Ryanair has announced it is cutting its Ireland-UK schedules for August and September by up to 1,000 flights.

The carrier explained this would result in the loss of over 200,000 passengers, as Ireland maintains a defective quarantine restriction on EU visitors even as the UK and Northern Ireland last week opened up air bridges to most EU countries.

The airline says Ireland’s tourism industry and connectivity are suffering unrecoverable losses, as arriving EU passengers are forced to quarantine even while the border to Northern Ireland remains wide open with no such quarantines.

“Last week when the UK and Northern Ireland removed travel restrictions on short haul flights to/from the European Union, Ireland became the only country in the EU with a blanket 14 day quarantine restriction on all arrivals from EU countries, most of which have lower Covid case rates than Ireland”, Ryanair spokesperson commented.

The carrier says it makes no sense for the Irish Government to continue to treat countries like Germany, Denmark and Greece as if they were suffering similar levels of Covid-19 as the US, Brazil and India when governments all over Europe have opened up EU flights since 1 June and removed travel restrictions on intra-EU travel.

“Irish citizens are being advised by their Govt that they should not travel to and from EU countries (almost all of whom have lower Covid-19 case rates than Ireland), yet citizens of Northern Ireland can travel freely to and from the EU – via Dublin Airport – without any quarantine restrictions whatsoever”, the spokesperson noted.

Ryanair is calling for the Irish Government to remove all travel restrictions between Ireland and the EU as a matter of urgency.