Ryanair cuts jobs and Dublin services
Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest discount airline, will cut 200 jobs, seek pay cuts from workers and reduce the number of planes and flights at its Dublin base as the economic recession stifles demand for travel.
Ryanair will remove four airliners from the fleet, it said in a statement today. Job cuts will affect pilots, cabin crew and engineers, the Dublin-based company said. A 10-euro Irish tourist tax that takes effect in April will cause demand to decline even further, the airline said.
“This travel tax when introduced will exacerbate the traffic decline at Dublin, as price sensitive visitors will avoid Ireland and choose other lower-cost destinations,” Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary said in the statement.
Ryanair had a net loss of 118.8 million euros in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31 after fuel expenses rose. Still, the carrier’s passenger total rose 11 percent last month from a year earlier as the recession prompted cost-conscious business people and tourists to switch to discount carriers.
Ryanair fell as much as 0.6 cents, or 1.9 percent, to 3.15 euros and was down 1.2 percent at 1:59 a.m. in Dublin trading, giving the company a market value of 4.67 billion euros. The stock has risen 6.8 percent this year.
O’Leary said at a Dublin news conference that he’ll seek pay cuts of as much as 10 percent.
Additional cuts in the company’s Dublin winter schedule will be announced later, Ryanair said in the statement.
Last month Ryanair said that it will lower the number of aircraft, routes and flights to and from Ireland’s Shannon Airport starting March 30.
Bloomberg
- Sabine Pirone and Fergal O’Brien (Bloomberg)
