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Ryanair
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has warned staff to prepare for job cuts in the coming weeks, saying the airline has 900 too many pilots and cabin crew.
In a video message to workers, he said redundancies would be announced by the end of August, although he did not put an exact number on the losses.
It comes after the airline said it would cut flights next summer over the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max fleet.
The firm also reported a sharp fall in quarterly profits on Monday.
In the video, seen by the BBC, Mr O’Leary said Ryanair now had an excess of more than 500 pilots and 400 flight attendants.
He also said it would need 600 fewer cabin crew by summer 2020.
Job cuts would be “unavoidable”, he added, but said the airline would do its best to minimise the losses.
A spokesman for Ryanair confirmed the video’s authenticity but declined to comment further.
‘Planned closures’
Boeing’s 737 Max planes are grounded worldwide over concerns with their software following two deadly crashes.
In July, Ryanair said it would be forced to cut flights and close bases next year amid concerns the 737 Max would not be allowed to fly until at least December.
The airline said it was in talks with airports about which of its hubs would suffer cuts, and would talk to its staff and unions about the planned closures.
Mr O’Leary sent his video message after the carrier reported a 21% fall on profits on Monday for the three months to the end of June, as the average ticket price fell 6%.
He blamed higher fuel costs, weaker demand and a fares war for the poor performance.
On Monday, the airline said it would cut Mr O’Leary’s pay by 50% to €500,000 (£457,000) and reduce his bonus to a maximum of the same amount, in its annual report.
However, he has been awarded an additional 10 million shares – on top of the five million he already owns – in the Dublin-based business.