Ryanair says it intends to cancel 40 to 50 flights a day over the next six weeks because its staff need to catch up on holiday entitlement.
The airline angered passengers by cancelling more than 160 flights across Europe without notice or explanation on Friday.
A total of 82 flights were cancelled on Friday with 80 scheduled to be cancelled on Saturday.
Scores of passengers deluged the Ryanair Twitter handle on Friday seeking an explanation for the cancellations. Ryanair only responded by stating that it was as a result of “circumstances outside our control”.
Eventually Ryanair issued a statement on Friday evening saying that it needed to cancel the flights to “improve its system-wide punctuality which has fallen below 80 per cent in the first two weeks of September through a combination of air traffic control capacity delays and strikes, weather disruptions and the impact of increased holiday allocations to pilots and cabin crew as the airline moves to allocate annual leave during a 9 month transition period (April to December 2017) to move the airline’s holiday year (currently April to March) to a calendar year (Jan to Dec) from 1st January 2018 onwards”.
Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said the cancellations amounted to two per cent of the airline’s 2,500 flights and the goal will be to restore its on-time performance to its 90 per cent average.
He added: “Ryanair apologises sincerely for the inconvenience caused to customers by these cancellations. Customers will be contacted directly about this small number of cancellations and offered alternative flights or full refunds.”
Among the cancellations were 17 flights in and out of Dublin Airport . Departures to Tours and Newcastle on Friday and two flights to Barcelona, and one each to Madrid, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and London Gatwick on Saturday have been cancelled.
Arrivals from Rome, Tours, Newcastle and Paris Beauvais on Friday and flights on Saturday from Barcelona, Madrid, Exeter and two to Amsterdam have also been cancelled.
Angry passengers complained that no explanation was forthcoming from Ryanair about the cancellations on Friday.
One tweeted the airline: ”#ryanaircancellations unacceptable to state cancellations due to issues outside of your control without giving an actual reason.”
Another, whose flight from Manchester to Krakow was cancelled on Monday, tweeted: ”I’ve just an email saying my flight home on Monday is cancelled. Can you help please?”
Another wrote: "My flight from Stansted to Pisa tomorrow has been cacnelled. Still showing up as scheduled elsewhere. What's going on?"
A fourth tweeted: “I want to rebook my flight that you’ve cancelled from Bologna and can’t reach your customer service live chat. Can you help?”
Friday and Saturday cancellations
FR6341 Barcelona to El Prat Rome Fuimincino
FR4338 Bologna to Brindisi
FR9092 Trapani (Sicily) to Milan (Bergamo)
FR3005 Rome Ciampino to London Stansted
FR7422 Stockholm to Alicante
FR4601 Bologna to Malaga T2
FR4100 Frankfurt Main to Malaga T2
FR4111 Milan (Bergamo) to Capodichino
FR4709 Alghero to Milan (Bergamo)
FR1382 Charleroi to Zaragosa
FR9428 Dublin T1 to Milan (Bergamo)
FR876 London Stansted to Beziers
FR7542 Manchester to Barcelona El Prat
FR4007 Manchester to Alicante
FR2225 London Stansted to Tallinn
FR5041 Leeds Bradford to Bratislava
FR9432 Dublin T1 to Rome Ciampino
FR9135 Porto to Paris Beauvais
FR9366 Barcelona El Prat to Bologna
FR8882 Edinburgh to London Stansted
FR3048 Porto to Krakow
FR4339 Brindisi to Bologna
FR6342 Rome Fuimincino to Barcelona El Prat
FR9091 Milan (Bergamo) to Trapani (Sicily)
FR4112 Capodichino to Milan (Bergamo)
FR4708 Milan (Bergamo) to Alghero
FR1383 Zaragosa to Charleroi
FR877 Beziers to London Stansted
FR3002 London Stansted to Rome Ciampino
FR8881 London Stansted to Edinburgh
FR9429 Milan (Bergamo) to Dublin T1
FR8816 London Stansted to Nimes
FR1782 London Stansted to Bordeaux
FR4602 Malaga T2 to Bologna
FR9367 Bologna to Barcelona El Prat
FR7543 Barcelona El Prat to Manchester
FR9134 Paris Beauvais to Porto
FR3484 Bologna Palma to Mallorca
FR5042 Bratislava to Leeds Bradford
FR9927 Alghero to Pisa
FR5505 Milan (Bergamo) to Nuremberg
FR8631 Trapani (Sicily) to Charleroi
FR4110 Malaga T2 to Frankfurt Main
FR2224 Tallinn to London Stansted
FR4006 Alicante to Manchester
FR7423 Alicante to Stockholm
FR9111 Barcelona El Prat to Turin
FR9431 Rome Ciampino to Dublin T1
FR8884 Edinburgh to London Stansted
FR3047 Krakow to Porto
FR9928 Pisa to Alghero
FR1783 Bordeaux to London Stansted
FR5506 Nuremberg to Milan (Bergamo)
FR8817 Nimes to London Stansted
FR3485 Palma Mallorca to Bologna
FR9112 Turin to Barcelona El Prat
FR8883 London Stansted to Edinburgh
FR8632 Charleroi to Trapani (Sicily)
FR2993 Dublin T1 to Tours
FR72 London Stansted to Carcassonne
FR7382 London Stansted to Copenhagen
FR8082 Fez to Charleroi
FR1062 Madrid to Modlin Warsaw
FR2994 Tours to Dublin T1
FR7233 Vilniaus to Paris Beauvais
FR6212 Dusseldorf Weeze to Alicante
FR2528 Madrid to Berlin
FR2945 Porto to Berlin
FR73 Carcassonne to London Stansted
FR7381 Copenhagen to London Stansted
FR9848 Pisa to Chania (Crete)
FR58 London Stansted to Stockholm
FR8081 Charleroi to Fez
FR7234 Paris Beauvais to Vilniaus
FR6213 Alicante to Dusseldorf Weeze
FR1063 Modlin Warsaw to Madrid
FR2529 Berlin to Madrid
FR9849 Chania (Crete) to Pisa
FR2946 Berlin to Porto
FR174 Dublin T1 to Newcastle
FR59 Stockholm to London Stansted
FR175 Newcastle to Dublin T1
