Ryanair boss says airline won’t fly with ‘idiotic’ middle seat empty rules

Ryanair will not return to flying if middle seats must be empty.

 

Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, has said the airline will not begin to fly again if it is forced to leave the middle seat empty to comply with “idiotic” in-flight social distancing rules.

 

The CEO shared plans for the airline to resume 80 per cent of flights by September, with flights within Europe restarting from early July.

 

However, in an interview with the Financial Times, O’Leary said its plans would be ruined if there were “some entirely ineffective social distancing measures like having middle seats empty because if middle seats are empty we’re not returning to flying at all”.

 

“Either the government pays for the middle seat or we won’t fly,” he said.

 

The Dublin-based carrier’s business model relies on running an extremely high load factor, which O’Leary says will have to be at 66% for the airline to make money.

 

“The middle seat doesn’t deliver any social distancing, so it’s kind of an idiotic idea that doesn’t achieve anything anyway,” he argued.

 

IATA, the trade association of the world’s airlines, has said it is preparing for potential government measures that may enforce social distancing on flights.

 

It warned last week that if governments do impose the rules, it may bring an end to cheap air travel, forcing carriers to raise prices by 50% or go bust.

 

Already many airlines have committed to blocking the middle seat on their flights, including Delta Air Lines, Emirates, United Airlines and easyJet.