Ryanair weighs pay freezes and crew cuts over rising fuel costs
Ryanair is considering pay freezes and reducing crew numbers to offset a fuel bill increase of about £1.7 billion, and it expects European ticket prices to rise next year.
How it was covered
- BBC One was the only channel found covering it, concentrating on Ryanair cost cuts, fuel hedging and likely European fare rises.
- Channel 5, BBC News, BBC Two, Channel 4, GB News, ITV and Sky News: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
Ryanair is considering cost-cutting measures including pay freezes and reducing crew numbers to offset soaring fuel costs driven by the Middle East conflict, BBC News reported.
BBC News reported that the airline also expects carriers across Europe to raise ticket prices next year.
The BBC's business correspondent Theo Leggett said all airlines are facing the same significant cost pressures. How they deal with them is likely to vary from airline to airline according to their own situation, he said. He said more expensive tickets for European flights next year are highly likely.
Fuel is the main reason, according to BBC News. The basic cost of airline fuel has gone up and is more or less doubled since the start of the conflict in Iran at the end of February. That increase has filtered through, Leggett said.
Most European carriers, including Ryanair, have been protected to some extent by hedging, which in simple terms means buying fuel in advance at a fixed price, BBC News reported. But hedging becomes less effective as time goes on, so fuel bills will rise a lot next year and ticket prices are likely to rise a lot too.
Ryanair says higher fares will not be enough to cover the increase in its fuel bill of about £1.7 billion, according to BBC News. It is therefore looking at other options, including squeezing wages for some of its staff. BBC News reported that this is more difficult for other carriers because their trade unions tend to be more powerful.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Ryanair expected airlines across Europe to raise ticket prices next year. | |
| Ryanair said higher fares would not be enough to cover an increase in its fuel bill of about £1.7 billion. | |
| Ryanair was considering pay freezes and reducing crew numbers to offset fuel costs linked to the Middle East conflict. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
BBC ONE West led with Ryanair's cost-cutting options before widening out to the fuel costs facing all European airlines. Its business correspondent Theo Leggett explained hedging and why fares are likely to rise, while noting that Ryanair may find wage restraint easier than carriers with stronger trade unions. The broadcast gave no operational detail on how many crew could be cut or which staff would face pay freezes.
- “Ryanair says it's considering cost-cutting measures including pay freezes and reducing crew numbers to offset soaring fuel costs driven by the Middle East conflict.”
- “It also expects carriers across Europe to raise ticket prices next year.”
- “Ryanair insists that won't be enough to cover the increase in its fuel bill of about £1.7 billion.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.