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Ryanair to cut flights out of London Stansted post-Brexit

Budget airline Ryanair has announced it is to scale back its operations from London Stansted as it readjusts its operational focus towards the European Union following June’s EU referendum.

The Dublin-based company, which uses the South East airport as its European base, has 40 of its fleet of 350 aircraft located at Stansted, but would now be looking towards expansion in Italy, Germany and Spain.

Citing the political and economic uncertainty in the UK while the exact terms of Brexit were ironed out, Chief Executive Michael O’Leary, who was a vocal remainer during the referendum campaign, stressed that the Irish firm had a number of contingency plans in place depending on how things progress over the coming months.

He said: “We will pivot our growth away from UK airports and focus more on growing at our EU airports over the next two years. This winter we will cut capacity and frequency on many London Stansted routes, although no routes will close.”

“Until some clarity emerges over the next two years about the UK’s long-term political and economic relationships with the EU, we will be unable to predict what effect it will have on our business and regulatory environment, but we have contingency plans in place for all eventualities.”

The announcement followed the release of Ryanair’s first-quarter results yesterday which saw a 3% uplift in pretax profit, rising to £240m up to 30 June.

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