Blueprint
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 6-K
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the
month of September 2017
RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
(Translation
of registrant's name into English)
c/o Ryanair Ltd Corporate Head Office
Dublin
Airport
County Dublin Ireland
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file
annual
reports
under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F..X.. Form 40-F
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the
information
contained
in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to
the
Commission
pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities
Exchange
Act of
1934.
Yes
No ..X..
If
"Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the
registrant
in
connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________
RYANAIR TO END ROSTERING CANCELLATIONS BY SLOWING GROWTH THIS
WINTER FROM NOVEMBER TO MARCH 2018
Ryanair,
Europe's largest airline today (27 Sept) confirmed it will slow its
growth this winter (Nov 17 to Mar 18), by flying 25 less aircraft
(of its 400 fleet) from November, and 10 fewer aircraft (of 445)
from April 2018. By reducing its flying schedule in this controlled
manner Ryanair will;
-eliminate all risk
of further flight cancellations, because slower growth creates lots
of spare aircraft and crews across Ryanair's 86 bases this
winter.
-roster all of the extra pilot leave necessary in
Oct, Nov and Dec to meet the IAA's requirement to complete a 9
month annual leave transition period (April to Dec '17) so that
Ryanair starts a new calendar leave year from 1st Jan 2018 with no backlog.
-roster
almost 40% of the annual pilot leave requirement for 2018 in Q1
2018, which removes risk of roster problems recurring next
year.
-roll
out a series of low fare seat sales for winter 2017 confident that
there will be no further roster related cancellations.
Slower
growth this winter will have positive but differing impacts on
Ryanair's stakeholder groups as follows;
1. For Ryanair
Customers
(a)
Flying 25 fewer aircraft this winter will result in a number of
flight and schedule changes from Nov to Mar 2018. We have less than
400,000 customers booked on these flights, (which affects less than
1 flight per day across our 200 airports over the 5 month winter
period), and many of these flights have zero bookings at this time.
Less than 1% of the 50m customers Ryanair will carry this winter
are affected and every one of these customers has received an email
today giving them between
5 weeks to 5 months
notice of these schedule changes, offering them alternative flights
or full refunds of their airfare. They have also received a
€40 (€80 return) travel voucher which will allow them
to book - during October - a flight on any Ryanair service between
October and March 2018.
(b) We have
also emailed each of the 315,000 customers whose flights were
previously cancelled over a 6 week period in Sept and Oct. (Ryanair
carries 15m customers every 6 weeks) We have offered each of these
customers a €40 travel voucher (€80 return), again for
travel between October and March 2018. This flight voucher is in
addition to the flight re-accommodation/refunds they received last
week, and applicable to the EU261 compensation which they may claim
and receive over the coming weeks. (Note: €40 per seat
exceeds Ryanair current ave. fare).
(c)
For the
other 99% of Ryanair customers who are unaffected by these flight
cancellations and schedule changes, this slower rate of growth
means that from today there is no risk of further roster related
flight cancellations. These measures have already restored
Ryanair's industry leading reliability and punctuality. Customers
will also enjoy lower airfares, as Ryanair responds to last week's
rostering failure, by rolling out seat sales over the coming days
and weeks. This starts this weekend with a 1 million, €9.99
one way, seat sale for travel in Oct, Nov and Dec.
2. For
Ryanair's Pilots
(A) We appreciate the widespread support we have
received from our 4,200 pilots over the past weeks. Hundreds of
pilots, and many of their ERC's have been in regular contact with
the airline offering to work days off, to work one week of their
allocated month of leave, and offering to go public to correct the
false claims made about them, and Ryanair, by competitor airline
pilots in certain media outlets. We appreciate their
professionalism which has meant that since last Monday
(18th Sept.) Ryanair has operated over 16,000 daily
flights with only 3 cancellations, and over 96% of all first wave
flights departing on time.
(B)
This slower growth will provide stability to pilot rosters from
November to March. We will not need pilots to give up one week of
their well-earned annual leave from Nov. onwards. Slower growth
creates a large surplus of standby pilots so we can allocate all
annual leave due in the 3 months to December, and more again in Q1
of 2018.
(C) We
have communicated these changes by email to Ryanair pilots today.
We have assured them that all their annual leave is protected. This
now eliminates the roster problems this winter, because slower
growth means we no longer require our pilots to reorganise their
annual leave.
We are implementing a
€10,000Capts/€5,000F.O. base supplements at Dublin,
Stansted, Berlin and Frankfurt from 1st October as we agreed these pay increases with the
4 base ERC's at recent meetings. We received requests from a number
of other ERC's who wish to discuss these issues, and we have agreed
to schedule meetings with these ERC's over the coming
months.
