Ryanair is to postpone its new cabin bag policy until January 15, 2018 "to allow customers more time to adjust to the changes", it says. The new policy, which was to have come into effect from November 1st, axes free 10kg carry-on bags for all but Priority Boarding Customers.
Passengers who do not pay its €5 priority fee will have to check the larger of their two cabin bags (10kg, 55cm x 40cm x 20cm) into the hold at the boarding gate.
More than 300,000 Ryanair passengers have had their travel plans thrown into disarray as a result of a rolling programme of flight cancellations that will hit 2 per cent of all of the airline’s flights between now and the end of October.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary blamed a “messed-up” rostering system and a need to give pilots “lots of holidays over the next four months”. He said the roster issues arose due to a change in the way the airline records flight hours. Under EU rules, pilots can only fly 900 hours a year, and 100 hours in any month.
Millions of Ryanair passengers will be forced to put their weekend bags and small suitcases in the hold from November 1, unless they cough up £10 per return flight for priority boarding.
The low-cost airline said only those who pay the fee will be allowed to take a larger 10kg bag, measuring up to 55cm x 40cm x 20cm, into the cabin. Everyone else will be able to keep a small handbag or laptop bag (35cm x 20cm x 20cm), but will have their bigger cases taken from them at the gate and placed in the hold (free of charge).
A strong Easter bank holiday weekend helped Ryanair to a 55% rise in profit for the three months to the end of June. The airline reported a profit after tax of €397m for the quarter, compared to an average forecast of €366 million in a company poll of analysts.
Ryanair generated €1.9 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 13% on the same period last year and carried 35m passengers (+12%). The company notes the results are flattered by the fact that Easter fell in April this year, skewing comparisons with 2016, when it was in March.
The UK could be left without any flights to and from Europe after Brexit, Ryanair has warned. The low-cost airline said aviation should be treated as a matter of urgency in Brexit negotiations, as summer schedules for 2019 must be finalised by March next year.
The Dublin-headquartered company, which operates more than 1,800 flights to over 200 destinations in 33 countries daily, urged the UK Government to “put aviation at the forefront of its negotiations with the EU and provide a coherent post-Brexit plan,” said Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs in a statement.
Ryanair said its third-quarter net profit fell nearly 8% as overcapacity in the European airline industry continues to depress ticket prices.
Ryanair said net earnings fell to €95 million from €102.7 million a year earlier for the three months to the end of last year, owing to a sharp decline in the value of the pound after Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
“We expect sterling to remain volatile for some time and we may see a slowdown in economic growth in both the UK and Europe as we move closer to Brexit,” Ryanair said.
