Ryanair adds one million extra seats to UK winter schedule
Ryanair has announced it was adding one million extra seats to its winter schedule while the likes of British Airways (BA) continue to axe flights.
The airline now expects to carry 166.5 million passengers by the end of the year – 1.5 million more than initially predicted.
The low-cost carrier said it was increasing its capacity to and from 20 UK airports in response to BA’s decision to cancel 10,000 flights due to staff shortages and Heathrow’s decision to extend passenger cap until the end of October.
Initially introduced in early July, Heathrow’s 100,000 daily passengers’ cap was supposed to stay in place until 11 September.
“While BA are cancelling 8 per cent of their winter schedule due to staff shortages and ‘Hopeless Heathrow’s’ capacity restrictions, Ryanair is now adding more capacity to our largest ever UK winter schedule, so that UK families can book with confidence that they will get to their low-fare city break and winter sun getaways without the risk of flight cancellations and avoiding ‘Hopeless Heathrow’ as well,” said Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary.
The legacy carrier said yesterday that while it needed to make additional cancellations, it would protect “key holiday destinations over half-term,” giving affected customers the option to either get another flight – either BA or another carrier – or get a refund.