Ryanair Reminds Passengers Of New Health Measures As It Prepares Big Ramp-Up Of Flights From 1st July

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (29 June) called on its customers to follow a new set of simple guidelines that will help to protect the health of passengers and crew as it resumes 1,000 daily flights from 1 July. These measures include new compulsory rules to help to prevent any spread of Covid-19, as well as recommendations for passengers to limit interactions, and improved health & cleaning procedures on the aircraft:

• Mandatory Masks – customers to wear face masks/coverings at all times in the terminal and on board the aircraft; Ryanair crew to wear face masks for the whole duration of the flight, including boarding and landing.
• Temperature Checks – on all persons entering airport (prior to check-in/ security screening), customers also urged to check their temperature prior to departing home.
• Hand hygiene – customers & crew encouraged to regularly hand wash and use hand sanitizers throughout airport terminals before boarding.
• Pre-Airport Check-In & Boarding Pass – customers encouraged to check-in online and download boarding passes via the Ryanair app.
• Self-Service – bag drops limited to self-service in all airports where service is available. Customers also to self-scan their boarding passes when boarding.
• Limited Baggage – customers urged to minimise baggage – preferably to 2 carry-on bags only.
• Fast Track & Priority Boarding – use of the fast track service to reduce queuing times at airport security and Priority Boarding to reduce interaction.
• No queuing – during boarding no customers will be allowed to dwell in boarding stairwells or air bridges; queuing will not be allowed on board at toilets.
• Cashless Payments – card payments only for all inflight purchases and airport fees/charges.
• Limited Trolley Service – a limited inflight Getaway Cafe service will operate offering pre-packaged snacks and drinks; Ryanair’s Runway Retail inflight magazine will be only available on the Ryanair app.
• Aircraft Sanitization – all aircraft disinfected daily with hospital grade disinfectant chemicals that are effective for over 24 hours.
• HEPA filters – fleet fitted with state of the art filtering system, which removes airborne particles and recycles air flow every 3-4 minutes.

 

Ryanair’s Eddie Wilson said:

“We are delighted to be back flying from 1 July, and we encourage our guests and our people to follow Ryanair’s new ‘Healthy Flying’ measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and protect them across their whole journey.

All the aircraft are fitted with state of the art filters – which remove any airborne particles while you travel –  and every aircraft is disinfected daily with chemicals that are effective for over 24 hours. With temperature checks, face masks, cashless flights and self-service where possible, our customers can rest assured that we are doing everything we can to reduce human interaction and protect their health when flying Ryanair.

We will now require our guests to follow a set of simple guidelines to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. At Ryanair we are doing everything we can to return to flying so we can reunite friends and family, allow people to return to work, and begin to restart Europe’s tourism industry, upon which millions of jobs, especially for young people, now depend.  We thank our customers in advance for flying Ryanair and for complying with these additional public health measures which are promote the welfare of our guests and our people.”

 

Editor’s note: For more information on Ryanair’s healthy flying guidelines click here.

Ryanair today (26 June) called on the EU Commission to block the latest illegal State Aid of €3.4bn to Dutch flag carrier KLM, which equates to a subsidy of €200 on behalf of every man, woman and child of Holland. The Dutch Govt are great at preaching fiscal conservatism to other EU countries but when it comes to bailing out flag carrier airlines they write subsidy checks even faster than Mrs Merkel.

Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“16 years after Air France’s takeover of KLM, every Dutch citizen now has to pay €200 each to prop-up Air France-KLM, while each French citizen will only pay a subsidy €100. This is a poor deal for the “trading nation”, which likes to lecture other EU countries about fiscal rules but has no problem breaking these rules when it comes to subsidising KLM. This Dutch government subsidy is also bad news for competition and consumer interests as it will further delay the necessary reforms at the bloated Air France-KLM.  For this €200 KLM subsidy, every Dutch man, woman and child could buy 5 flights with Ryanair, instead of paying for the failure and inefficiency at Air France-KLM.  

We call on the European Commission to block this subsidy doping to KLM, which will further reduce competition and consumer choice in the Dutch and French markets”.

Thousands Of €9.99 Fares – Before Austrian Govt Bans Them!!!

