Ryanair Group airlines expects “most if not all” of their flights will stop by midnight on Tuesday March 24 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The low-cost airline group – which includes Ryanair, Lauda, Buzz and Malta Air – is cutting its flight schedules by more than 80% between March 18 and March 24.
It said: “From 24:00 hours Tue 24 Mar we expect that most if not all Ryanair Group flights will be grounded, except for a very small number of flights to maintain essential connectivity, mostly between the UK and Ireland. Details of these severely reduced schedules can be found on the Travel Advisory page on Ryanair.com.”
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The airline is in contact with European governments and may operate repatriation flights for EU citizens where possible.
Affected customers will be emailed about their options.
A statement on Twitter today said: “Ryanair sincerely regrets all the disruptions caused by this unprecedented Covid-19 crisis.
“The safety and well-being of our people and customers is our main priority and we will continue to comply with all WHO and EASA guidelines as well as all government travel restrictions which have been imposed over recent days to combat the Covid-19 pandemic
“All our thoughts and prayers are with our people and our customers and their families as we work our way through this crisis.”