Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary warned Monday of more pay cuts and job losses in the event of a second wave of coronavirus this autumn. “We cannot rule out that there will not be further pay cuts and job losses if things get worse, not better,” he said. “Our biggest fear is a second wave of Covid-19 cases across Europe [in late autumn when the annual flu season starts] and the way that governments will respond to or manage that.” O’Leary’s warning came as the airline revealed the pandemic had already knocked it into a loss in its most recent quarter. The budget carrier suffered a net loss of E185m in the three months to the end of June compared with a net profit of E243m in the same period in the previous year. “The past quarter was the most challenging in Ryanair’s 35-year history,” the carrier said. Over 99% of flights were grounded and the number of passengers fell from 42m to 500,000 in April-June as the lockdown took hold. Revenue fell by almost E2.2b, to E125m. Stephen Furlong, analyst at Davy Research, said the airline would likely need to respond to consequent falls in demand by reducing costs, including cutting back on routes. The fiscal Q1 losses came despite an 85% reduction in costs, Ryanair said, including through redundancies and pay cuts. <br/>
unaligned
Kids have only just started their summer break yet Ryanair Holdings CEO Michael O’Leary is already counting the days until they go back to school. With fresh travel restrictions threatening to jeopardize the long-awaited summer recovery, O’Leary said he needs the re-opening of schools in September to reignite business travel and enable Europe’s largest discount carrier to meet revised 2020 goals. Ryanair is budgeting for 60m passengers this year, down from a prior forecast of 75m, as occasional coronavirus flare-ups look set to disrupt routes into the winter, he added. Countries across Europe sought to restrict travel to Spain following a steady increase in new infections in the country last week. That’s dented the hopes of Ryanair and other carriers in Europe which have been counting on some recovery during the usually lucrative summer season to make up for over three months of shutdown. “To the extent they successfully manage the return to schools, we think there will be some return to some level of normality of business travel,” O’Leary said Monday. “If that doesn’t happen, then we think business travel will also be badly affected through September and October and therefore even the 60 million will be a challenging figure.”<br/>
Emirates airline will resume flights to Baghdad and Basra next month, apart from Nairobi, taking its passenger network to 67 destinations. Flights to Nairobi, Kenya, will begin on August 2, while the Iraq-bound flights will start on August 10. Flights between Nairobi and Dubai and Basra and Dubai will operate three times a week, while those between Baghdad and Dubai will operate four times a week. The flights will be operated using Boeing 777-300ER.<br/>
Icelandair Group has secured approval from its flight attendants for a new collective agreement, thrashed out after a stand-off which involved the airline’s dismissing, and then reinstating, its cabin crew corps. The agreement will remain valid until the end of September 2025 and rounds off the critical negotiations with personnel that are essential to the airline’s financing strategy. Icelandair Group says the deal with cabin crew union FFI provides flexibility to develop its route network while also taking into account the requirements of employees. It sealed the pact as it unveiled a first-half operating loss of $313m, having suffered a $105m impact in Q2. H1 revenues of nearly $270m were down by close to 60%. “All our efforts now are aimed at getting the company through this period by using our flexibility to react quickly to changes in demand in the short term and, at the same time, strengthen the long-term competitiveness,” says CE Bogi Nils Bogason. “It is crucial to have reached agreements with our cabin crew, pilot and aircraft maintenance unions and I am grateful for their important contribution in ensuring the future competitiveness of the company.”<br/>