Ryanair threatens striking crew with redundancy after slashing Dublin-based fleet
Ryanair is to cut its Dublin-based fleet from 30 to no more than 24 aircraft for the winter 2018 season.
It blamed the reductions on the rapid growth of its Polish charter airline and a downturn in forward bookings and airfares in Ireland, which Ryanair said was partly as a result of recent rolling strikes by Irish pilots.
The airline said the strikes, which were sparked by the way in which Ryanair negotiates pilot transfers between bases, have had a negative effect on high fare bookings and forward air fares.
"Consumer confidence in the reliability of our Irish flight schedules has been disturbed," it said.
Ryanair’s Polish airline, Ryanair Sun, will now offer more10 aircraft to Polish tour operators, more than double the five aircraft available this summer.
"We expect few route closures from Dublin, although some routes may suffer frequency reductions," added the airline.
Ryanair has today issued letters of 90 days’ protective notice to more than100 pilots and over 200 cabin crew, whose services ‘may’ not be required from 28 October onwards due to the 20% reduction in the Dublin fleet this winter.
It said it would now begin consultations with employs regarding redundancy, which will be determined by Ryanair’s assessment of flight performance, productivity, attendances and base transfer requests.
Ryanair will be offering transfers to Poland and possibly some other bases, it said, to affected Dublin-based pilots and cabin crew for winter 2018 to minimise any redundancies.
Chief operating officer Peter Bellew said: "We regret these base aircraft reductions at Dublin for winter 2018, but the Board has decided to allocate more aircraft to those markets where we are enjoying strong growth (such as Poland), and this will result in some aircraft reductions and job cuts in country markets where business has weakened, or forward bookings are being damaged by rolling strikes by Irish pilots.
"Ryanair operates a fleet of over 450 aircraft from 87 bases across Europe. We can only do so if we continue to offer low fares, reliable flight services to our customers, and if our reputation for reliability or forward bookings is affected, then base and potential job cuts such as these at Dublin are a deeply regretted consequence."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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