Ryanair cancels over 100 Polish flights

Low-cost Irish airline Ryanair has canceled 101 flights to and from Polis airports between September 18-October 28, the company said. The canceled flights include those to and from Warsaw (Modlin airport), Poznań, and Kraków. “We would like to apologize to customers whose journey will be disturbed and we can ensure that we can move them to alternate flights the same day or the next day,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said, adding that the airline is expected to pay €25 million in compensations. However, he added, that Ryanair will only compensate canceled flights, excluding booked hotels and rented cars. Ryanair will be canceling up to 50 flights daily for the next six weeks after it claimed that due to a “mess-up” on pilot rostering its staff will be limited during this period. Some 400,000 passengers worldwide will be affected by the mass cancellations. Ryanair has blamed the cancellations on a change in the way Irish airlines interpret European regulations that limit pilots’ flying hours to 900 per calendar year for safety reasons. Previous Irish aviation law interpreted the calendar year as running from April to March, which allowed Ryanair to schedule more flights during the busy summer months, benching pilots in quieter periods. According to Irish pilots’ union, Ryanair had “at least two seasons’ notice of the new regulations,” to comply with them, adding that over 700 pilots left the airline this year, mostly due to low wages and hectic workload. Ryanair assures that the regular schedule will be restored from November 1, when a new timetable will come into force.