Ryanair threatens to shut Irish bases in row over travel rules

RYANAIR has warned it will shut its bases in Cork and Shannon airport this month if the Government fails to adopt the EU travel list.

In a strident attack on the Government yesterday, it said aviation and Irish tourism is being ‘vandalised’ by the National Public Health Emergency Team’s ‘mismanagement and baseless, unscientific travel advice which unfairly and unnecessarily locks Ireland up’.

It will have ‘no choice’ but to close both bases from October 26 for the winter season, due to what it alleges is the ‘devastating impact’ of the Irish Government’s mismanagement of air travel during the pandemic.

Ryanair has called on Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to fully adopt the new EU travel list policy from October 13, which would allow Irish citizens or visitors to the country unrestricted air travel to and from European regions which are classified by the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) as Green and/or Amber nations.

It added it accepts some quarantine restrictions may be necessary for regions designated by the ECDC as Red.

CEO of Ryanair, Eddie Wilson said many EU countries, most notably Germany and Italy, have allowed the return of intra-EU air travel without quarantine restrictions, and he said that Ireland must follow suit. ‘While NPHET and the Irish Government have mismanaged air travel by keeping Ireland locked up since July 1, Ireland’s Covid case rate has dramatically increased to over 88.8 per 100,000 population in the last 14 days, and international air travel cannot be blamed for this increase,’ he said.

‘If the Irish Government does not fully adopt the EU travel regulations permitting unrestricted air travel to/ from those regions of Europe that are Green or Amber from October 13 next, then regrettably the Cork and Shannon bases will close on October 26 and will not reopen until April 1, 2021, at the earliest.’