RYANAIR has introduced new procedures after a three-year-old girl fell onto the tarmac at Stansted Airport.

Olgay was boarding a plan in July 2009 when she slipped through the gap between the handrail. She had climbed to the platform at the top of the  steps unassisted. Her mother, Sasha Slater was carrying her 18-month-old son, Joe, with one hand and luggage with the other.

The girl, Olga, escaped with only minor injuries.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) recommended that Ryanair review procedures in light of the incident. The AAIB recommended “that assistance is made available to passengers accompanied by children and those with special needs”.

The AAIB said there had been four previously reported similar incidents involving small children and this had led to American aviation authorities issuing a special airworthiness information bulletin. The AAIB said it would be making design recommendations to Boeing – the manufacturers of the aircraft.

Ryanair said: ‘New procedures including new high visibility tensa barriers and specific announcements to passengers travelling with young children on both boarding and disembarkation have also been introduced in order to eliminate any recurrence of these extremely rare events in the context of over one million Ryanair flights over the past two years.’