The Covid-19 pandemic is hitting airlines hard, and Ryanair doesn't seem to be escaping it. The Irish low-cost carrier announced on Friday May 1 that it plans to cut up to 3,000 jobs and negotiate delivery delays with Boeing.

Just two weeks ago, Michael O'Leary, the managing director of Europe's first low-cost airline, said he expected profits to rebound in 2021 and did not want to defer orders for the aircraft.

But in a statement to investors, Ryanair said Friday postpone from June to July the restart of its activities, adding that it planned to operate at 50% of its capacity over the three months from July to September, its normal period the most active.

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The Irish airline also said it is reviewing its growth forecast and aircraft ordering and is negotiating with Boeing to reduce the number of deliveries over the next 24 months.

Contestation of public aid to national airlines

"Ryanair now forecasts that the recovery in passenger demand and the return to a pricing policy (at the level of 2019) will take at least two years, until the summer of 2022 at the earliest," warns Michael O'Leary in the press release. .

The company, he continues, will begin consultations on the closure of its bases and the elimination of up to 3,000 jobs, mainly concerning its pilots and aircrew.

Ryanair says it expects a loss of 100 million euros in the three months to June. It will be the company's first loss in this period, said Michael O'Leary.

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The director general of Ryanair adds that he intends to contest before European courts the granting of billions of euros in state aid to competing airlines.

Ryanair, says Michael O'Leary, "will have to compete with national airlines that have received 30 billion euros in public aid (...) in the months following this Covid-19 crisis".

With Reuters

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