Ryanair aims to scrap face masks for summer holidays, says Michael O’Leary Business

Ryanair passengers will not have to wear face masks on flights this summer, the airline boss has predicted.

In a decision that will provide relief to travelers planning to travel abroad for the first time since the pandemic began, Michael O’Leary said he expects masks will no longer be required to here at the end of May.

Ryanair was consulting with staff on plans to remove face coverings and hoped a ‘common sense solution’ could soon be found.

Mr O’Leary expected the masks to be ‘probably here to stay’ until after Easter.

“But I would like it to end maybe end of April, end of May. We are also consulting cabin crew at the moment. We want to know how they feel. The key issue for us is that people are at the ease to return to our planes,” he added.

The comments will be a boon to holidaymakers who feared masks would remain mandatory on board Europe’s biggest airline for years to come.

In January Neil Sorahan, chief financial officer of Ryanair, compared the requirements to wear a face covering to the restrictions on liquids following the terrorist attacks in the United States 20 years ago.

“Masks will be something that will be with us for some time to come. If that’s the price we have to pay for the next few months, in the summer, it’s a small price to pay,” he said.

Holiday airline Jet2 on Tuesday became the first airline to remove face masks, with plans to drop them for domestic flights.

Ryanair’s hopes of expanding into Ukraine were dashed by Russia’s invasion of the country last week. Until hostilities broke out, it was Ukraine’s largest overseas carrier, bracing for dogfight with Wizz Air.

The low-cost airline hoped to fly 4 million passengers to Ukraine this year. Mr O’Leary suggested Ryanair was unlikely to resume flying before the end of this year.

“We will be the first to resume flights to Ukraine once it is safe to do so, but I think it will probably take the summer or maybe next winter,” he said. .

Meanwhile, Mr O’Leary revealed that Ryanair had started flying humanitarian aid to Polish airports free of charge.

“We don’t [normally] have cargo, but wherever we can get humanitarian aid at the airports, we are working with the Polish authorities and also with the Ukrainian embassies to facilitate those kinds of relief measures.

The crisis in Ukraine had an immediate impact on ticket sales, Mr O’Leary said, with bookings down by a fifth at the end of last week and down “about 10%” at the end of last week. weekend course.

However, there has been a “significant increase” in bookings to and from Poland as people fleeing Ukraine “join family and friends” outside the country.

Separately, Wizz Air said it would also help people affected by the Russian invasion. Carrier FTSE 250 has reserved 100,000 free seats on flights departing from airports close to Ukraine’s borders.

The airline said Wizz operated 2% fewer flights in February following the military action and expects a 7% reduction in March.