(D) We
will not respond or accede to anonymous demands made via unsigned
emails for group or regional meetings, or for union interference at
these internal ERC meetings. Many of our pilots and ERC's have
confirmed that these unsigned letters were drafted by pilots/unions
of competitor airlines who wish to pursue an industrial relations
agenda at the expense of Ryanair and its pilots.
(E) We
have also written to our pilots to correct last week's false claims
made about our pilot recruitment. In the current year under 100
Captains have left (mainly to retirement or long haul airlines) and
less than 160 F.O's (mostly to long haul airlines). Over the next 8
months Ryanair has recruited and will train over 650 pilots not
only to replace these leavers/retirees but also to crew up for the
50 new Boeing aircraft we will buy to May 2018 to bring our fleet
to 445 for S18. Contrary to false claims of pilot shortages,
Ryanair has in recent weeks seen a big surge in pilot applications
from Gulf carriers and in Germany and Italy where both Air Berlin
and Alitalia are in bankruptcy and hundreds of their pilots are
facing job losses or steep cuts in their pay and
conditions.
3. For
our Shareholders
(A)
This slower rate of growth will slightly reduce our traffic this
year and next. Our monthly growth from Nov 17 to March 18 will slow
from 9% to 4%. Our full year traffic of 131m will now moderate to
129m, which is 7.5% up on last year. By slowing our summer 2018
fleet growth from 445 to 435 aircraft, we expect traffic to March
2019 will slow from 142m to 138m, a 7% rate of growth.
(B) The
total cost of the flight cancellations last week should be under
€25m. We expect the cost of the free flight vouchers issued
today to affected customers will be less than €25m. We expect
slightly lower yields over the next two months as we promote seat
sales. We do not expect these initiatives to alter our current year
guidance of between €1.40bn to €1.45bn PAT. We will
provide a full update on these issues to shareholders during the
half year results in late October.
4. For
our People
We have
rearranged our pilot recruitment and rostering function and will
invest in more rostering resources to ensure this failure cannot
recur. The 13,000 highly skilled aviation professionals in Ryanair
continue to deliver Europe's lowest air fares to a growing and
loyal customer base of 129m passengers p.a. This, over 30 year
record of exceptional delivery, will continue but only if we learn
from this mistake and work hard to ensure it never happens again.
In order to focus on repairing this rostering problem this winter,
Ryanair will eliminate all management distractions starting with
its interest in Alitalia. We have notified the Alitalia bankruptcy
Commissioners that we will not be pursuing our interest in Alitalia
or submitting any further offers for the airline.
Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said
"We sincerely apologise to those customers who have been affected
by last week's flight cancellations, or these sensible schedule
changes announced today. While over 99% of our 129m customers will
not have been affected by any cancellations or disruptions, we
deeply regret any doubt we caused existing customers last week
about Ryanair's reliability, or the risk of further
cancellations.
From today, there will be no more
rostering related flight cancellations this winter or in summer
2018. Slower growth this winter, will create lots of spare aircraft
and crews which will allow us to manage the exceptional volumes of
annual leave we committed to delivering in the 9 months to Dec
2017. We will start a new 12 month leave period on the
1st
of Jan 2018 in full compliance with
EU regulations and the IAA's requirements.
All of the passengers who have been affected by these disruptions
have now been offered re-accommodation or full refunds and their
applicable EU261 entitlements. In addition today, they are
receiving a travel voucher (€40 one way/€80 return)
which they may use to book any Ryanair flight of their choice
during October for travel between October and March 2018. We look
forward to welcoming them all on board."
ENDS -
For further information
please
contact:
Robin
Kiely
Piaras Kelly
Ryanair
DAC
Edelman Ireland
Tel:
+353-1-9451949
Tel: +353-1-6789 333
press@ryanair.com
ryanair@edelman.com
RYANAIR SLOWER GROWTH PLAN - 32 Q & A's
1.
What have Ryanair announced?
A. We plan to
grow more slowly (4% instead of 9%) this winter, by flying fewer of
our 400 aircraft between November and March 2018.
2.
How will I know if my flight between November and March is affected
by these changes?
A. You have received an email notice from
Ryanair today (Wednesday 27th Sept) advising you of any flight changes, and
offering you alternative flights or a full refund. If you have not
received an email from Ryanair today then you are among the 99% of
customers whose flights will be unaffected by these
changes.
3.
Why is Ryanair going to grow more slowly?
A. Ryanair
has grown rapidly over 30 years to carry 129m customers p.a. more
than any other EU airline. However, it suffered a roster failure in
September because it has over allocated months of pilot annual
leave during the 4 months from Sept to December.
4.
Why not allocate less annual leave?
A. Because
Ryanair agreed with the IAA to operate a 9 month annual leave
transition period from April - December 2017 to move from a holiday
leave year of April 16 to March 17 to a calendar annual leave year
from Jan 18 - Dec 18.
5.
Is Ryanair short of pilots?
