole of yesterday threatening court action and vowing that he’d only reimburse travellers the original price of their fare.

However, O’ Leary went on to say today that they would continue to campaign to change the EU rules.

Of course they will. The penny-pinching airline has already had to recruit more staff to process expenses claims.

Anyone affected by the recent cancellations are advised to send in copies of their receipts when they arrive back home.

The airline said it expects affected passengers to be refunded within a couple of weeks.

Ryanair said all flights in Northern Europe will be operating this morning, except for flights scheduled to fly between Ireland and Britain. This route will resume tomorrow.

Further help is on its way from tomorrow to bring Ryanair passengers home from their extended holidays following the air space shutdown.

Extra flights have been laid on to Stansted from Alicante and Malaga, to Liverpool and Malaga, to Birmingham from Malaga and Tenerife, to Edinburgh from Malaga and Tenerife and to Dublin from Lanzarote.