Ryanair is closing its Cork and Shannon Airport bases for the winter because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airline says reduced air travel means they have no choice.
Ryanair says air travel has been severely curtailed because of flight restrictions across Europe.
It says this has weakened bookings slightly in October but materially in November and December.
As a result Ryanair has reduced its winter scheduled which runs from November until March And It’s closing its bases in Cork, Shannon and Toulouse
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary is warning it could reduce its capacity even further if travel restrictions remain.
He says they deeply regret these winter schedule cuts which he says have been forced upon them by Government mismanagement of EU air travel.
In a statement, Ryanair says:
"In light of these weaker bookings, and Ryanair's plan to operate with a 70% load factors, Ryanair has today further reduced its winter schedule (Nov - Mar) taking capacity down from 60% to 40% of prior year.
"Ryanair expects to maintain up to 65% of its winter route network, but with reduced frequencies."
In addition to the winter closure of bases in Cork, Shannon and Toulouse, the carrier is also making base aircraft cuts in Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Vienna.
It now expects full year traffic to fall to around 38 million passengers.
