Irish low-cost airline Ryanair plans to suspend all operations from four out of five Irish airports due to COVID-19 air travel restrictions implemented in Ireland. The air carrier would operate only from Dublin Airport (DUB) for a period of one month starting from November 14, 2020.

The airline would temporarily cut operations from Cork Airport (ORK), Kerry Airport (KIR), Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC), and Shannon Airport (SNN), announced Ryanair in a statement released on October 28, 2020. The measure would be taken as a response to the COVID-19 related restrictions following the government’s request for Irish people to avoid all unnecessary travel within a radius of 5 km from home.

“As a result of continuous government mismanagement and a complete collapse in travel demand, additional cuts regrettably had to be made across our Irish airports,” Ryanair announced in a statement. 

On the same day, Services Industrial Professional And Technical Union (SIPTU) asked the government of Ireland to assist the aviation workers. In a statement, Neil McGowan, the Sector Organiser of SIPTU, said that Ryanair's decision of temporary suspension of operations would have a significant impact on employees of the regional Irish airports. 

“It will reduce the number of flights in these airports to minimal levels or bring about their temporary closure. There is also a real concern that the cancellations will continue into 2021“, said McGowan. 

“For several months, SIPTU has been calling on the Government to improve the level of payment the wage subsidy scheme provides for workers in the aviation industry. The Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions have had a crippling impact on the industry. There has been a lack of urgency by the Irish government in tackling the crisis in the aviation industry and this has had a devastating impact on Cork, Shannon and Knock airports,” added McGowan.

Earlier in October 2020, Ryanair warned that it would cut its Irish bases as well as a base in Toulouse Airport (TLS) in France for the winter season from November 2020 until March 2021. At that time, the airline predicted its capacity to decrease from 60% to 40% in the 2020-2021 winter season.