London (AFP)

Irish airline Ryanair said on Friday it had cut its October flights by 20% again due to the impact on demand of travel restrictions decided by governments to stem the pandemic.

Ryanair had already decided in mid-August to cut its flights by 20% for the first time for October, a month in which it will finally run at around 40% of its capacity, far from the hoped-for rebound when it resumed its activity in July. .

The low-cost carrier initially intended to gradually ramp up and return to 70% of its capacity in September, but government-imposed quarantines in Ireland and the United Kingdom forced it to revise its plans.

"We are disappointed to reduce our capacity for October," said a spokesperson for the company, one of the European heavyweights in the airline sector.

"However, customer trust is being penalized by government mismanagement over travel and many Ryanair customers are unable to travel for business or family emergency reasons without being subject to a quarantine. 14 days, "he adds.

Ryanair particularly regrets the decisions taken at the last moment on the addition of countries to the list of those affected by quarantine, in particular in the United Kingdom, which makes it impossible to plan reservations.

The company is also attacking the Irish government which has maintained travel restrictions since July 1.

The carrier warns that it is still early to take decisions on the winter period, from November to March, but assures that if current conditions continue, it will continue to reduce its capacities.

For the European aviation sector, the recovery is much more difficult than expected given the still very active circulation of the virus in Europe.

To cope with the shock of the pandemic and a demand that should be depressed for a moment, Ryanair has already announced a restructuring plan which involves the elimination of 3,000 jobs, or 15% of its workforce.

The pandemic resulted in a net loss of 185 million euros between April and June, the first quarter of its staggered fiscal year.

The company has so far forecast a smaller loss in the second quarter (July to September) thanks to the resumption of traffic.

Ryanair is also heckled by its shareholders, who were more than a third on Thursday to oppose the compensation of boss Michael O'Leary, who is to receive a bonus of 458,000 euros for the 2019-2020 financial year.

© 2020 AFP