Ryanair insists planes are safe after passenger nearly sucked out of broken window

Ryanair has sought to reassure consumers after a passenger was partially sucked out of a broken plane window during a flight, saying the aircraft involved is probably the “safest ever built”.

Ljubisa Karović, 61-year-old Serb, was pulled back into the aircraft by other passengers, after an acrylic window was smashed by a piece of the engine during a flight from Thessaloniki in Greece to Memmingen near Munich in Germany.

“There [have been] literally hundreds of millions of flights on these [Boeing 737] aircraft globally since they first came into being,” said Neil Sorahan, Ryanair’s group chief financial officer, according to The Guardian.

“They are probably the safest aircraft ever built, they are highly maintained and we have very well-trained crew.”

Early investigations have indicated that the aircraft was damaged by a foreign object, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary told analysts on Monday as he presented Ryanair's results ⁠for ‌the April-June quarter.

"Initial indication would suggest it looks like a foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki, but we don't have, we can't say that definitively," he said.

Karović was saved by his wife, Svetlana Grković, who held onto his legs and dragged him back into the aircraft with two other passengers.

A draft incident report is set to be issued in around 28 days with a more detailed report to follow, he said. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the July 10 incident, in which the plane, headed to Germany, lost pressure and made an emergency landing.

Mr Sorahan said the company has been in touch with the family since the incident.

“Our crew did a phenomenal job and got the aircraft back to Thessaloniki. Everyone bar none walked off the aircraft. It was a great job done by the cabin crew and the pilots.”

He added that it is “way too early” to discuss whether Ryanair would need to compensate the couple, with the outcome of the investigation still unknown.

“They are going to do a full, independent investigation. We are participating fully. We have people on the ground actively involved in assisting.

Mr O'Leary said the aircraft was 18 years old and its engine had been fully serviced and overhauled within the last two years.

The event, which had echoes of two Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 flights in 2016 and 2018, prompted a re-evaluation of the response to those incidents, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told Reuters last week.