Ryanair has announced plans to cut and close airport bases from November 2019 to next year’s summer. This is a result of delays to Boeing’s B737 max, which would drastically affect the company’s growth rate.
Short term cuts and closure are to be made, but the group is still in talks with airports over which loss-making bases will be cut off.
Ryanair’s aircraft are expected to be slashed by 30 for next summer, cutting it’s 2020 growth rate from 7% to 3%.
Full-year passenger traffic growth is forecasted at around 157 million for the remainder of 2019 to march 2021, 162 million down from previously expected figures.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said: “This shortfall in aircraft deliveries will necessitate some base cuts and closures for summer 2020, but also for the winter 2019 schedule.”
The 737 max remains grounded worldwide after two catastrophic crashes, in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Boeing is yet to convince regulators that its modifications are sufficient enough to guarantee the safety of the planes.
The Ryanair boss further commented: “This shortfall in aircraft deliveries will necessitate some base cuts and closures for summer 2020, but also for the winter 2019 schedule.
“We are starting a series of discussions with our airports to determine which of Ryanair’s underperforming or loss-making bases should suffer these short-term cuts and/or closures from November 2019.
Ryanair will fly 5 million fewer passengers than planned next year. This could close airport bases, resulting in an impact on jobs.
Ryanair boss continued: “We will also be consulting with our people and our unions in planning and implementing these base cuts and closures, which are directly caused by the B737 Max delivery delays to the B737 Max programme.”
Birmingham Airport is the UK’s third-largest airport outside of London and the seventh-largest overall. The site is expecting a huge increase of current passenger numbers by 40% – 18 million passengers during the course of the next 12 months and is also expected to be affected by Ryan Air’s cuts.
Tabasam Mehmood
