Ryanair will not return to flying if middle seats must be empty, says chief

Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary warned the airline would not return to flying if govts insist planes leave their middle seats empty when travel restrictions are lifted following the coronavirus pandemic. The executive gave a bullish outlook for a recovery in air travel, laying out plans for the airline to resume 80% of flights by September provided that flying in Europe could restart from early July. But O’Leary said its plans would be thwarted if there were “some entirely ineffective social distancing measures like having middle seats empty because if middle seats are empty we’re not returning to flying at all”. “We can’t make money on 66% load factors. Even if you do that, the middle seat doesn’t deliver any social distancing, so it’s kind of an idiotic idea that doesn’t achieve anything anyway,” he said. <br/>