Coronavirus likely lead to loss up to 3,000 Ryanair jobs

It will take Ryanair, Europe's largest budget airline, at least two years for its passenger demand to return to normal due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Irish national radio and television broadcaster RTE reported on Friday.

The report quoted the airline as saying that such a situation could lead to a loss of up to 3,000 jobs within the company, a 20-percent pay cut for its employees, a closure of a number of aircraft bases across Europe and a reduction in the number of aircraft deliveries from Boeing over the next two years.

The possible lay-off of Ryanair's employees will not only involve pilots and cabin crews but also staff working at its headquarters, said the report, quoting an unidentified source of the airline.

There is no official statement related to this on the website of Ryanair and the airline is not immediately available for commenting on the report.

According to the report, Ryanair Group's CEO Michael O'Leary has agreed to extend his 50-percent pay cut for April and May till the end of the current fiscal year which will fall on March 31, 2021.

The report did not mention the number of aircraft bases that Ryanair could possibly shut down in Europe.

Data on Ryanair's website show that the airline currently boasts over 80 aircraft bases in Europe and part of North Africa.

Ryanair says on its website that it has ordered 210 Boeing 737 MAX 200. But none of them have been delivered yet due to the technical problems found with the model, said the airline in a previous statement.

Ryanair hopes that the inclusion of the Boeing 737 MAX 200 into its existing fleet of more than 470 planes will help it to achieve a target of flying 200 million passengers in 2024, according to a plan released by the company on its website. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously disrupted the company's plan.

Ryanair now predicts that it will only handle less than 100 million passengers in the entire fiscal year of 2021, which is a far cry from its originally planned target of 154 million passengers, according to the RTE report.