Ryanair plans to cut 3,000 jobs over coronavirus crisis
1 May 2020, 07:38
Ryanair has announced it plans to cut up to 3,000 jobs as part of a restructuring of the airline due to coronavirus.
The airline has said it thinks it will take at least two years to get passenger demand and pricing back to the levels seen last year following the worldwide coronavirus lockdown.
The budget airline group announced that a restructuring programme could also involve unpaid leave and pay slashed by up to 20%, as well as the closure of "a number of aircraft bases across Europe" until demand for air travel recovers.
Chief executive Michael O'Leary, whose pay was cut by 50% for April and May, has agreed to extend the reduction for the remainder of the financial year to March 2021.
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In a statement, the Irish airline said: "As a direct result of the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis, the grounding of all flights from mid-March until at least July, and the distorted state aid landscape in Europe, Ryanair now expects the recovery of passenger demand and pricing (to 2019 levels) will take at least two years, until summer 2022 at the earliest.
"The Ryanair Airlines will shortly notify their trade unions about its restructuring and job loss programme, which will commence from July 2020.
"These plans will be subject to consultation but will affect all Ryanair Airlines and may result in the loss of up to 3,000 mainly pilot and cabin crew jobs, unpaid leave and pay cuts of up to 20%, and the closure of a number of aircraft bases across Europe until traffic recovers.
"Job cuts and pay cuts will also be extended to head office and back office teams. Group CEO Michael O'Leary, whose pay was cut by 50% for April and May, has now agreed to extend this 50% pay cut for the remainder of the financial year to March 2021."
