Ryanair will be cutting its October capacity by a further 20 per cent, following a similar 20 per cent cut in mid-August.

Ryanair now expects its capacity to fall from 50 to 40 per cent of its October 2019 levels. However, it believes it will maintain a 70 per cent load factor at this reduced schedule.  

On Friday it said that these capacity reductions were necessary due to the damage caused by continuous changes in EU government travel restrictions and policies, many of which are introduced at short notice.

They undermine consumers’ willingness to make forward bookings, it said in a statement.

In some countries - most notably Ireland, where the government maintained "excessive and defective" travel restrictions since July 1, COVID-19 rates have risen to 50 per 100,000 people - more than double those of Germany and Italy, where intra-EU air travel has been allowed, the airline said.

Ryanair welcomed the EU Commission’s plan to remove intra-EU travel restrictions, subject only to the ECDC weekly update on virus cases per positive test trends, and called for this coordinated approach to be immediately implemented by all states.