Ryanair flew only 40,000 passengers in April

Budget airline Ryanair flew just 40,000 passengers in April and the airline warned that operations will continue to be affected in May and June.

Ryanair announced last week they are to axe 3,000 jobs as the number of passengers fell by 99.6% from 13.5m last year, after flights were grounded.

Ryanair said, “Due to multiple EU government flight bans and restrictions, Ryanair expects to carry minimal traffic during the months of May and June as well.”

Last week, the chief executive Michael O’Leary said, “We have never faced a period like this in the airline industry.”

O’Leary has said many will face pay cuts of up to 20% and pilots and other staff jobs will sadly be cut, as the airline expects to operate under 1% of their schedule between April and June.

The budget airline expects it will take two years to recover with passenger demand, until 2022 at the earliest.

British Airways have told their pilots that more than a quarter of the head count will be reduced by 995 in a “volume adjustment.”

A further 175 will be lost resulting from “efficiency changes,” in a letter seen by Sky News, which will have a reduction of 1,130 pilots from the total of 4,346.

BA also warned on Thursday there is no guarantee that services will resume at Gatwick Airport once the pandemic passes.

Operations at Gatwick are currently suspended, and is around a fifth as big as Heathrow Airport.