Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, has announced plans to return to 40 per cent of normal flight schedules from Wednesday, July 1, subject to Government restrictions on intra-EU flights being lifted, and effective public health measures being put in place at airports.
Ryanair says it will operate a daily flight schedule of almost 1,000 flights, which covers 90 per cent of its network.
Full details of these routes, frequencies, flight times, and promotional prices are available on www.Ryanair.com
Since the Covid-19 flight restrictions in mid-March, Ryanair has been operating a skeleton daily schedule of 30 flights between Ireland, the UK and Europe.
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From July, Ryanair will restart flying from most of its 80 bases across Europe. There will be fewer daily/weekly frequencies on trunk routes, as Ryanair works to restore some services on the widest number of routes, rather than operating high-frequency services on a small number.
To inform passengers Ryanair has also released a return to flying video, (click here) or visit the www.Ryanair.com homepage, encouraging passengers to observe effective health measures to limit the Covid-19 virus.
These include fewer checked bags, check-in online, downloading boarding pass to the passenger smart-phone, as well as undergoing temperature checks at airport entry and wearing face masks/coverings at all times in the terminal and on-board aircraft.
The airline reminds passengers that all its aircraft are fitted with HEPA air filters (similar to those used in critical hospital wards) and all aircraft interior surfaces are disinfected every night with chemicals, which are effective for over 24 hours.
While temperature checks and face masks/coverings are the cornerstones of this healthy return to service, social distancing at airports and on board aircraft will be encouraged where it is possible.
Onboard its aircraft, Ryanair says cabin crew will wear face masks/coverings and a limited inflight service will be offered of pre-packaged snacks and drinks, but no cash sales.
Queuing for toilets will also be prohibited onboard although toilet access will be made available to individual passengers upon request.
Ryanair encourages passengers to regularly hand wash and use hand sanitizers in airport terminals.
As a temporary further public health measure, while EU States emerge from their respective Covid-19 lockdowns, Ryanair will require all passengers flying in July & Aug 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, and 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.
Ryanair 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.”
