Ryanair to fly 25 fewer planes a day from November to March
Ryanair said on September 17 it expected to cancel 40-50 flights daily over six weeks, a move that impacted 315,000 passengers.
27.09.2017
Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost carrier that flies to Luxembourg, will ground 25 aeroplanes from November 17 to March 18 as it continues to deal with a backlog of staff holidays.
There are fewer than "400,000" passengers booked on the affected flights, and "many" have no bookings, Ryanair said in a statement.
People whose travel plans have been disrupted were emailed by the company, which has offered alternative flights or full refunds.
They also received a €40 voucher (€80 for return bookings) to book any Ryanair flight between October and March, the company said.
Under Irish Aviation Authority rules, the Dublin-based company had to complete a nine-month annual leave transition period.
It said the current holiday backlog would be cleared by January 1.
Ryanair will schedule almost 40% of its annual pilot leave requirement for 2018 in the first quarter of next year to avoid a recurrence of the problem.
It said on September 17 that it expected to cancel 40-50 flights daily over six weeks.
That impacted 315,000 passengers.
The carrier operates the return routes of Luxembourg-Porto, Luxembourg-Madrid, Luxembourg-Milan and Luxembourg-London Stansted.
The company will fly 10 fewer aircraft from April, it said.