Ryanair drops Afrikaans test

Irish airline Ryanair has finally dropped the controversial Afrikaans test given to South Africans travelling with the airline meant to ‘verify nationality’. The airline previously said it had the ‘responsibility to ensure that passengers are correctly documented for travel to their destination’.

The airline initially defended the test and said it was a way of preventing people travelling with false passports from entering the United Kingdom.

According to the BBC, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said the test requirement was removed because they realised it ‘doesn’t make any sense’.

The airline has never confirmed why it chose Afrikaans as the language for the verification test, which caused widespread outrage because of the language’s political history. Research has shown that only an estimated 13% of South Africans speak Afrikaans as a first language.

Picture: Getaway gallery

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