Ryanair Is Scrapping Lots of Flights to Meet Irish Vacation Rules
- Measure may mean ‘small number’ of passengers miss their trips
- Carrier says that spare capacity will help improve punctuality
Passenger aircraft operated by Ryanair Holdings Plc sit on the tarmac at London Stansted Airport Ltd, operated by Manchester Airports Group Plc (MAG), in Stansted, U.K., on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. European airlines must manage intense competition on short-, medium- and long-haul routes, limiting profit gains even with lower fuel prices.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergRyanair Holdings Plc is canceling 40 to 50 flights a day for the next six weeks as it seeks to reduce a backlog of crew vacation required by Irish regulators before the end of the year.
The Dublin-based carrier will offer refunds or alternative flights to affected customers over the period, it said in a statement Friday, adding that the cancellations, which amount to about 2 percent of its network, won’t have an impact on earnings in September and October. From 308,000 to 385,000 passengers could be impacted over the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on the airline’s passenger statistics.