Ryanair in damage-control mode after ‘cancellation’

Bloomberg

Ryanair Holdings Plc risks reviving its image for predatory customer service with a move to scrap hundreds of flights through the end of October because of poor planning. The shares fell nearly 5 percent.
Europe’s biggest discount airline, which had previously treated its customers like a captive audience for hard-selling an array of products and services on board, has portrayed a kinder, friendlier image in recent years with the goal of wooing more lucrative passengers. Those efforts threaten to be undone by the cancellations that could leave hundreds of thousands of passengers in the lurch.
“It is the potential for long-term damage that concerns us,” Damian Brewer, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said. “The poor PR could deter future bookings and may well put off more time-sensitive higher yielding demand, like business trips, if the carrier is seen as unreliable and less punctual.”
While the scrapped flights account for only about 2 percent of normal daily operations, the cause was avoidable. Amid aggressive expansion, Ryanair overscheduled its crews, which has led to a vacation backlog as it scrambles to meet
holiday requirements by Irish authorities. “We have messed up in the planning of pilot holidays, and we’re working hard to fix that,” Chief
Marketing Officer Kenny Jacobs
said after Ryanair revealed the timetable changes.