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LONDON (Alliance News) - Budget airline Ryanair Holdings PLC said Wednesday that the risk of a no-deal Brexit is being underestimated and could lead to flights being grounded for days or weeks.
"We remain concerned at the increasing risk of a hard no-deal Brexit in March 2019," Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary said.
He added: "While we hope that a 21-month transition agreement from March 2019 will be agreed, recent events in the UK have added uncertainty, and we believe that the risk of a hard Brexit is being underestimated."
Furthermore the company said it added 23 new routes to and from London in its "biggest ever" S2019 schedule.
The airline said the schedule, which now includes 180 routes from London, will deliver 26 million customers per year across its four London airports, Stansted, Luton, Southend and Gatwick.
Last week, the company complained to the European Commission over "discrimination" by NATS at Stansted airport after the British air traffic controller refused to explain why 52% of all London air traffic control delays in the first quarter were at Stansted.
"In the same period there were zero such delays at Heathrow and just 10% at Gatwick where NATS' shareholders BA and Easyjet PLC are the main airlines," Ryanair said.
"We call on the UK Government and EU to take prompt action against NATS who continue to deliver an atrocious service to airlines despite having amongst the highest air traffic control fees in the EU, and who are blatantly protecting Heathrow at the expense of all other London airports, especially Stansted," the airline concluded.
Ryanair was forced to cancel 150 of its 400 flights to and from Germany on Wednesday due to a 24-hour strike by German pilots and flights attendants. The strike is being organized by German pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit and German workers union Verdi in an effort to push for better pay and conditions for their members.
Shares in the company were trading 0.5% higher at EUR13.11 each on Wednesday afternoon.
