Recent COVID-19 lockdowns mean Ryanair will fly fewer passengers than planned this winter and Europe's biggest low-cost airline doesn't expect to return to pre-pandemic levels of service until next winter, its chief executive said on Tuesday November 24.
The Irish airline said earlier this month that it expected to fly 38 million passengers in its financial year to March 31. That is now likely to fall to "the mid-30s", group CEO Michael O'Leary said in an interview.
In the following year, Ryanair could fly anywhere between 80 million and 130 million passengers, depending on how the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines progress, he said.
2021 Capacity Expectations
O'Leary said that the group expects to fly between 60% and 80% of last year's capacity for much of next year, falling to 60%-70% during the peak summer period.
"But I think by the time we get to the end of the summer into winter 2021, we expect to be back to pretty much close to all of our 2019 schedules," he said.
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