(Sharecast News) – Budget airline Ryanair said it was slashing its flight schedule and annual traffic forecasts after fresh lockdowns in the UK and Ireland in response to a new variant of the coronavirus.
The carrier on Thursday cut its annual traffic forecast by around 5m passengers on Thursday. Flight schedules were cut from January 21 until the end of the current lockdown, meaning “few, if any, flights being operated to/from Ireland or the UK from the end of Jan until such time as these draconian travel restrictions are removed,” Ryanair said.
Traffic forecasts for the financial year to March 31 were cut to between 26m – 30m passengers from “below 35m”.
“Ryanair does not expect these flight cuts and further traffic reductions will materially affect its net loss for the year to 31 March 2021 since many of these flights would have been loss making,” the airline added.
The company also railed against the Irish and UK governments about the “slow pace” of vaccination programmes and called the latest restrictions as “draconian”.
