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Ryanair has informed its staff in Cork and Shannon that it intends to close both bases for the winter, unless the Government relaxes its quarantine restrictions on passengers flying to this country.
This would affect 130 employees directly hired by the airline at the two airports, 35 pilots and 95 cabin crew.
Staff hired by other companies hired by Ryanair would also be affected.
In a letter to staff in Cork and Shannon this afternoon, Ryanair Chief Executive Eddie Wilson blamed the decision on what he described as government mismanagement of the Green List for travel.
Wilson said the Green List was forcing passengers from countries with lower Covid-19 rates than Ireland to self-quarantine for fifteen days.
Wilson said the decision could be reversed before winter if the Green List is updated.
However, he said that if it is not changed, the reopening of both bases next March will be questioned.
The letter states that all pilots and cabin crew will receive a leave without pay from the end of October. He adds that they can have access to government support schemes.
It adds that Ryanair will continue to operate flights to Shannon and Cork from bases elsewhere, such as Manchester, London and Liverpool, but says the frequency of these flights will “be significantly reduced.”
When asked about the letter, a Ryanair spokesperson said: “We do not comment on the negotiations with our people.”
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Here is the letter from #Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson to the 130 employees at #Cork and #Shannon on the company’s decision to close both bases for the winter, unless government quarantine restrictions on passengers are relaxed. All staff must take unpaid leave beginning in October. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/cIwZ6hiRIT
– Pascual Sheehy (@PaschalSheehy) September 8, 2020
Ryanair flies 23 destinations from Cork and 13 from Shannon.
RTÉ News understands that Ryanair flights to and from both bases are currently operating at around 30% of capacity, compared to around 80% of capacity during the corresponding pre-Covid times.
Yesterday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that the Green List will not be updated until the publication of the medium-term roadmap on how to deal with Covid-19 later this month.
The countries currently on the list, which was published in July, are Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Slovakia.
People returning from these countries do not have to restrict their movements for a period of 14 days.
The list was to be reviewed biweekly, but only one set of changes has been made to date.
On August 4, the government removed five destinations from the list: Malta, Cyprus, Gibraltar, San Marino and Monaco.
The advice of the National Public Health Emergency Team stands against all non-essential foreign travel, regardless of whether a country is on the Green List or not.
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