Ryanair announces potential grounding of fleet of over 300 planes due to Covid-19

Ryanair has announced the potential grounding of its fleet over the next seven to ten days which consists of over 300 Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Due to travel restrictions in place across the European Union (EU) with some countries marked as hot zones, Ryanair might be forced to ground its entire fleet. Jobs may be lost and pay might be cut in the coming weeks and months for the airline. 

The World Health Oranisation (WHO) has branded the EU as the epicenter for the coronavirus, as there are more confirmed cases in the EU than china when they recorded their highest amount of cases. 

Ryanair have removed all booking fee charges from their website, in a bid to help Irish people return home.This news comes as Minister Simon Coeveny urges over 20,000 Irish people in Spain to return to Ireland before midnight on Thursday March 19, 2020 as there has been a "significant and negative impact on the schedules of all Ryanair Group Airlines."

Ryanair customers now have the following options:

• Customers can now move their flight to a date in the future free of charge.
• The flight change fee will be waived in full. 
• Customers will only have to pay the fare difference.
• The flight date change will only apply to the routes customers have already booked. 
• Ryanair advises customers to make their booking for dates after April.