Ryanair to Keep their Algarve Winter Base

Ryanair will hold on to Faro base this winter after agreeing terms with Portuguese airport operator ANA

Ryanair have announced that they will no longer have to cease their Algarve winter schedule as previously thought.

The decision to close its Faro base was made off the back of delays on the delivery of their new fleet of Boeing 737 Max; following the 737 Max aircrafts being grounded world wide in March of this year following two crashes that lead to fatality.

In a statement, Ryanair said it had come to an agreement with Faro Airport operator ANA which should enable it to continue their winter base at Faro, but on a reduced schedule from three aircraft to two.

“Instead, the Faro base could now be reduced to two aircraft from November 2019 to March 2020 due to the delayed deliveries of up to 30 of Ryanair’s Boeing Max aircraft.
“This Faro base continuation can now be made possible with the agreement of Ryanair’s Faro-based cabin crews to move to seasonal contracts to reflect the seasonal nature of traffic to and from the Algarve.” Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said.

“While this agreement will preserve the majority of Ryanair pilot and cabin crew jobs in Faro this winter, the reduction in the base from three to just two winter aircraft will lead to up to 80 job losses among our contract cabin crew in Faro.
“However, the final number of job losses could be reduced to less than 50 with some of these crew members securing vacancies elsewhere in the Ryanair network in Europe.
“Regrettably, these contractor job losses are unavoidable due to the delayed delivery of more than 30 Boeing Max aircraft to Ryanair this winter.” He continued.

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