Ryanair Holdings Plc today (20 Sept) held its 2018 AGM, during which shareholders approved all resolutions by large majorities. Details of the voting is set out in the table below.

As previously disclosed in the Company’s 2018 Annual Report, Charlie McCreevy and Declan McKeon chose not to seek re-election at the AGM. Chairman David Bonderman sincerely thanked both Charlie and Declan for their substantial contribution over the last 8 years and welcomed both Emer Daly and Róisín Brennan as new members of the Board.

 

Ryanair today (19 Sept) welcomed the French Supreme Court ruling in the Marseille employment case, which confirmed Ryanair’s position that the E101 certificates issued by Ireland in respect of its pilots and cabin crew who were temporarily based in Marseille are binding on the French Authorities and the French Courts as previously ruled by the ECJ. The French Supreme Court also cancelled all convictions against Ryanair and returned the Case to the Paris Court of Appeal for rehearing.

This French Supreme Court ruling, which follows the ECJ ruling in the A-Rosa case, now obliges the French Authorities to accept and respect the Irish E101 certificates, which were issued to Ryanair’s pilots and cabin crew who were temporarily based in Marseille during the period 2006 – 2010.

 

Ryanair’s Chief People Officer, Eddie Wilson said:

“We welcome this favourable ruling from the French Supreme Court which fully respects the earlier favourable ECJ ruling in the A-Rosa case.

We believe that this decision will now lead to an early and favourable conclusion of the criminal cases and tax demands in Aix-en-Provence. This should in due course lead to the repayment of up to €13m of social tax payments, which Ryanair was required to put into escrow to cover two such cases in 2014 and 2017.

We welcome this French Supreme Court ruling, which now paves the way for Ryanair to consider re-entering the French market. We are already in discussions with a number of French airports, and the French Ministry of Labour, which we hope will lead to Ryanair announcing some bases in France in the near future, but with pilots and cabin crew based in France, on local French contracts, and paying their social taxes in France rather than Ireland.

We have asked our lawyers to expedite the rehearing of this case by the Paris Court of Appeal now that the French Supreme Court and the ECJ in Strasbourg has ruled in favour of Ryanair and the Irish issued E101 certificates”.

 

ENDS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jt7geRoNUs&t=5s

Ryanair today (18 Sept) revealed that more customers with a two-person booking are purchasing its new lower cost €8 x 10kg check bags instead of its 20kg bag (€25) for city breaks and winter getaways, where customers can save €9 per booking, by purchasing two 10kg check bags (€8) instead of one 20kg bag (€25).

The new policy has cut check bag fees by offering a cheaper €8 x 10kg check bag (currently €25 x 20kg). This new bag policy eliminates all free 2^nd gate bags, (which have been causing flight delays this summer), from 1 Nov next as follows:

– Priority Boarding customers can continue to bring 2 free carry-on bags (1 x 10kg wheelie bag and 1 small bag).

– Non-priority customers can only bring 1 free (small) carry-on bag from 1 Nov.

– If non-priority customers want to bring a 2nd bigger (wheelie) bag they can buy a lower cost 10kg check bag for €8 at time of booking (currently a 20kg bag costs €25). This 10kg wheelie bag must be checked in at the airport bag drop desk.

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“Ryanair customers are already making savings with our new lower cost €8 x 10kg check bag option, which is now available for all flights from 1^st November. We have noticed more customers travelling on two-person bookings are availing of the new cheaper 10kg check bag (per person), enjoying even more savings.

This new lower cost €8 x 10kg check bag means that check bag income will probably decline as we deliver more savings to Ryanair customers. As always we continue to lower the cost of travel, while our new bag policy from 1 Nov means we can eliminate all free gate bags and related flight delays.”

                                                                                           

Ryanair today (14 Sept) confirmed that it met in Rome yesterday with the 3 main cabin crew unions FIT CISL, ANPAC, and ANPAV, and a set of agreed principles were signed, which will form the basis of a comprehensive Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) to cover Ryanair’s Italian based cabin crew from 1 Oct 2018. The parties agreed that they are “now in the final stages of concluding final terms and conditions of a CLA”, which will:

– Run for 3 years from Fri 1 Oct 2018 to 31 Dec 2021

– Be governed by Italian law and the Italian Courts

– Allow Italian cabin crew transition to local contracts over an agreed period

– Deliver increased pay under a new pay structure, which will see crews benefit from increased tax free allowances (similar to other Italian airlines)

– Introduce an Italian Pension Scheme as part of the overall package

Ryanair’s Chief People Officer Eddie Wilson said:

“We welcome this agreement with the 3 Italian cabin crew unions on the terms of a Collective Labour Agreement (CLA), which will cover all of our Italian based cabin crew, and will start from next month. This agreement follows recent cabin crew agreements in Ireland with FORSA and in the UK with UNITE.

We expect to sign this first CLA for our Italian cabin crew before the end of Sept, which will lead to significant pay improvements and other benefits for our Italian based cabin crew. This agreement is a further sign of the significant progress Ryanair is making in reaching agreements with our people and their unions in different EU countries, and disproves false claims made by smaller unions not involved in these negotiations, and who are threatening strikes later this winter, which will either not take place or be unsuccessful.”

