Budget airline Ryanair has warned it plans to cut jobs and close some of its bases after suffering delays to its aircraft deliveries amid the the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft crisis.
The airline will be slashing its services and has told investors it expects its growth rate for summer 2020 to come in at 3% - half its previous forecast.
As part of its plans Ryanair will close or cut services from many of its loss making sites, with some of the changes taking place as early as winter 2019.
The carrier has not said which of its bases will be hit by the cuts but the company operates from 19 airports in the 海角视频. These are Aberdeen, Belfast International, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Derry, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle and Newquay Cornwall.
Ryanair will now begin consulting with its staff and unions about the restructure.
The airline’s difficulties have been caused after an order for new aircraft was delayed following issues with Boeing planes. All Boeing 737 MAX planes were grounded this year after two fatal crashes in Ethiopia and off the coast of Indonesia.
Ryanair is waiting for delivery of Boeing’s MAX 200, which will be approved two months after the 737’s return to service.
The issue means that Ryanair will cut its aircraft from 58 to just 30 next summer.
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In a statement the airline said: “Ryanair remains committed to the B737 MAX aircraft, and now expects that it will return to flying service before the end of 2019, however the exact date of this return remains uncertain.
“Boeing is hoping that a certification package will be submitted to regulators by September with a return to service shortly thereafter. We believe it would be prudent to plan for that date to slip by some months, possibly as late as December.
"As Ryanair have ordered the Boeing MAX200s, which are a variant of the MAX aircraft, these need to be separately certified by the FAA and EASA. Ryanair expects that the MAX200 will be approved for flight services within 2 months of the MAX return to service.
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“Accordingly, Ryanair now hopes to receive its first MAX200 aircraft sometime between January and February 2020.
“Since Ryanair can only take delivery of between six to eight new aircraft each month, we are now planning our summer 2020 schedules based on taking up to 30 B737 MAX aircraft deliveries up to end of May 2020.
“This is less than the 58 MAX aircraft Boeing originally scheduled to deliver for our summer 2020 schedule. This number could rise, or fall further, depending on when the B737 MAX actually returns to flight services.”