Ryanair plans fewer firings after pay cut agreement, Sky says

Ryanair Holdings Plc plans to cut fewer jobs than initially planned after staff agreed to pay reductions, Sky News reported, citing a senior executive at the company.

Europe's biggest discount carrier originally planned to eliminate 3,000 positions, but will now significantly reduce that total after 97% of pilots and 90% of cabin crew agreed to pay cuts and changes to work practices, director of operations Neal McMahon told Sky.

Ryanair has slashed capacity for September and October after demand weakened, and other carriers are weighing similar cuts following a European surge in new virus cases. The carrier said Aug. 17 it will reduce the number of flights by 20% in the next two months due to uncertainty among travelers driven by a rise in Covid-19 cases in some European Union countries

Airlines had hoped to recover a fraction of the usually-lucrative summer season after months of shutdown due to the pandemic. The revenue is crucial for airlines to survive through typically lean winter months.

Yet an increase in infection rates in countries such as Spain have prompted the UK to reimpose quarantine measures, discouraging people from booking foreign trips.