Ryanair slashes October capacity by another 20pc and warns of more cuts this winter

Ryanair is to cut its October capacity by a further 20% and now expects next month’s capacity will be at 40% of last year’s level.

The 20% cut is in addition to the 20% decrease Ryanair already announced in mid-August.

The carrier hopes to maintain 70%+ load factor at the reduced schedule.

Ryanair blamed the cuts on ‘continuous changes in EU government travel restrictions and policies, many of which are introduced at short notice, which undermine consumers’ willingness to make forward bookings’.

It says that, in some countries, notably Ireland, where the government has maintained ‘excessive and defective travel restrictions since 1 July’, Covid-19 rates have more than doubled those of Germany and Italy, where intra-EU air travel has been freely permitted since the same date.

Ryanair said: "We are disappointed to reduce our October capacity from 50% of 2019 to 40%.

"However, as customer confidence is damaged by Government mismanagement of Covid travel policies, many Ryanair customers are unable to travel for business or urgent family reasons without being subjected to defective 14-day quarantines.

"While it is too early yet to make final decisions on our winter schedule (from Nov to Mar), if current trends and EU Governments’ mismanagement of the return of air travel and normal economic activity continue, then similar capacity cuts may be required across the winter period."

Ryanair said it ‘welcomes the EU Commission’s plan to remove intra-EU travel restrictions, subject only to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control weekly update on Covid case/positive test trend rates by EU country and region’.

It has called for this coordinated approach to be immediately implemented by all EU states, especially Ireland, ‘so that EU citizens can make essential bookings for business and family travel, free from the worry of flight cancellations and/or defective quarantine restrictions’.

Ryanair added: "We call on Ireland’s Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to explain why, over two months later, he still hasn’t implemented any of the 14 recommendations of the government’s Aviation Task Force, which were submitted to government on 7 July last.

"He should also explain why NPHET (National Public Health Emergency Team) has kept Ireland locked up like North Korea since 1 July, while at the same time Italy and Germany removed all intra-EU travel restrictions and have delivered Covid case rates which are less than half the rate, which NPHET has presided over in Ireland.

"Intra EU air travel is not the problem and these defective travel bans are not a solution."