A. No.
Ryanair with 400 aircraft currently employs over 4,200 pilots a
ratio of over 10 pilots per aircraft. Only 4 pilots are needed per
aircraft per day.
6.
Is Ryanair struggling to recruit pilots?
A. No.
Ryanair has more than 2,500 pilots on a waiting list hoping to join
Europe's No. 1 airline. We have offered jobs to over 650 new pilots
who will join us between now and May 2018.
7.
Are lots of pilots leaving Ryanair?
A. No in the
current year less than 100 of over 2,000 captains left Ryanair
(mainly retirements or to long haul airlines) and less than 160
F.O's who have mainly left to join long haul airlines.
8.
What does this slower winter growth mean for
customers?
A. Less than
400,000 customers (booked on flights across our 200 airports
between November and March will today receive between 5 weeks and 5
months' notice of schedule changes. They may switch to alternative
Ryanair flights or obtain full refund if new flight times/dates
don't suit. They will also receive a €40 one way (or
€80 return) travel voucher which they can use in October to
book a Ryanair flight for travel between October to
March.
9.
What have Ryanair done for customers on the 2,100 flights cancelled
last Mon 18 Sept?
A. Over 97%
of these customers received flight changes or full refunds by Sun
24 Sept. Today these 315,000 customers have also received a
€40 travel voucher (€80 return) to book a Ryanair
flight between October to March 2018.
10.
Is there "flight chaos" in Ryanair?
A. No. All
flights are operating normally. Over the past week from Tues 19 to
Mon 25 Sept Ryanair operated over 16,000 flights with over 96% of
first wave departures on time, and just 3 flights cancelled (due to
1 runway closure and 2 adverse weather diversions).
11.
How many flights did Ryanair cancel in Sept/Oct due to this
rostering problem?
A. 2,100 of
our over 800,000 annual flights.
12.
How many flights will be schedule changed over the 5 months Nov to
March to meet this slower growth plan?
A. Less than
18,000 of our 800,000 annual flights. This is less than 1 flight
per day per airport across our 200 airports over the 5 month winter
period. Many of these flights, especially in Jan, Feb and March
have no bookings whatsoever.
13.
How many customers have been affected by todays schedule
changes?
A. Less than
400,000 of Ryanair's 129m customers in the current year. Over 99%
of Ryanair customers have been unaffected.
14.
What effect will slower growth have on Ryanair pilots?
A. It will
create 25 more spare aircraft and more than 100 daily extra standby
pilots from November to March. It means all calendar months of
pilot leave will now be secure and Ryanair will not require pilots
to reorganise their annual leave.
15.
How many Ryanair pilots have a calendar month of leave to take
before December?
A. Almost 50%
of Ryanair pilots will receive 1 month off over 4 months as
follows;
|
Sept
|
over
460 pilots
|
|
Oct
|
'' 470
''
|
|
Nov
|
'' 620
''
|
|
Dec
|
'' 510
''
|
16.
Will this A/L rostering problem recur in 2018?
A. No because
A/L will be allocated over a full 12 month period in
2018.
17.
Has there been management changes in the pilot rostering
area?
A. Yes. The
pilot recruitment and rostering function has been taken over by
Ryanair's Chief People Officer who will over the next 6 months hire
more rostering managers, schedule the training of the 650 pilots
Ryanair has already recruited to fly Ryanair's S18 fleet of 435
operating aircraft, and meet with ERC's and pilots to address their
concerns.
18.
How much will the 2,100 cancellations cost Ryanair?
A. The
refunds and EU261 costs will cost Ryanair under €25m while we
expect the free flight vouchers will cost less than
€25m.
19.
Have all affected customers been advised of these winter schedule
changes?
A. Yes, all
affected customers have received email notifications
today.
20.
Are these schedule change customers entitled to EU261
compensation?
A. No as
these schedule changes have been made with 5 weeks to 5 months of
advance notice, EU261 compensation does not arise.
21.
Will this slower growth affect Ryanair traffic
numbers?
A. Yes.
Ryanair will now carry over 129m customers in the year to March
2018 (previously 131m) and in the year to March 2019 growth will
slow from 142m to 138m customers.
22.
Will fares rise as a result of this slower growth?
A. No.
Ryanair will keep reducing fares. A series of seat sales will roll
out over the next few months starting with a 1 million seat sale
this weekend at fares from €9.99 one way.
23.
Will slower growth affect Ryanair profits?
A. No.
Ryanair expects its full year PAT forecast of €1.40bn to
€1.45bn to remain unchanged. Although over the next two years
as Ryanair hires more pilots and raises pilot pay, costs will rise
slightly but we don't believe this will impact
profitability.
24.
Will Ryanair be doing anything more for its pilots?
