Ryanair has announced that it is planning to restore 40% of its normal flight schedules from Wednesday July 1, subject to government restrictions on intra-EU flights being lifted, and effective public health measures being put in place at airports.
The airline will operate a daily flight schedule of close to 1,000 flights, restoring 90% of its pre-COVID-19 crisis route network.
Since COVID-19-related flight restrictions began in mid-March, Ryanair has been operating a skeleton daily schedule of flights between Ireland, the UK and Europe. From July, the airline intends to restart flying from most of its 80 bases across Europe, with fewer daily/weekly frequencies on trunk routes as it works to restore some services on the widest number of routes rather than operating high frequency services on a small number.
Health Measures
Ryanair is encouraging passengers to observe effective health measures including checking fewer bags, checking in online, downloading boarding pass to smartphones, undergoing temperature checks at airport entry, and wearing face masks/coverings at all times in the terminal and on board aircraft.
Ryanair cabin crew will wear face masks/coverings and a limited in-flight service of prepackaged snacks and drinks will be offered, with all onboard transactions being cashless. Queuing for toilets will also be prohibited on board, with toilet access being made available to individual passengers upon request.
Additionally, the airline will require all passengers flying in July and August to fill in details at the point of check in of how long their planned visit will be as well as of their address while visiting another EU country, and this contact information will be provided to EU governments to help them to monitor any isolation regulations that they require of visitors on intra-EU flights.
"Time To Get Europe Flying Again"
Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson stated, "It is important for our customers and our people that we return to some normal schedules from 1 July onwards. Governments around Europe have implemented a four month lockdown to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. After four months, it is time to get Europe flying again so we can reunite friends and families, allow people to return to work, and restart Europe's tourism industry, which provides so many millions of jobs.
"Ryanair will work closely with public health authorities to ensure that these flights comply, where possible, with effective measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. As already shown in Asia, temperature checks and face masks/coverings are the most effective way to achieve this on short haul (one hour) within Europe's single market.
"Now that Europe's states are allowing some gradual return to normal life, we expect this will evolve over the coming weeks and months. With more than six weeks to go to 1st July, Ryanair believes this is the most practical date to resume normal flight schedules, so that we can allow friends and families to reunite, commuters to go back to work, and allow those tourism based economies such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, France and others to recover what is left of this year's tourism season...We will continue to work closely with public health agencies to encourage our people and passengers to adopt practical and effective steps to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the best interest of our passengers, our people and our communities."
© 2020 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
