Ryanair is looking at cutting 3,000 jobs and slash personnel paychecks by up to one-fifth in reaction to the ongoing global pandemic, which has grounded its fleet of jets.
The budget airline disclosed it cut 15 percent of its 20,000 employees as the company did not expect the volume of passengers or rates to rebound to pre-pandemic levels until summer this year.
Ryanair stated that it could shut down a number of facilities across Europe until air travel normalizes as part of a major cost cutting scheme.
Ryanair Airlines will inform their labor unions of its program of restructuring and job cuts, which will begin in July this year, the company divulged in a statement.
Such plans will be subject to review but will affect all Ryanair Airlines, and could lead to the loss of up to 3,000 mostly pilot and cabin personnel positions, unpaid leave and pay reductions of up to 20 percent, and the shutdown of a variety of aircraft headquarters across Europe until traffic becomes stable.
Chief Executive Michael O'Leary decided to extend his 50 percent pay cut for the rest of the year to March 2021. He said that the airline is announcing cutbacks of just over 15 percent today, of which "we have to regrettably lose about 3,000 pilots and cabin personnel in the next three to four months."
Ryanair said in April, May and June of this year it will run less than 1 percent of its scheduled flights. The airline also registered traffic of less than 150,000 passengers in the first quarter, which is 99.5 percent lower compared to the expected 42.4 million passengers it would have flown in the first quarter, were it not for the suspension of operations due to the crisis.
Recovery will be sluggish in the second quarter - July through September - with the airline expected to service no more than half of its initial 44.6 million traffic goal.
With the full year ending March 2021, Ryanair predicts a 35 per cent drop in flights, down to fewer than 100 million flights. The airline also estimates that it will take at least two years, until the summer of 2022, for a complete recovery to 2019 rates.
The airline said it was now updating growth plans and aircraft orders, and was in negotiations with Boeing and plane lessors to slash shipments over the next 24 months.
In an interview, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told Reuters News Agency that Ryanair, which has 210 737 MAX jets on order, had given Boeing a deadline of May 18-19 to reach a "comprehensive new contract."