 

Further information: http://www.anpav.com/nuovo/dettaglionews2.asp?cod=2880

Ryanair today (13^th Sept) rejected false claims made by Belgian union CNE that strike action by its small minority of cabin crew on the 28^th September would cause “travel chaos”.

Ryanair pointed to its experience during previous strikes which included five days of strikes by less than 25% of its Irish pilots this summer, and on each of those days, Ryanair completed 280 of its 300 flights to/from Ireland, because over 75% of its Irish pilots continued to work normally.  In total yesterday Ryanair operated over 2,200 flights and carried over 380,000 customers with no “chaos”.

Yesterday in Germany, despite a strike by pilots and cabin crew, over 70% of Ryanair’s German based pilots and cabin crew reported for work and Ryanair completed over 250 of its daily schedule of 400 flights, because 150 flights had been pre-cancelled on Tuesday 11^th with the small group of affected passengers being reaccommodated and/or refunded.

Ryanair expects that even if there is another limited cabin crew strike on 28^th September, the vast majority of its cabin crew across Europe will work as normal.  It also expects a significant majority of its cabin crew in Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal will also work normally, as they have during previous strikes, and accordingly there will not be any “travel chaos” or “widespread disruptions”.

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“Repeated false claims made by these unions about “travel chaos” have proven to be unfounded.  While we regret the limited strike actions that have taken place this summer, in all cases we have judiciously pre-cancelled a small number of our 2,500 daily flights in order to minimise customer disruption and inconvenience.

We object to these lurid and inaccurate press headlines which wrongly refer to “travel chaos”, despite the fact that during the seven days of partial strikes by a small minority of our pilots and cabin crew this summer, there has been very little disruption and absolutely no “chaos”. 

 If there is a further unsuccessful cabin crew strike on the 28^th Sept next then, as we demonstrated in Germany yesterday, Ryanair will pre-advise customers of a small number of flight cancellations, and the overwhelming majority of Ryanair’s flights and services that day will operate as normal, and we will carry the overwhelming majority of the 400,000 passengers who will be scheduled to fly with us that day.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jt7geRoNUs&t=5s

Ryanair today (11 Sept) confirmed that over 50% of customers with checked bags have switched to the new lower cost €8 x 10kg checked bag (from the €25 x 20kg bag), representing a saving of over half a million euro for Ryanair customers since its new cabin baggage policy went live on 1 Sep for travel on/after 1 Nov.

Ryanair’s new policy has cut check bag fees by offering a lower cost €8 x 10kg check bag (currently €25 x 20kg). This new bag policy eliminates all free 2^nd gate bags, (which have been causing flight delays this summer), from 1 Nov next as follows:

• Priority Boarding customers can continue to bring 2 free carry-on bags (1 x 10kg wheelie bag and 1 small bag).
• Non-priority customers can only bring 1 free (small) carry-on bag from 1 Nov.
• If non-priority customers want to bring a 2nd bigger (wheelie) bag they can buy a lower cost 10kg check bag for €8 at time of booking (currently a 20kg bag costs €25). This 10kg wheelie bag must be checked in at the airport bag drop desk.
• All customers with checked bags can now switch from the €25 x 20kg bag to the cheaper €8 x 10kg checked bag.

 

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“Since 1 Sept, Ryanair customers have already saved over half a million euro as they switch from our €25 x 20kg checked bag to our new lower cost €8 x 10kg checked bag option, which is now available for all flights from 1^st November. This new lower cost €8 x 10kg checked bag means that checked bag income will probably decline as we deliver more savings to Ryanair customers. Up to 50% of customers will continue to bring two free carry-on bags as they travel on Priority Boarding and this new policy will speed up the boarding and cut flight delays.”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jt7geRoNUs&t=5s

Ryanair today (6 Sept) confirmed it will give a free 10kg check bag to all 2m non-priority customers who booked before 31 Aug, to travel after 1 November, the date when Ryanair introduces its new cheaper 10kg check bag service, and eliminates all free gate bags and related flight delays. All these 2m non-priority customers have been advised by email today that a free 10kg checked bag has been added to their booking.

In addition, there are approx. 50,000 passengers who booked on/before 31 Aug but bought priority boarding (as a separate service) after 1^st Sept since this new policy was introduced on 31 Aug. All these passengers have had the €8 cost of their priority boarding refunded but Ryanair will still allow them to travel with priority boarding free of charge.

These pre-Christmas gifts from Ryanair means that all non-priority passengers who made a booking prior to 31 Aug will not be penalised in anyway by the introduction of Ryanair’s lower cost €8 check bag service from 1 Nov as they will be now able to the check-in their free 10kg bag, at the airport, on the day of travel.

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“All passengers who had booked on/before 31 August will now face no extra cost or inconvenience, as they have today received a free 10kg check bag, from Ryanair, added to their booking. We’re also looking forward to welcoming some 50,000 passengers on-board after 1 November, (who made their booking before 31 August) but who bought Priority Boarding over the last two weeks, who will now receive this service free of charge.

All passengers booking our lowest fares after 31 August have chosen our €6 priority boarding fee (which allows them to bring 2 free carry on bags) or have chosen our €8 (10kg) check bag service, or have chosen to pay no optional extra but will travel with our generous small carry on bag allowance – which has been increased by 40% – from 1 November.

As always Ryanair continues to lower the cost of travel, while our new bag policy from 1 Nov means we can eliminate all free gate bags and related flight delays.”