Ryanair will operate 1,000 daily flights from July 1

Europe’s largest budget airline Ryanair announced on Tuesday that it plans to restore 40 percent of its flight service starting from July 1.

Under the plan,  and 90 percent of its flight route network will be restored, said the airline in a statement.

The statement said that the plan is subject to government restrictions on intra-EU (European Union) flights being lifted and effective public health measures being put in place at airports.

According to the statement, all passengers and crew members onboard Ryanair flights must wear face masks or coverings.

Passengers will have to receive temperature checks at check-in points and fill in forms containing their personal information so that they can be located if it is needed.

Toilet access on board will be made available to individual passengers only upon their request and queuing for toilets is prohibited, said the statement, adding that all transactions on board will be cashless.

The statement also said that all Ryanair aircraft will be fitted with air filters similar to those used in critical hospital wards and all aircraft interior surfaces will be disinfected every night with chemicals that are effective for over 24 hours.

“It is important for our customers and our people that we return to some normal schedules from July 1 onwards,” said Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair, the core part of Ryanair Group.

Ryanair’s plan to resume part of its flight services is also important for itself.

Earlier this month, Ryanair said in a statement that the current situation in which nearly all of its flights have been grounded due to the pandemic impact could lead to a loss of up to 3,000 jobs within the company, a 20-percent pay cut for its employees, and a closure of a number of its aircraft bases across Europe.

Ryanair has scaled down its flight services since mid-March due to the flight bans and restrictions imposed by various EU countries following the coronavirus outbreak.

In April, Ryanair operated a meager 600 flights, most of which were for rescue and medical purposes. According to Ryanair, it carried only about 40,000 passengers in April, down 99.6 percent from the 13.5 million passengers it handled in the same month last year.

Headquartered in Ireland, Ryanair operates 2,400 daily flights over more than 1,800 flight routes in Europe and part of North Africa before the coronavirus crisis, according to the data on its website.

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Source: Xinhua