The airline that left 240 Knock-bound passengers stranded in New York for up to a week, today said it was conducting a full internal inquiry into all aspects of how the issue was handled.
The Boeing 757 was grounded at JFK airport on June 28 thafter a technical problem blamed on a lightning strike stopped the plane from taking off as scheduled.
After repairs a second attempt to take off was aborted after the warning light which went off on the first occasion lit up again. Repairs were still being made to the plane the following Tuesday.
Flyglobespan chairman Tom Dalrymple
The company was unable to source a replacement plane, blaming the terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport two days later for preventing it from mobilising an available plane.
Flyglobespan chairman Tom Dalrymple said the company had put passenger safety first when it grounded the aircraft at JFK.
The 240 passengers were furious at their treatment while stranded and many of them eventually paid for flights on other airlines. Some passengers formed an action group to demand "a basic level of human rights" from ground staff and a US-based lawyer is heading a group legal action against the Scottish company.
The remaining passengers were eventually flown home last Friday. The Irish Timesquoted one passenger saying: "It was a nightmare in many ways. It was very difficult to get any answers from Flyglobespan."
Mr Dalrymple accepted that some negative media coverage of the incident was warranted but he said some was undeserved.
"We have taken a bit of pounding - some of it justified, some of it totally undeserved," he said.
"But we are conducting a full internal enquiry into all aspects of our performance - with a view to ensuring that our Ireland West Knock-JFK service performs to the high standard we expect from all our routes."
Mr Dalrymple said the company were in discussion with their New York ground handlers Swissport over the issue.
"It is clear from feedback that this area requires particularly detailed investigation as the performance of our ground handlers fell well below the standards expected by our passengers. Many of the instructions issued by the company to alleviate the situation seem to have simply been ignored," he said.
Tom Dalrymple
He accepted passengers were entitled to be angry and said an internal inquiry was underway.
"We know we let our customers down in JFK, and we apologise for that. If they feel they have been let down they have every right to criticise us.
"But among the media coverage over this there have been some comments that would seem to question Flyglobespan's safety policy. Let me stress that this airline always puts safety first. We pay 100 per cent attention to safety and any suggestion to the contrary will be scrutinised by our legal team," Mr Dalrymple said.
He also promised a refund for those who paid for alternative flights.
The operation of a transatlantic route out of Ireland West Airport Knock is regarded as an important element in developing the region. But airport management went public with their concern about the service as around 250 Flyglobespan passengers were also stranded in Knock and Boston.