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Ryanair has said it will close its bases in Cork and Shannon for the winter.
The move comes as the airline cuts capacity during the winter season from 60% to 40% compared to last year.
Its Toulouse base in France will also close and there will also be significant base aircraft cuts in Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Vienna, it said in a statement.
The airline said that due to increased flight restrictions imposed by EU governments, air travel to and from much of Central Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Portugal has been reduced considerably.
This has caused term reserves to weaken slightly in October, but materially in November and December, he said.
“While we deeply regret these winter time cuts, they have been imposed on us by government mismanagement of EU air travel,” said Ryanair Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary.
“Our focus continues to be to maintain as large a program as we can sensibly operate to keep our aircraft, our pilots and our cabin crew up-to-date and employed while minimizing job losses,” he said.
“It is inevitable, given the scale of these cuts, that we implement more unpaid leave and job sharing this winter on those bases where we have agreed to reduce working time and pay, but this is a better short-term outcome than mass work. “. losses, “he added.
The airline had warned several weeks ago that it could be forced to close the Shannon and Cork bases for the winter unless the Government took steps to open air travel by immediately adopting a new EU-style traffic light system that ranks countries based on Covid-19 level there.
O’Leary said Ryanair continues to urge all EU governments to immediately and fully adopt the EU system.
The decision to close bases in Shannon and Cork could affect more than 100 pilots and cabin crew employed directly by the airline, as well as many other employees of other companies that provide services.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Ryanair served 23 destinations from Cork and 13 from Shannon.
The airline says it is also reducing its full-year traffic guidance to 38 million this year compared to 149 million last year and warned this could decrease further if travel restrictions are maintained.
Due to weaker reserves, it now expects to operate at load factors of 70% during the winter period, which, according to O’Leary, would allow the company to operate as close to breakeven as possible and minimize cash outlay.
“Unfortunately there will be more layoffs at that small number of cabin crew bases, where we have not yet reached an agreement on working time and pay cuts, which is the only alternative,” O’Leary warned.
“We continue to actively manage our cost base to be prepared for the inevitable upswing and recovery of short-haul air travel in Europe once an effective Covid-19 vaccine is developed.”
Earlier this week, the EU agreed to the new traffic light system that the government has endorsed but has not yet adopted.
Ryanair’s move will revert the airport to the 1960s with just one or two flights a day and an ongoing debt problem, according to Cork City Councilor Kieran McCarthy.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, McCarthy said that with a huge debt on the airport, Ryanair’s move will likely cause it to lose flight slots and remain in financial difficulties.
He asked the government to increase financial support for the airport.
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