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Ryanair has slashed its annual traffic forecast by around 5 million passengers, citing fresh lockdowns in the United Kingdom and Ireland introduced to curb a highly contagious new variant of Covid-19.<\/p>\nRyanair has slashed its annual traffic forecast by around 5 million passengers, citing fresh lockdowns in the United Kingdom and Ireland introduced to curb a highly contagious new variant of Covid-19.<\/p>\n
The Dublin-based low-cost carrier, Europe’s largest, said it would significantly cut its flight schedules from January 21st until the end of the current lockdown.<\/p>\n
The British and Irish measures \u201cwill result in few, if any, flights being operated to\/from Ireland or the UK from the end of Jan until such time as these draconian travel restrictions are removed,\u201d Ryanair said in a statement.<\/p>\n
As a result, Ryanair has cut its traffic forecast for its financial year, which end on March 31st, from its current forecast of \u201cbelow 35 million\u201d to between 26 and 30 million passengers, the statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRyanair does not expect these flight cuts and further traffic reductions will materially affect its net loss for the year to 31 March 2021 since many of these flights would have been loss making,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n