Job losses at Ryanair as it battles with fuel costs

Budget airline Ryanair has today announced it is to cut around 250 flights from London’s Stansted airport as it grapples with rising fuel costs and airport fees.

The cuts at the Irish airline will see the number of weekly flights fall by 14% and carry approximately 900,000 fewer passengers as it trims its Stansted fleet from 40 to 28.

The cuts will result in job losses of between 100 and 150 staff, including cabin crew and ground staff at Stansted.

Yesterday, the airline announced it was cutting 12% of its flights from Dublin.

Ryanair also confirmed it is to cancel its services from November 4 to December 19 at seven destinations: Basel in Switzerland; Budapest in Hungary; Krakow and Rzeszow in Poland; Palma and Valencia in Spain; and Salzburg in Austria.

The airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, recently warned that most of Europe’s airlines will go bust if oil prices remain high.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently warned the airline industry faced a grim outlook and passenger numbers would be affected by surging fuel costs and the deteriorating economic situation.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Mr O’Leary said it is more profitable for Ryanair to ground aircraft rather than fly them at these airports during this period. According to O’Leary, Stansted is the most expensive of its 28 bases.

Last week, US crude oil costs rocketed to $147 a barrel, however, it has since dropped back to approximately $136 a barrel.

However, despite the cutbacks, Ryanair has confirmed six new ‘sun destination’ routes over winter to Malaga, Ibiza, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Katowice in Poland and Basel in Switzerland from December 21.

The airline industry has suffered of late. Earlier this month, US airline, American Airlines, said it is to cut 7,000 jobs by the end of the year.

Furthermore, US carrier United Airlines recently announced plans to shed around 950 of its 6,600 pilots.

US carriers including ATA Airlines, Aloha Airgroup and Skybus Airlines all ceased trading in March.

EOS and Maxjet revealed they would cease flying in May while Delta Air Lines, which is merging with Northwest Airlines, recently announced it would cut 2,000 jobs and reduce its capacity by 10% from 2008 levels year-on-year.

Story link: Job losses at Ryanair as it battles with fuel costs