RYANAIR SAYS THAT it will be cutting flights in and out of London Stansted Airport following the UK’s vote to leave the EU.
As the no-frills airline announced a slight increase in first quarter earnings, CEO Michael O’Leary described the UK’s Brexit vote as “both a surprise and a disappointment”.
O’Leary had publicly backed the Remain campaign and had said that a vote to leave would be “absolutely crazy”.
Speaking today, he’s now said that he expects the fallout to effect the airline market.
“We expect this result will lead to a considerable period of political and economic uncertainty in both the UK and the EU,” O’Leary said.
“This uncertainty will be damaging to economic growth and consumer confidence.”
Ryanair had already signalled its intention in late June to put the brakes on new UK connections , O’Leary has confirmed that this will mean fewer flights.
We will pivot our growth away from UK airports and focus more on growing at our EU airports over the next two years. This winter we will cut capacity and frequency on many London Stansted routes, although no routes will close.
The Dublin-based carrier repeated its guidance for a 12% increase in full-year profits to between €1.375 billion and €1.425 billion.
However, it cautioned that “post Brexit there are significant risks to the downside during the remainder of the year”.
Earnings before taxation rose 4% to €256 million in the three months to the end of June, Ryanair said in a results statement.
Turnover meanwhile grew 2% to €1.68 billion in the reporting period.
With reporting by © – AFP 2016
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