Ryanair's passenger traffic for the first quarter of 2006 will be reduced by 100,000 per month due to delays in the delivery of new aircraft, the company said today.
The budget airline announced cuts in its flying programme to accommodate what it said was the late delivery of new aircraft from Boeing and Ryanair's decision to retire its existing fleet of 737-200s at the end of December.
"These cancellations will reduce Ryanair's passenger traffic by approximately 100,000 passengers per month during January, February and March and will reduce the overall passenger traffic in the current fiscal year to just under 35 million passengers," Ryanair said in a statement.
Ryanair said all its deliveries this winter would be about one month late due to a strike in Boeing during September and October.
"Ryanair has been able to meet this four aircraft shortfall during October, November and December by extending the flying programme on a number of older 737-200 series aircraft due for retirement. It is not possible to extend the use of these aircraft beyond the end of December 2005, as the aircraft have been sold and the pilots have been retrained on the 737-800s," the company said.
The airline said it would trim its schedule temporarily in the first quarter and that capacity would return to normal with the delivery of the last four aircraft in April.
Some 200 rotations per month (around one per cent of its total flying programme) will be cancelled in January, February and March. In addition, the operation of a second aircraft from Ryanair's East Midlands base will be delayed from March 7 thto April 5 th. The provision of a second plan at Pisa will also be delayed from January until April.
Ryanair said passengers affected would be notified at least three weeks in advance of their original date of travel and would either be offered an alternative flight, re-accommodation on the new routes, or a full refund of their air fares.
Ryanair's deputy chief executive, Michael Cawley said: "We very much regret having to reduce our schedule to allow for the late delivery of new aircraft from Boeing and the planned retirement of our older 737-200s in December. These aircraft have already been sold.
"We apologise sincerely to all our passengers who may be inconvenienced by these schedule changes, and we look forward to welcoming them on board the new flights from East Midlands and Pisa when the new aircraft are delivered and based there during April 2006."
The company said the schedule changes would not affect its profit guidance for the fiscal year to the end of March.