Ryanair warns of Cork, Shannon base seasonal closures

Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) has warned that it will temporarily close its bases at Cork and Shannon airports for the winter 2020/21 season, affecting around 130 employees, if the Irish government does not relax its COVID-19 border policy. “Ryanair… notified Transport Minister Eamon Ryan that it had no choice but to close its Cork and Shannon bases from 26 October for the Winter season, due to the devastating impact of the Irish Government’s mismanagement of air travel on and off the Island of Ireland since July 1 last,” the low-cost carrier said. Ryanair called upon the government to immediately adopt the EU’s recommended, although not mandatory, “traffic lights” system which would introduce more nuanced distinctions and restrictions for various countries depending on their current public health situation. Currently, Ireland maintains Europe’s strictest regime with arrivals from just four countries – Cyprus, Finland, Latvia, and airport-less Liechtenstein – absolved from the mandatory quarantine. “Many EU countries, most notably Germany and Italy, have allowed the return of intra-EU air travel without quarantine restrictions, and they have delivered significantly lower COVID case rates than Ireland,” Chief Executive Eddie Wilson argued. The Irish airline admitted that “some quarantine restrictions may be necessary” for regions designated by the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) as “red zones” but called for the relaxation of rules that govern other countries. Ryanair said that it would finalise the decision to temporarily close its Cork and Shannon bases if the government does not change its policy during the next review of its border restrictions, scheduled to enter into effect from October 13, 2020.