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Ryanair to cut flights after seeing ‘notably weakened’ bookings
Ryanair is to cut a fifth of its flights for the next two months after forward bookings ‘notably weakened’ in recent days.
The budget airline said it will reduce its flight capacity by 20% in September and October.
Most cuts will mean reductions in the frequency of flights rather than route closures. Flights to Spain, France and Sweden are among those affected.
It reported a downturn in flight bookings over the past 10 days driven by ‘uncertainty over recent Covid case rates in some EU countries’.
A Ryanair spokesman said: "These capacity cuts and frequency reductions for the months of September and October are unavoidable given the recent weakness in forward bookings due to Covid restrictions in a number of EU countries.
"Any affected passengers in September received email notification today advising them of their options.
"Similar communications will be issued to the small number of affected passengers in October later today.
"Over the past two weeks, as a number of EU countries have raised travel restrictions, forward bookings, especially for business travel into September and October, have been negatively affected, and it makes sense to reduce frequencies so that we tailor our capacity to demand over the next two months."
Ryanair also said it is reducing flight numbers as a result of Ireland’s Green List travel guidance, which includes 14-day quarantine for visitors from most other EU countries.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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