Ryanair’s O’Leary warns of more job losses in event of deepening crisis

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/>