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Ryanair Apologizes Over Mass Cancellations Caused by Pilot Vacations

A Ryanair customer service desk at London Stansted Airport. The airline has been criticized after cancelling more than 2,100 flights because of a vacation scheduling error.Credit...Neil Hall/European Pressphoto Agency

Ryanair’s chief executive apologized to shareholders and customers on Thursday, looking to stanch criticism over the cancellation of more than 2,100 flights after it scheduled too many pilots for vacation.

The budget airline — known for ultralow prices that it combines with charges for services most airlines offer for free, like airport check-in and reissuing a boarding pass — has faced a wave of customer anger over the move to cancel the flights over a six-week period this month and next month.

The move, which affects about 315,000 customers flying through airports across Europe, has cost it 25 million euros, or about $30 million, and sent its shares 3 percent lower since it first announced the cancellations on Friday.

It has prompted a strong reaction, even by Ryanair’s standards — the airline often notes that while its customers may complain about how they are treated compared to full-service carriers, they often continue flying with Ryanair because of its bargain fares.

“This is a time of distress and anger for many passengers whose flights are due in the next few weeks,” said Adam Mortimer, a consumer adviser at the U.K. European Consumer Centre, which provides advice to shoppers and travelers in the region. “Thousands of holidaymakers were originally left clueless as to the status of their flights.”

On Thursday, the airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, apologized to investors and passengers affected at the company’s annual general meeting. Ryanair blamed “a failure within its pilot rostering function” for the cancellations, and said 95 percent of its customers impacted would have new travel arrangements, or refunds approved, by the end of the week.

“This is a mess of our own making,” Mr. O’Leary had previously said. He maintained on Thursday that the company would not have to change its profit estimates for the year, and insisted the cancellations would not create any issues with staff.

Ryanair has said a problem with the way annual leave was calculated for pilots meant that there would not be enough pilots on standby, or available to deal with emergencies or delays, leading to the mass cancellations. It has offered its pilots bonuses worth up to €12,000 each to work additional days, and has asked that they hold off on taking some of their annual vacation allocation until next year.

Overall, the Dublin-based airline said its pilots had offered to work an extra 2,500 days collectively since the problems arose.

Analysts agreed that Ryanair’s bottom line was unlikely to take a significant hit.

“Ryanair’s profitability leads the industry in terms of gross and net margins,” said Loizos Heracleous, a professor of strategy at Warwick Business School who has researched the airline industry. “Its growth is fast and ambitious.”

“This impact cannot be quantified at the moment, but in any case Ryanair’s other cost advantages arising from lean organization design and processes, and general efficiency culture will remain.”

The airline has grown rapidly since taking its maiden flight in July 1985, using a 15-seat aircraft to fly from the south of Ireland to London’s Gatwick Airport. It now has more than 400 Boeing 737s, and carried 12.7 million passengers last month alone. The airline offers a single class of seating, and advertises one-way flights across Europe for as little as 10 pounds, or about $13.60.

But while its profitability may be largely unaffected, the chaos surrounding its flight cancellations could yet impact Ryanair’s potential acquisition of Italy’s troubled flag carrier, Alitalia. It made a nonbinding offer for Alitalia in July, and the following month, Mr. O’Leary said the Italian airline’s long haul fleet made it an attractive target.

Italy’s competition authority has already said that it will open an investigation into whether Ryanair violated the country’s consumer code over the cancellations, focusing on whether they arose out of management problems. And Italy’s civil aviation authority has said it was monitoring how Ryanair responded, warning that if it found any issues with the delivery of compensation, it could penalize the company.

Konsumer, Italy’s consumer protection organization, has questioned whether Ryanair would be the best buyer for Alitalia, pointing to the cancellations as evidence of their concerns.

Follow Amie Tsang on Twitter: @amietsang.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: Budget Airline Apologizes Over Mass Cancellations Caused by Pilot Vacations. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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