Airlines: Ryanair Ignites Italian Fury Over 'unpleasant' Website Advert

Ryanair was in a nose-to-nose confrontation with Silvio Berlusconi's government last night after refusing to withdraw an advert claiming Italian ministers had an "up yours" attitude to their voters.

Altero Matteoli, the transport minister in Berlusconi's rightwing cabinet, said yesterday he was calling a meeting of the Italian civil aviation authority to decide what steps to take against the company. He said its attacks on the government's transport policies and the national flag carrier, Alitalia, were "genuinely unpleasant".

The trouble began when the Irish airline posted an advert on its website with a photograph of Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League and a member of the cabinet, "giving the finger". Bossi made the obscene gesture, which caused widespread controversy in Italy, after hearing the Italian national anthem being played at a rally of the separatist League.

In the advert it is depicted as symbolizing the government's attitude to Italian airline passengers. Ryanair has been in the forefront of attacks on the subsidizing of flag carriers such as Alitalia. This year, at Berlusconi's request, Alitalia was granted a €300m (£237m) loan by Italy's outgoing, centre-left government.

The advert said his government "supports Alitalia's high fares; supports Alitalia's frequent strikes [and] doesn't give a damn about Italian passengers".

Matteoli deplored the advertisement as "vulgar and offensive", and demanded an apology. A junior transport minister, belonging to the League, said he would be asking officials to check on the company's status in Italy to see if it could do these things.

However, in an interview with the daily La Repubblica, published yesterday, a spokesman for Ryanair refused to back down. "The government is against competition and low fares," he was quoted as saying. "Until it stops keeping alive a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy, Italians will continue to see their taxes wasted and competition suffocated."

Matteoli hit back, pointedly reminding the Irish airline that it was "a foreign company [that is] a guest in our skies and at our airports".

"The fact that, instead of apologizing and trying to make amends, Ryanair should now attack the Italian flag carrier and the action of the Italian government is genuinely unpleasant."

The row broke out as the government was reported to be working on a new rescue plan for Alitalia to be announced in the autumn.