RYAAY Ryanair Holdings PLC

By Adriano Marchese

Ryanair Holdings PLC said Monday that it is reducing its short haul flight program, mainly to and from Italy, in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The discount airline company said for the three week period between March 17 and April 8, it will be reducing its flights where it has already noticed reduced bookings.

Italy, especially the northern region, has been the worst hit in Europe, with around 1,700 total cases and over 40 deaths caused by Covid-19.

Ryanair said the cancellations aren't expected to have a material impact on guidance for the current year ending in March, but cautioned that it is "far too early to speculate" what the impact will be on earnings in fiscal 2021.

Over the past week, Ryanair said it has seen a significant drop in bookings for the late March and early April period. Moreover, it has also seen a significant increase in passenger no-shows, particularly from and within Italy.

"It makes sense to selectively prune our schedule to and from those airports where travel has been most affected by the Covid-19 outbreak," Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said.

The airline said the company has been meeting daily to focus on maintaining operational efficiency and cost savings to address the current downturn in business caused by the virus.

Some of the measures include rolling-schedule cuts to fit booking patterns, recruitment, promotion and pay freezes across the network, and allocating annual leave as well as unpaid leave to pilots and cabin crew.

"We will make sensible cuts to our schedules over the comings weeks to reflect weaker bookings, and changing travel patterns. All affected customers will be advised of any schedule changes at least 14 days in advance," Mr. O'Leary said.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 02, 2020 11:47 ET (16:47 GMT)

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