Ryanair warns of winter bookings collapse
Ryanair is predicting a near-collapse of the winter ski season as boss Michael O’Leary warned that bookings have collapsed to a tenth of normal levels.
Mr O’Leary issued a sharp rebuke of Boris Johnson’s resistance to implement a testing regime, accusing the Government of “mismanaging the situation” and failing the industry.
Europe’s biggest carrier expects to operate just 40pc of its normal schedule next month due to travel restrictions and a Covid second wave.
Mr O'Leary said: "November and December look like they're booking at around 10pc of our normal volumes and that's a number that's repeated across most of the European and the UK airline industry. We have never seen such awkward forward bookings."
Ryanair has previously criticised the implementation of quarantine measures across Europe, saying they have snuffed out the prospect of any meaningful recovery in air travel this winter.
Speaking to ITV’s Peston, Mr O'Leary said: "I mean, the British government doesn't have any competence, never mind confidence.
"You know the example that we point to all the time is that the Italians and the Germans have been allowing flights, intra-EU air flights, since the first of July and have managed to keep their Covid case rates down around 20 per 100,000.
"In the UK … the Government is mismanaging the situation. They've limited the number of flights people can take and yet you've seen huge outbreaks.
"Boris Johnson promised us world-leading test and tracing and like most of his promises it's turned out to be vacuous and completely undeliverable."
