The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ryanair: Brexit, Max jet place many jobs at risk
Ryanair Holdings poised for one of the deepest rounds of job cuts in years as the budget airline responds to falling earnings and delays to expansion plans forced by the grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max jetliner.
In a video message to staff seen by Bloomberg, Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary said the carrier has an excess of more than 500 pilots and about 400 flight attendants. On top of that, it will need around 600 fewer people in those categories next summer than called for in previous recruitment plans.
A spokesman for Dublin-based Ryanair confirmed the video’s authenticity and said about 900 current staff could be affected. The carrier had about 5,500 pilot posts as of March, of which at least 10% appear to be at risk based on O’Leary’s comments. It employs just over 9,000 flight attendants.
“We over the next couple of weeks will be doing our very best to minimize job losses, but some are unavoidable at this time,” O’Leary said. Ryanair had already warned it would close some European bases and shrink others in response to the Max crisis, which has delayed a fleet upgrade, and concerns around Brexit, without indicating how many positions might go.
The airline posted the video Monday after announcing a 21% drop in quarterly earnings hurt by higher fuel costs, faltering economies and a fare war. In the address, an apologetic O’Leary tells staff that redundancies will be detailed by the end of August once the carrier — which has a total of 86 bases across Europe — has engaged with airports and unions, with cuts to be enforced in September and October and again after Christmas.
Ryanair is Europe’s biggest discount airline, with more than 150 million passengers a year.
The high number of excess staff is in part due to a reduced level of employee churn, which the CEO described as having “dried up to effectively zero” in the wake of improved pay deals triggered by a unionization drive.
News of the cuts comes as Ryanair’s British and Irish pilot unions ballot members on strike action, and with the carrier’s Portuguese cabin crew planning to walk out in August. Travelers have endured some of Europe’s worst disruption for years this summer, with widespread delays and cancellations from overcrowded skies, baggage-system breakdowns and extreme weather conditions. British Airways may face its first pilot strike for four decades after losing a court bid to block walkouts on Wednesday.
Ryanair indicated July 16 that it would trim operations, saying it expected to get no more than 30 of the 58 Max jets due from Boeing by next summer. The upgraded version of the 737 workhorse was idled and deliveries halted following two fatal crashes in less than five months.