Ryanair has decided to close its Spanish bases in Las Palmas, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Girona from January 2020, putting the jobs of more than 500 pilots and cabin crew at risk, the local USO union said.
Last month, Ryanair told staff that it planned to cut its presence on the ground at airports due to delays in the delivery of the grounded Boeing 737 MAX, which has left it with 900 more pilots and crew than it needs.
The airline's chief people officer told Reuters last week that it would likely close its base in the Portuguese city of Faro and two on the Canary Islands, but that a final decision had yet to be made on how many bases, jobs and routes would go.
Collective Dismissal Process
Ryanair confirmed the closures to the USO union in an e-mail and also announced the opening of a collective dismissal process, the union said in a statement.
It said that 512 workers could be affected by the decision at the four airports, three of which are based in Spain's Canary Islands and the other of which is on the mainland.
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