Ryanair cuts 20 percent capacity as ticket sales drop

Ryanair is cutting 20 percent of its flight capacity in September and October as the number of ticket sales has fallen significantly over the past ten days.

According to Ryanair, the weakening of its ticket sales is due to the continuing uncertainty over recent coronavirus infection rates across European countries. Most of the capacity cuts are reductions in flight frequencies, as the airline says it rather prevents the closure of routes. The frequency cuts mainly concern destinations in Spain, France and Sweden, where coronavirus infections have led to increased travel restrictions.

Flights to Ireland are also affected, as the country is imposing 14 day quarantines on travellers from most European countries. “Any effected passengers in September received email notification earlier today advising them of their options. Similar communications will be issued to the small number of affected passengers in October later today,” a Ryanair spokesperson said on Monday.

“Over the past 2 weeks as a number of EU countries have raised travel restrictions, forward bookings especially for business travel into September and October have been negatively affected, and it makes sense to reduce frequencies so that we tailor our capacity to demand over the next 2 months.” The airline stresses that efficient testing at airports and effective tracing is the best method to limit the spread of coronavirus infections.