“Messing up” in the planning of pilot and cabin crew holidays has led to flight cancellations for Irish-based Ryanair, which expects to cancel flights over a six-week period.
The Dublin-based airline said it expected to scrap 40 to 50 flights daily. On Sunday alone it cancelled 82.
“We have operated a record schedule and traffic during the peak summer months of July and August but must now allocate annual leave to pilots and cabin crew,” Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said in a statement.
The Irish Aviation Authority mandates the airline to bring time off for the staff in line with the calendar year from Jan. 1, requiring it to distribute the backlog before the end of the year. As a result, there would not be enough pilots and flight attendants for its full fleet of Boeing 737s until November.
“We’re working hard to fix that,” said chief marketing officer Kenny Jacob, saying they would offer refunds or alternative flights to affected customers over the period. Some 308,000 and 385,000 passengers may be affected by the cancellations according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Ryanair said the cancellations would not have an impact on September and October earnings.
The airline’s on-time performance fell below 80 percent in the first two weeks of September. The delays were prompted by air traffic control issues in France, the U.K., Germany and Spain, as well as thunderstorms, Ryanair said.
The airline has been flying its 189-seat planes at record load factors, with 12.7 million customers in August and an occupancy rate of 97 percent.
Flights go on as usual for customers who haven’t received emailed communication from the carrier.
Ryanair’s shares slid 2 percent on Friday, to 17.07 euros ($20.39) in Dublin. That followed a 3.4 percent dive on Sept. 14, after a ruling by the European Union’s top court was seen leading to a possible increase in employment costs. They remain up 18 percent on the year, Bloomberg reported.
Related stories:
SIA controversy sparks wave of employee complaints
Air France cancels thousands of job cuts
