Ryanair has announced that it will close its Cork and Shannon bases on the 26th of October if the Irish government fails to adopt the EU Travel List allowing flights to and from Green and Amber areas (areas that are not or partially affected by the coronavirus) to take place without restrictions. The LCC has demanded that Minister Ryan (an Irish Green Party politician who is the Minister for Transport, and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications) take into account the policy as of the 13th of October. If the Minister does not do so, it would force the airline to close its Cork and Shannon bases for the Winter season. If the closure were to occur, 130 jobs would be lost. Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson has reported: “We had a 30-minute online meeting with Minister Ryan today, during which we complained that neither he or his Department has implemented any of the Aviation Task Force recommendations since they were submitted on 7 July last, some 3 months ago. During that period of time, many EU countries, most notably Germany and Italy, have allowed the return of intra-EU air travel without quarantine restrictions, and they have delivered significantly lower Covid case rates than Ireland.
While NPHET and the Irish Govt have mismanaged air travel by keeping Ireland locked up since 1 July, Ireland’s Covid case rate has dramatically increased to over 88.8 per 100,000 population in the last 14 days and international air travel cannot be blamed for this increase.“
Ryanair is gutsy again, and absolutely fearless. Eddie Wilson seems to have a similar personality to Micheal O’Leary. Let’s hope that this doesn’t end up in court again like last time… 2nd of October 2020.
Aeronews24 