It seems that Ryanair is going to launch a revised schedule to get Europe back in the air, with the airline aiming to restore 40% of its connectivity.
Ryanair Boeing 737-800 coming in to land at Dublin Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
The new timetable will go into effect from the 1st July 2020 (subject to government restrictions on intra-EU flights being lifted and effective public health measures taken in airports).
40% sounds a lot – and it is with an estimated 1000 flights being restored, operating to 90% of the Ryanair network. This is from the skeleton network of 30 flights a day between Ireland, the United Kingdom and Europe.
Whilst the network is scaling with 80 bases coming back on-stream, there will be reduced capacity on routes. The airline is planning to works to restore some services on the widest number of routes, rather than operating high-frequency services on a small number.
Of course, there will be new public safety requirements, including wearing of face masks/coverings at all times (when entering the airport, in the terminal, on the aircraft and until you leave the airport at your destination.
Passengers are also asked to check fewer bags in, use online check-in, download your boarding pass to your phone. In the airport, passengers will need to undergo temperature checks when entering the airport
The airline is embracing some social distancing – mainly in the airport. On-board, pre-packaged snacks will be offered (with no cash sales – so bring your card). You’ll be sitting in your seat for the flight too.
As for going for the toilet? Queuing for it will be prohibited. Access to the small room will be made available to individual passengers upon request.
All passengers flying in July and August will be required to fill in details (at the point of check-in) of how long their planned visit will be, and also their address while visiting another EU country. This contact information will be provided to EU Governments to help them to monitor any isolation regulations they require of visitors on intra-EU flights.
Confused? There’s a helpful video that Ryanair has provided.
In quotes
Ryanair’s CEO Eddie Wilson said:
“It is important for our customers and our people that we return to some normal schedules from 1 July onwards. Governments around Europe have implemented a 4 month lockdown to limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus. After 4 months, it is time to get Europe flying again so we can reunite friends and families, allow people to return to work, and restart Europe’s tourism industry, which provides so many millions of jobs.
Ryanair will work closely with public health authorities to ensure that these flights comply, where possible, with effective measures to limit the spread of Covid-19. As already shown in Asia, temperature checks and face masks/coverings are the most effective way to achieve this on short haul (1 hour) within Europe’s single market.
Now that Europe’s States are allowing some gradual return to normal life, we expect this will evolve over the coming weeks and months. With more than 6 weeks to go to 1st July, Ryanair believes this is the most practical date to resume normal flight schedules, so that we can allow friends and families to reunite, commuters to go back to work, and allow those tourism based economies such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, France and others, to recover what is left of this year’s tourism season
Seats on all these flights are now on sale at www.Ryanair.com from 1 July, at prices which start from just €19.99 one way. We will continue to work closely with public health agencies to encourage our people and passengers to adopt practical and effective steps to limit the spread of Covid-19 virus, in the best interest of our passengers, our people and our communities”.
Restarting a network with a bang
When Ryanair goes in – they go in big. A 40% restart of their network is ambitious, to say the least – and they’ll be expecting passenger uptake on them.
The public health requirements are interesting, to say the least -but it seems at least they’re making an effort to track their customers.
Which in the worst case, could be a valuable tool.
For now, those who want to fly can start doing so – providing their country lets them….
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