Ryanair is to close it Cork and Shannon bases for the winter as the airline cuts its schedule to 40 percent of last year’s capacity, warning that more redundancies and unpaid leave were “inevitable” this winter.
As the Irish Times reports, the move comes as bookings have taken a hit from ongoing restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19. Ryanair said its forward bookings had weakened “materially” in November and December.
The group said it would maintain up to 65 percent of its winter route network, but with reduced frequencies. It is also closing its Toulouse base for the winter, and making significant base aircraft cuts in Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Vienna.
“While we deeply regret these winter schedule cuts, they have been forced upon us by Government mismanagement of EU air travel. Our focus continues to be on maintaining as large a schedule as we can sensibly operate to keep our aircraft, our pilots and our cabin crew current and employed while minimising job losses,” Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said.
“It is inevitable, given the scale of these cutbacks, that we will be implementing more unpaid leave, and job sharing this winter in those bases where we have agreed reduced working time and pay, but this is a better short-term outcome than mass job losses.
“There will regrettably be more redundancies at those small number of cabin crew bases, where we have still not secured agreement on working time and pay cuts, which is the only alternative.”
The company is already operating at a 70 percent load factor – a measure of how full its planes are – and expects to carry a total of 38 million passengers in its 2021 financial year. However, it warned that could be revised downward if more lockdowns were imposed during the winter.
Cork reaction
Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport said: “The team here at Cork Airport is really devastated to hear of Ryanair’s decision to close its base at Cork with the loss of so many direct and indirect jobs and the cessation of thirteen routes.
"We have done everything in our power at Cork Airport to retain the base here and the connectivity that it delivers for the South of Ireland region. However, since the pandemic, many Ryanair flights to and from Cork have been operating with fewer than ten passengers."
"Cork Airport was Ireland’s fastest-growing airport before COVID-19 and we are now looking at a 95% plus reduction in traffic levels for this coming winter compared to last year.
"Despite the base closure, Ryanair will still retain three routes serving Cork over the winter - Stansted, Katowice and Gdansk. However, these routes will be operated by aircraft and staff based outside of Ireland. Ryanair has had a base at Cork Airport since 2005, and this winter will be the first time in fifteen years that the airline has not had any aircraft based in Cork".
