14th Jul 2020 15:22
(Alliance News) - Ryanair Holdings PLC on Tuesday said it would cut its Ireland-UK schedules for the months of August and September by up to 1,000 flights, with the loss of over 200,000 passengers.
The move comes as Ireland maintains a defective quarantine restriction on EU visitors even as the UK and Northern Ireland last week opened up air bridges to most EU countries.
The Irish budget airline said Ireland accounts for less than 8% of its traffic. The country's tourism industry and connectivity for Irish workers commuting particularly to and from the UK is now suffering unrecoverable losses, as arriving EU passengers are forced to quarantine even while the border to Northern Ireland remains wide open with no such quarantines.
"It makes no sense, when governments all over Europe have opened up EU flights since June 1 and removed travel restrictions on intra-EU travel, that the Irish government continues to treat countries like Germany, Denmark and Greece as if they were suffering similar levels of Covid as the USA, Brazil and India," a Ryanair spokesperson said.
"Air travel between Ireland and the UK is being badly damaged by this ineffective 14 day quarantine. Ryanair will significantly reduce its flights between Ireland and the UK in August and September, to reflect this suppressed demand," the spokesperson added.
Ryanair shares were trading 0.1% higher in London on Tuesday at EUR10.76 each.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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