Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has written to Dutch MPs, accusing them of wanting to pillory the airline at a public hearing on airline working conditions next week, the AD said on Wednesday.

The parliamentary infrastructure committee is holding the hearing next week and Ryanair is one of the organisations which has been invited to attend.

The invitation, the AD states, says that some airlines are looking to limit wage costs and pilots and cabin crew are often having to deal with non-Dutch labour law, short breaks and, when they protest, are threatened with being shut down.

Ryanair closed its Eindhoven base at the beginning of this month, and a court which looked at the case said that it appeared as if the closure was a punishment for strikes earlier this year.

The AD says that Ryanair has replied to the invitation in an angry letter signed by O’Leary and which says the hearing is an ‘inappropriate forum’.

The invitation is ‘full of accusations which are wrong’, such as the claims about pay and about rest periods, the AD quotes the letter as saying.

O’Leary also says the Eindhoven base was closed because of rising fuel costs and the threat of a 45% increase in airport fees. In addition, he criticises the presence of Ghent university professor Yves Jorens, whom he describes as ‘dubious’.

DutchNews.nl has not seen the letter and has been unable to verify the contents or the actual English text.