Ryanair is yet to publish a complete list of the flights it plans to cancel over the next six months, with many more Irish passengers set to be caught up in the airline's second round of mass cancellations in as many weeks.
The company announced its intention to “slow its growth” by cutting 18,000 flights from its winter timetable as it pulls 25 aircraft from the schedule. A further 10 are to be pulled from its schedule for next summer.
The move, a consequence of rostering issues at the airline, will see around 400,000 bookings cancelled on top of the 319,000 that the airline called off two weeks ago.
When it published a list of routes to be cut this winter yesterday, it appeared only one Irish route would be affected – with the airline halting all flights from London Gatwick to Belfast.
Details of disruption
However, it later emerged that flights to and from other Irish airports were also being cancelled, as passengers started receiving emails with details of disruption to their travel plans.
When asked why the list of cancelled flights published by the airline appeared incomplete, a Ryanair spokesman said only “the routes listed on our website will be suspended entirely for the winter”.
He said schedule changes had been made on other routes “with multiple frequencies, where customers can be easily moved to the next available flight, and all affected customers have been contacted and advised of their options”.
He added that Ryanair was “working on a full list of flights affected”, which it “hopes to make available shortly”.
‘Sensible schedule changes’
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary apologised again to customers affected by what he said were “sensible schedule changes” and he added that there would be “no more rostering-related flight cancellations this winter or in summer 2018”.
Minister for Transport Shane Ross said the announcement was a "deeply unsatisfactory state of affairs" and expressed the hope it would be the end of the difficulties for Ryanair passengers.
He said he would continue to engage with aviation authorities and the company to ensure all Irish passengers’ rights are upheld and that impacts upon them are minimised.
