Ryanair is cutting around 1,000 Irish flights in August and September because of the current quarantine in Ireland. The airline says that it will mean over 200,000 ‘lost passengers’ in Cork, Shannon, Knock & Kerry.
Ireland accounts for less than 8 percent of Ryanair’s traffic, according to the airline, but said that the country “its tourism industry and connectivity for Irish workers commuting particularly to/from the UK is now suffering unrecoverable losses, as arriving EU passengers are forced to quarantine even while the border to Northern Ireland remains wide open with no such quarantines”.
A Ryanair spokesperson said.
“Last week when the UK and Northern Ireland removed travel restrictions on short haul flights to/from the European Union, Ireland became the only country in the EU with a blanket 14-day quarantine restriction on all arrivals from EU countries, most of which have lower Covid case rates than Ireland.
“It makes no sense, when Governments all over Europe have opened up EU flights since June 1, and removed travel restrictions on intra-EU travel, that the Irish Government continues to treat countries like Germany, Denmark and Greece as if they were suffering similar levels of Covid as the USA, Brazil and India.”
“Irish citizens are being advised by their government that they should not travel to and from EU countries (almost all of whom have lower Covid case rates than Ireland), yet citizens of Northern Ireland can travel freely to and from the EU – via Dublin Airport – without any quarantine restrictions whatsoever.”
Across the rest of its network, Ryanair has resumed flights, but with changes to its on board policy to reduce the chance of infection.
Although it is not keeping middle seats free it now keeps the seat belt sign on throughout the flight, and if passengers wish to use the washrooms, they must first press the call button and wait for a flight attendant to check that the washrooms are free. This is to prevent passengers congregating and queuing for the washrooms. It is still serving paid for food and drink on board. All passengers must use face masks / coverings when on board.