A. Yes. We
have already agreed €10,000/€5,000 pay increases with
our pilot ERC's (Employee Representative Committee) at Dublin,
Stansted, Frankfurt and Berlin. Ryanair has also received requests
from other base ERC's for meetings to discuss pay and conditions
and will be arranging these meetings over the coming
months.
25.
Will Ryanair meet with other airlines' pilots or pilot
unions?
A. No.
Ryanair only meets directly with its people. It will not meet with
competitor pilots or their unions.
26.
Will there be any more cancellations?
A. No. This
slower growth means we will have surplus spare aircraft and pilots
all winter and in summer 2018. In the last week we operated over
16,000 flights with only 3 cancellations, 1 due to a runway closure
and 2 adverse weather diversions.
27.
How do I know if my flight has been affected?
A. You will
have received a schedule change email from Ryanair either on Mon 18
Sept or today Wed 27 Sept. If you have not
received an email notification from Ryanair then you are one of the
99% of customers unaffected by these cancellations or schedule
changes.
28.
Do Ryanair pilots suffer low pay or poor working
conditions?
A. No.
Ryanair pilots enjoy great pay and industry leading T's & C's
as follows;
-
Captain's earn between €120,000 to €180,000
p.a.
-
At Dublin and 3 other bases this has recently increased by
€10,000 p.a.
-
F.O's can expect to be promoted to Captain within 4 years of
joining Ryanair
-
Pilots enjoy a fixed roster of 5 days duty followed by 4 days off
which equates to a double bank holiday weekend after every 5 days
of work
-
Pilots by law cannot fly more than 900 hrs p.a.
29.
Will Ryanair slow down its aircraft orders?
A. No. We
will buy 50 new Boeing 737 aircraft between Sept 17 and May 18. We
buy 20 aircraft from Boeing in the winter of 2018/19.
30.
Will Ryanair be meeting directly with its pilots?
A. Yes. We
normally meet with our 86 Pilot base ERC's each winter. These
meetings have already started and agreed pay increases (base
supplements) at Dublin, Stansted, Berlin and Frankfurt bases.
We are now scheduling meetings with other bases as individual
pilots and ERC's have requested meetings.
31.
Will Ryanair hire more pilots?
A. Yes. We
plan to increase our pilot recruitment over the next 12 months from
5.2 crews (10.4 pilots) per aircraft to 5.5 crews (11 pilots) per
aircraft. We will also need to hire fewer pilots in the winter of
2018/19 because of a timing gap between aircraft orders, when we
only take delivery of 20xB737 aircraft between Sept 18 to May 2019
instead of the usual 50 aircraft deliveries this
winter.
32.
Is there a list of routes that are suspended from November for the
winter following these 25 aircraft groundings?
A. Yes. The
following 34 routes are suspended for the winter season from
November to March 2018
|
1.
|
Bucharest
- Palermo
|
18.
|
Sofia -
Castellon
|
|
2.
|
Chania
- Athens
|
19.
|
Sofia -
Memmingen
|
|
3.
|
Chania
- Pafos
|
20.
|
Sofia -
Pisa
|
|
4.
|
Chania
- Thessaloniki
|
21.
|
Sofia -
Stockholm (NYO)
|
|
5.
|
Cologne
- Berlin (SXF)
|
22.
|
Sofia -
Venice (TSF)
|
|
6.
|
Edinburgh
- Szczecin
|
23.
|
Thessaloniki
- Bratislava
|
|
7.
|
Glasgow
- Las Palmas
|
24.
|
Thessaloniki
- Paris BVA
|
|
8.
|
Hamburg
- Edinburgh
|
25.
|
Thessaloniki
- Warsaw (WMI)
|
|
9.
|
Hamburg
- Katowice
|
26.
|
Trapani
- Baden Baden
|
|
10.
|
Hamburg
- Oslo (TRF)
|
27.
|
Trapani
- Frankfurt (HHN)
|
|
11.
|
Hamburg
- Thessaloniki
|
28.
|
Trapani
- Genoa
|
|
12.
|
Hamburg
- Venice (TSF)
|
29.
|
Trapani
- Krakow
|
|
13.
|
London
(LGW) - Belfast
|
30.
|
Trapani
- Parma
|
|
14.
|
London
(STN) - Edinburgh
|
31.
|
Trapani
- Rome FIU
|
|
15.
|
London
(STN) - Glasgow
|
32.
|
Trapani
- Trieste
|
|
16.
|
Newcastle
- Faro
|
33.
|
Wroclaw
- Warsaw
|
|
17.
|
Newcastle
- Gdansk
|
34.
|
Gdansk
- Warsaw
|
All
other of Ryanair's 1,800 routes will continue to operate for the
winter. Some had have schedule changes but customers have been
offered alternative flights on their chosen route or a full
refund.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.
Date: 27
September, 2017
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By:___/s/
Juliusz Komorek____
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|
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Juliusz
Komorek
|
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Company
Secretary
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