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Thurs 25^th June) announced it will open 67 routes to/from Austria commencing on Wed 1^st July next, as part of Ryanair’s post Covid Summer 2020 schedule. Its Vienna base will offer 64 routes, including summer services to Palma, Rome, Faro & Athens, and many more.

As Austrians taxes get wasted on illegal State Aid to German owned Austrian Airlines, Ryanair will guarantee low fares for Austrian customers/visitors at prices which start from €9.99 one way. Vienna holidaymakers can now plan an exciting summer getaway with fares starting from just €9.99 for travel in July & August before some misguided Austrian Minister tries to ban them.

Following the reopening of Lauda’s Vienna A320 base on 1 July, Ryanair will operate to/from Vienna on a mixture of Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Since Lauda will become a wet lease provider for the Ryanair Group, the famous red brand will continue to fly over the skies of Austria from 1^st July.

Ryanair’s Austria 2020 schedule will deliver:

64 Vienna routes including;

• Over 25 summer destination including Faro, Malaga, Malta, Naples & Palma.
• Over 20 city break destinations including Dublin, Milan, Madrid, Lisbon & Warsaw.
• Ryanair will also operate 2 routes to/from Salzburg and 1 route to/from Klagenfurt.

Ryanair Group CEO, Michael O’Leary, said:

“Ryanair is pleased to open 67 new routes to/from Austria starting from 1 July, as part of our Summer 2020 schedule. Our Vienna base will serve 64 routes, with air fares starting from just €9.99 one way before some crazy Austrian Minister tries to force Austrian consumers and visitors to pay higher €40 air fares!!! Ryanair will provide non-State Subsidised competition and choice to the high fare Austrian Airlines (which is a subsidiary of the German subsidy junkie Lufthansa Group). Ryanair will oppose any illegal effort by the Austrian Govt to force consumers to pay high fares. Austrian citizens are entitled to low fares and nobody provides lower fares than Ryanair.

To celebrate our Summer 2020 schedules we have launched a seat sale with fares from just €9.99 one way, for travel in July and August 2020, which must be booked by midnight Saturday (27^th June). To avoid missing out on these amazing low prices, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com and book their flight with us today!”.

Reacting to the European Commission’s approval today (25 June) of the German Government’s €9bn bailout of Lufthansa, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“This is a spectacular case of a rich EU Member State ignoring the EU Treaties to the benefit of its national industry and the detriment of poorer countries. Under the pretext of Covid-19, the German Government is giving Lufthansa a bank-breaking bailout of €9bn which even the airline’s own CEO admits it does not need.

In clear breach of European competition rules, Berlin is wasting vast amounts of taxpayers’ money to prop up an uncompetitive airline that should be putting its own house in order instead of once again running to the Government for help.  This and other bailouts will have a more devastating long-term effect on the future of European aviation than the pandemic itself.

This bailout money will be used to bully smaller rivals out of the market, in line with Lufthansa’s grim record of anti-competitive behaviour. Only last week, Italian press reported that Lufthansa’s Air Dolomiti was “teaming up against low-cost” with three other airlines, to introduce minimum prices. This follows reports that Austrian Airlines, also owned by Lufthansa, is gearing up to set a minimum airfare of €40.

In addition to coordinating a State-sponsored price-setting cartel, Lufthansa is threatening to shut down smaller national airlines within the Lufthansa group, as if they were its Belgian, Austrian and Swiss hostages, unless the respective governments pay a ransom.

The contrast between Lufthansa and Ryanair could not be starker.  Instead of touring Europe’s capitals for taxpayer-funded hand-outs, Ryanair is innovating its way out of the crisis by giving consumers lower fares and connectivity at a time when Europe’s regions and cities desperately need the revival of tourism and their local economies.

We urge the European Commission to stand by its principles and keep the skies open, fair and competitive. If not, the single aviation market the EU has successfully built will crumble, with European consumers and taxpayers paying the price. The Commission’s approval of the Lufthansa bailout today is a betrayal of the core principles of EU law, which we have no alternative but to refer to the EU General Court.”

