Things Are Not Looking Great for Ryanair

Earlier this week, Ryanair unveiled its Q1 results, which revealed a 21 percent drop in profits. This has been attributed to a combination of lower fares, higher fuel and staff costs and the on-going grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX. The airline has said it’ll be laying off staff and closing bases.

Earlier this week, budget airline Ryanair released its Q1 results, which revealed a 21% tumble in profits which is attributed to a combination of lower fares, higher fuel and staff costs as well as the grounding of the 737 MAX. On the back of these poor results, Aviation24.be reports that the airline is to lay off 900 members of staff.

In an internal video conference, CEO Michael O’Leary was quoted as saying that, “Currently, 500 pilots and 400 cabin crew are made redundant…we will, however, limit the amount of forced redundancies.” By the end of the month, it will select bases for closure and is expected to announce its first round of lay-offs.

The outlet reports that this will be followed by additional lay-offs through the autumn and early winter.

In addition to this, it has also been announced that O’Leary has committed to another five-year tenure as CEO. Despite the renewal of the contract, the outlet reports that his annual salary has been cut in half to €500,000 (USD $554,498) per annum while his yearly bonus will not exceed €500,000 (USD $554,498).

[Featured Image: Flickr/World Travel & Tourism Council]