Ryanair to cut up to 3,000 jobs across pilots and cabin crew

Up to 3,000 jobs across pilots and cabin crew are to be cut at Ryanair.

The budget airline group announced that a restructuring programme could also involve unpaid leave and pay being slashed by up to 20%, as well as the closure of “a number of aircraft bases across Europe” until demand for air travel recovers.

Chief executive Michael O’leary, whose pay was cut by 50% for April and May, has agreed to extend the reduction for the remainder of the financial year to March 2021.

Ryanair said its flights will remain grounded until “at least July” and passenger numbers will not return to 2019 levels “until summer 2022 at the earliest”.

Brian Strutton, general secretary of pilots’ union Balpa, said the threat of job losses was “miserable news for pilots and staff”.

He warned that the aviation workers are facing “a tsunami of job losses” and called on the government to take more action to support the industry.

Trade union Unite described the news as a “premature announcement” while the government’s job retention scheme remains.

It vowed to fight the job cuts, arguing that Ryanair “has significant cash reserves”.

Ryanair expects to operate fewer than 1% of its scheduled flights between April and June, and carry no more than half of its original target of 44.6 million passengers between July and September.

It expects to report a net loss of more than 100 million euros (£87m) between April and May, with “further losses” in the following three months.

Mr O’leary said customers may have to wait up to six months for cash refunds for cancelled flights.

He told the BBC the group normally processes around 10,000 refunds a month, but has a backlog of about 25 million claims.

Michael O’leary, chief executive of Ryanair.