Ryanair delays adding to travel woes
AIR travellers faced further headaches yesterday with a double blow from Ryanair as it postponed the opening of its Reus base, outside Barcelona, for five weeks and also delayed basing a seventh aircraft at Bergamo, northern Italy.
Passengers who had booked Ryanair flights in or out of those airports will receive a refund and must then re-book available seats.
The double postponement will inconvenience those who booked holiday accommodation on the back of their Ryanair flights. They must now scramble to find alternative flights or forfeit any deposits.
Ryanair's deputy chief executive Michael Cawley blamed the delay in opening its Reus base, now due to take place on November 5, and in basing another aircraft at Bergamo, on October 29 instead of October 1, on the strike by Boeing employees in Seattle which has resulted in an indefinite wait for new aircraft.
Apology
Mr Cawley expressed regret that the decision had to be made and apologised to "all our passengers for the inconvenience caused by this change in our plans but I hope they understand that it is due to circumstances over which we have no control".
While Ryanair has no definite date for delivery of the two new Boeings reserved to serve the Reus base, the company plan to redeploy two planes freed up by the reduction in their aircraft using other bases during the winter period.
The company will, therefore, be able to fly passengers to and from Reus from November 5.
Earlier this week, Ryanair said it had also delayed, by six weeks, the introduction of a new base at Edinburgh, again blaming the decision on the strike by Boeing machinists, which began last Friday.
- Grainne Cunningham
