Ryanair cuts October capacity, blames travel restrictions

By Conor Humphries

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ryanair said on Friday it had been forced to cut its capacity in October and that it may have to do the same for the rest of the winter unless European Union governments ease their COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The budget airline, whose Group Chief Executive Michael O’Leary last week described the winter as a “write-off”, said it would fly around 40% of the capacity it flew last October, down from an earlier plan of 50%.

“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,” a Ryanair spokeswoman said in a statement.

The capacity reductions, it said, were required “due to damage caused to forward bookings by continuous changes in EU Government travel restrictions and policies, many of which are introduced at short notice.”

It called for a proposed coordinated EU system of restrictions to be implemented immediately.

Airlines across Europe have blamed an uneven patchwork of travel restrictions and quarantine rules for a stop-go recovery that has proven tougher than many expected.

Ahead of the latest cuts, O’Leary said last week he expected to fly around 50 million passengers in the fiscal year to March, one-third of the previous year’s number.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)