Europe’s largest airline Ryanair cuts flights as Covid dents bookings

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, plans to cut capacity by 20 per cent in September and October as a surge in COVID-19 cases dents bookings.

The low-cost carrier said Monday that most of the reductions would come from trimming the frequency of flights, rather than route closures. Ryanair said the cuts would be focused on flights serving countries such as Spain, France and Sweden, where a rise in coronavirus cases has triggered tighter travel restrictions.

The airline said in a statement that the curbs were unavoidable given the recent weakness in forward bookings due to COVID restrictions in a number of EU countries.” Affected passengers will receive emails advising them of their options.