Ryanair threatens winter closure of Cork and Shannon bases if EU travel policy is not adopted

RYANAIR HAS THREATENED to close its bases in Cork and Shannon later this month, unless Ireland fully adopts EU travel regulations that would allow unrestricted air travel to the green and amber regions.

The bases in Cork and Shannon would close on October 13 and remain out of service until at least April 1 of next year.

Ryanair has told Transport Minister Eamon Ryan that government restrictions on air travel have affected the airline industry, leading to the proposed closure of the two bases.

The company has called on the government to adopt the EU travel list in a way that could significantly relax restrictions on international travel compared to the current situation in Ireland.

The EU-level policy, to be agreed by the EU Council of Ministers on October 15, will use a traffic light system to mark countries as green, orange or red, depending on their rate of Covid-19 cases. .

Countries with a 14-day incidence of less than 25 per 100,000 and a positive test rate of less than 3% will be considered green.

Orange countries will have an incidence of less than 50 cases per 100,000, and countries will be considered red if there are more than 50 cases per 100,000.

Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson said that because the government has kept Ireland “locked in”, international air travel “cannot be blamed” for the rising rate of Covid-19 cases.

“If the Irish government does not fully adopt the EU travel regulations allowing unrestricted air travel to / from those regions of Europe that are green or amber as of next October 13, then unfortunately the Cork and Shannon will close on October 26 and will not reopen until April 1, 2021 at the earliest, ”said Wilson.

Wilson said Ryanair met with Minister Ryan online and complained that “neither he nor his Department have implemented any of the Aviation Task Force recommendations since they were presented on July 7.”

“Meanwhile, Irish aviation and tourism are being vandalized by mismanagement by NPHET and unfounded and unscientific travel advice that unfairly and unnecessarily confines Ireland,” said Wilson.

The government has already said it would broadly support the European Commission’s approach to EU travel.

Last week, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he was concerned about the ability of Shannon and Cork airports to recover after Covid-19.

Speaking through a Zoom call for an event organized by Dublin Aerospace, Varadkar said he was “really concerned” about the smaller airports.

“I think routes like Dublin to London Heathrow will come back very quickly and will be fine. I would be concerned about Shannon and Cork recovering and very concerned about some of those routes that are really of strategic importance to our island, ”Varadkar said.

Speaking of the EU traffic light system, he said the proposal was still “a bit up in the air” and that the increasing number of cases in European countries created a difficulty deciding how to categorize color levels.

Ryanair previously threatened in early September to close its bases in Cork and Shannon if the government did not lift existing flight restrictions.

If the new EU travel rules are adopted, Ireland will stop using the existing Green List system.

Currently only four countries (Cyprus, Finland, Latvia and Liechtenstein) are on the list, after Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Iceland were eliminated earlier this week.