Published on
Ryanair’s Boeing 737 hides a hazard just outside the cabin door: its retractable onboard stairs.
Passengers who have used them have faced a significantly higher risk of falling than those using stairs provided by airports. That is the conclusion of a study by the National Agency for Flight Safety (ANSV), published in August 2026.
The study analysed falls reported in Italy during boarding and disembarkation between 2023 and 2025. Of 104 incidents, 85 involved passengers who used the forward integrated stairs of Boeing 737s. That accounts for 82 per cent of cases, noted Corriere della Sera. (source in Italian)
The scale of the figures is even clearer when compared with total passenger numbers. Over the same period the Irish airline carried around 27 per cent of all passengers in Italy. The other carriers, which make up the remaining 73 per cent, recorded 19 falls.
The trend is not confined to Italy. Since 2021 Ryanair has registered 489 falls on stairs, 360 of them (73 per cent) on the Boeing 737’s integrated stairway. According to ANSV, that is three times as many falls as those recorded on airport stairways.
To track and analyse the incidents, ANSV used the ECCAIRS system, the digital platform run by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The system collects and analyses aviation safety data from EU countries.
Why are Ryanair’s Boeing 737 stairs linked to more falls?
For disembarkation, airlines often hire mobile stairs from airports. Ryanair’s Boeing 737 instead has the option of an integrated system that can be deployed while parked, allowing passengers to disembark without requiring airport handlers. This cuts disembarkation times and ground-service costs.
The integrated stairway has 12 steps, about 61 centimetres wide and 20 high, with a tread depth of 25 centimetres and an inclination of 35 degrees.
According to ANSV’s investigation, the dimensions “are at the limits for step height and steepness” compared with those used by airport operators, “who have lower steps and, usually, a less pronounced inclination, and platforms and treads that are considerably larger.”
It also notes that “the first step” of the stairway “is asymmetrical” for passengers on the way down because of the shape of the fuselage in relation to the step.
According to Ireland’s air accident investigation unit (AAIU), EU regulations do not impose requirements on the size of integrated stairs because they are not deemed critical to flight operations.
ANSV’s study began with three incidents (source in Italian) in Genoa, Venice and Bologna, in which three people suffered “serious injuries”.
In Genoa on 22 March 2025, one person was taken by ambulance to hospital after a fall that occurred “most likely due to the inattention of the passenger”, according to ANSV’s reports.
Two days later in Venice, another passenger suffered serious injuries after falling from the integrated stairs. According to staff, the passenger was carrying two suitcases and was not holding the handrail. In the Bologna incident, the passenger also fell while carrying two bags.
After these incidents, Ryanair updated its disembarkation protocol and since 23 July cabin crew have been repeating the warning to use the handrail also in the language of the country of origin and destination.
The problem with the integrated stairs on the Boeing 737 had already been examined by the aviation safety agencies of Ireland and Spain (CIAIAC), after falls in 2021 in Dublin and in 2024 in Alicante.
Following those incidents, the Spanish agency urged Boeing to redesign the stairway, reducing its steepness and increasing the surface area of the steps. CIAIAC also called on Ryanair to abandon use of the integrated system and rely solely on stairs provided by airport operators.
No investigation carried out so far has concluded that the system is defective. ANSV has endorsed the Spanish recommendations to Boeing and Ryanair, while attributing the falls to human factors such as inattention and failure to use the handrail.