Article from BTNews 2 OCTOBER 2017
Ryanair counts the cost
Company bosses at Ryanair were counting the cost at the weekend of what was widely described as a “capitulation” to CAA demands that the airline should clarify the options open to passengers disrupted by its planned flight cuts.
While the carrier avoided a damaging confrontation with the regulator by agreeing to the CAA requirements, observers were divided over whether Ryanair had done enough to make up for days of negative publicity. How it manages up to 800,000 referrals remains to be seen.
With comparisons being drawn with rival easyJet’s approach, one source said one of the big differences between the two companies was that easyJet employs all its pilots direct, while a good percentage of Ryanair’s flight crew are sourced from agencies.
Ryanair announced on Wednesday it was cancelling another 18,000 flights between next month and March 2018, but this time released a list straight away and said it had already contacted affected customers offering alternative flights or full refunds and compensation.
The company said it would “slow its growth” this winter by flying 25 fewer aircraft from November and ten fewer from April 2018, a move it claimed would eliminate the risk of further flight cancellations by creating spare aircraft and crews.
The CAA said it was launching legal action against Ryanair "for persistently misleading passengers with inaccurate information regarding their rights”.
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Neil Munro, UK
Why not just pull their AOC. That should focus their minds for a bit.