Ryanair flies into passenger ire on cancelled flights

LONDON – 18 September 2017:Ryanair struck turbulence Monday as passengers, consumer groups and a UK government minister hit out at the Irish no-frills airline for moving suddenly to cancel thousands of European flights.

In a shock move, the company on Friday announced it was cancelling up to about 2,000 flights over six weeks to "improve punctuality".

Ryanair said it would scrap 40 to 50 flights daily -- "less than two percent" of its flying programme -- to address problems caused by air traffic control delays, strikes and weather disruption.

But the Dublin-based carrier admitted that it has been hit also by pilots and cabin crew being forced to take outstanding holiday entitlement by the end of the year under a new system.

While Ryanair admitted that it "messed up" the planning of staff holidays, reports said the airline had been impacted by recruitment issues after losing a number of pilots to rival carrier Norwegian Air.

In reality, all Ryanair passengers are affected owing to them being left unsure on whether their flights will be among those cancelled over the coming weeks.

So far, the airline has published on its website only those flights cancelled through to the end of Wednesday, causing customers to express their anger across social networks.

"What if your (sic) flying out on a flight not cancelled before Wednesday, how the hell do you know if you can get back. Publish full list now!" tweeted Carole Schofield.

Rory Boland, travel editor at consumer rights group Which?, said it was "essential that Ryanair release a full list of flights that will be affected so that passengers have as much time as possible to make alternate arrangements".

Aviation minister Martin Callanan said he was "very concerned" by the airline's actions.

"We expect all airlines to fulfil their obligations to their customers and do everything possible to notify them well in advance of any disruption to their journey," he added.

Ryanair is inviting passengers to either apply for a refund or change their flight without facing the usual charges.

"We apologise sincerely to all affected customers for these cancellations," Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Jacobs said in a statement.

Lack of pilots -
Shares in Ryanair were down 1.7 percent at 16.78 euros in Dublin in afternoon trade.

"We see a modest adverse financial impact from refunded tickets and compensation cost," said brokers Liberum.

"This is clearly a disappointing and embarrassing operational mistake for Ryanair. However, so long as the pilot shortage is rectified in due course, there should be no (long term group) impact," it added in a client note.

In a statement Friday, Ryanair's head of communications, Robin Kiely, said the airline is being impacted by having to allocate annual leave to pilots and cabin crew over the next six weeks.

"This increased leave at a time of ATC capacity delays and strikes (in France), has severely reduced our on-time performance... to under 80 percent," he said.

Kiely added that by cancelling flights until Ryanair's winter schedule starts in early November, the carrier can restore punctuality to a target of 90 percent.

Ryanair had worked hard over the past few years to improve its public image after fierce criticism over its no-frills approach.

Since 2013, the airline has become far more engaging on social media and produced a simplified website. However, it continues to face passenger and media ire over its tough approach to customers, by for example imposing on-the-spot fines for carrying too much luggage weight.