Calls On The Dot To Waive Useless Quarantine

Ryanair today (Thurs, 11 June) criticised the UK Department of Transport’s advice to minimize carry-on luggage in favour of checked in bags. This is more nonsensical advice from the DOT which continues to oversee a completely ineffective and useless 14-day quarantine.

Ryanair recommends that passengers minimise checked in luggage, in favour of carrying one or two pieces of cabin bags. This is because cabin bags are handled only by the passenger and therefore eliminates any risk of physical contact with other persons. Ryanair sets a maximum of bags allowed into the cabin, which ensures that the boarding process speed is not affected.

By contrast, checked-in bags are handled by multiple different persons at check-in, in baggage holds and while being loaded on to and out of aircraft holds.

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

 “In attempting to minimise physical contact during the travel process, particularly on short haul flights, Ryanair recommends passengers to minimise checked in bags and, where possible, confine themselves to one or two carry-on bags (1 large, 1 small for customers with Priority boarding) which minimises physical contact with other persons.

 The UK DOT should stop issuing rubbish advice to passengers about baggage and instead focus their efforts on scrapping the UK’s useless visitor quarantine which the UK Home Office now admit cannot be implemented, supervised or policed effectively.

 Ryanair is going back flying with 1,000 daily flights from 1 July. Recent bookings show how UK customers are largely ignoring this useless visitor quarantine as they book in their thousands to holiday destinations in July and August”.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (Tues 9 June) announced it will waive its flight change fee for all customers who book to travel in July & August, allowing them to book their summer holidays with peace of mind in case their travel plans change.

Ryanair plans to operate over 1,000 daily flights from 1 July. In order to provide as much confidence and flexibility as possible, Ryanair is now offering customers the following option:

• From 10 June, customers who book to travel in July & August will be able to move their flights with zero change fee to travel until the 31 Dec 2020.
• This flight date change will only apply to the route customers have already booked and trips must be completed before the 2020 year end.

Ryanair’s Director of Marketing & Digital, Dara Brady said:

“As popular holiday countries like Italy, Portugal and Spain are opening up for international tourists, we are ready to welcome passengers on board from 1 July, when Ryanair will be operating over 1,000 daily flights across our entire network. We want to offer our customers as much confidence and flexibility as possible, with no flight change fee if their travel plans change”.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (Wed 03 June) rejected the UK Government’s 14 day quarantine as ineffective and useless. For a quarantine to be effective, inbound passengers arriving at ports and airports need to be “detained” at their point of arrival. The UK Government however proposes to collect mobile phone numbers from inbound visitors but then allow them to travel on the London underground, the Heathrow Express, the Gatwick Express, the bus network, and/or taxis to and from London, and to/from every other airport in the UK.

Any inbound visitors could therefore spread the Covid-19 virus on public transport across London, and in every other major UK city with an airport, before ever arriving at their “quarantine address”. There is nothing to stop these visitors shopping in any other supermarket, to collect groceries and any other essentials before arriving at their 14 day quarantine address.

Once they have arrived at their “quarantine address”, the UK Government will phone less than 1% of these visitors but only on their mobile phone, which can be answered from any golf course, beach, park or indeed supermarket across the UK, thereby rendering this quarantine utterly ineffective and useless.

For the UK to be imposing a 14 day quarantine on inbound visitors when it already has one of the worst Covid infection and death rates in Europe, is closing the door long after the horse has bolted. Most visitors to the UK from Europe are arriving from countries with a lower R rate than the UK, which renders this 14 day quarantine not just ineffective and useless, but far too little far too late.

A spokesperson for Ryanair said:

“This 14 day UK quarantine is ineffective, completely useless, and will have no effect on British passengers who will largely ignore it. At a time when the medical science across Europe, in countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany, have safely removed all inbound visitor restrictions, the imposition of this completely defective quarantine in the UK is utterly useless and a total waste of time.

Ryanair is going back flying on 1 July with 1,000 daily flights from most UK airports, and we look forward to welcoming thousands of UK visitors going on their well-earned summer holidays to Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, and we are equally confident that inbound visitors to the UK will not be deterred by this completely ineffective and useless quarantine measure, which both Priti Patel and Grant Shapps know cannot be implemented, cannot be policed and has no scientific basis supporting it whatsoever.”