Ryanair Returns To Skies On July 1 At 40% Of Schedule, With $22 Fares, Masks And Touchless Features

For better or worse, the coronavirus fares war is on in Europe. Ryanair plans to return to the skies starting on July 1 and is offering deep discount fares as low as €19.99 ($21.63) one way. It will operate 40% of its previous schedule, around 1,000 flights.

Ryanair will restart services from most of its 80 bases in Europe, flying 90% of its previous network of destinations, with fewer daily or weekly frequencies on trunk routes. The airline’s aim is to restore its network reach first, with the widest number of routes, rather than operating high frequency services on a small number of city pairs.

“After four months, it is time to get Europe flying again so we can reunite friends and families, allow people to return to work, and restart Europe’s tourism industry, which provides so many millions of jobs,” Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said in the company’s announcement. “Now that Europe’s States are allowing some gradual return to normal life, we expect this will evolve over the coming weeks and months.”

Ryanair is clearly targeting leisure travelers with this deep-discount relaunch, which will be an effective trial both of people’s willingness to travel just for fun and of the resilience of Europe’s coronavirus recovery.

“Ryanair believes this is the most practical date to resume normal flight schedules, so that we can allow friends and families to reunite, commuters to go back to work, and allow those tourism based economies such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, France and others, to recover what is left of this year’s tourism season,” Wilson said.

In an effort to lower the risk of coronavirus spreading as air travel resumes, the airline is encouraging passengers to wear masks and will rely more on touchless features into the travel experience including self-check-in and cashless NFC payments for in-flight purchases.

The airline has shared a video on its social media channels notifying customers of the new measures.

New measures include online check-in, downloading a mobile boarding pass, conducting temperature checks at home before leaving for the airport and also at airport entry, wearing face masks and coverings at all times both in the terminal and on aircraft.

“As already shown in Asia, temperature checks and face masks/coverings are the most effective way to achieve this on short-haul (1 hour) within Europe’s single market,” Wilson said.

Social distancing will be encouraged at airports and onboard aircraft “where it is possible,” the airline stated. However, the airline makes no guarantee that seats will be evenly distributed or left vacant, and Michael O’Leary has previously pushed back on any requirements of social distancing on aircraft and in this he has the support of peers.  

Ryanair will fully disinfect all aircraft at night using chemicals that are effective for more than 24 hours. The airline also emphasized that their aircraft are fitted with HEPA air filters.

Ryanair cabin crew will also wear face masks. The airline will offer limited inflight service of pre-packaged snacks and drinks, but will not accept cash. Transactions will be processed with NFC card readers instead.

The airline is also prohibiting queuing for the lavatory in the aircraft aisle during the flight. Instead, passengers have to request access to the toilets from cabin crew.

Wilson said that Ryanair will work with public health authorities to ensure that the airline follows measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 as people begin to venture out again.

In support of any potential tracing measures required, Ryanair will ask passengers flying in July and August to share information at check-in on the planned duration of their trip, and their address at the away destination. Ryanair will share this information with EU Governments as required to comply with any isolation and monitoring requirements for visitors.

“Ryanair will work closely with public health authorities to ensure that these flights comply, where possible, with effective measures to limit the spread of Covid-19,” Wilson said.