The Irish low-cost company Ryanair announced Thursday its intention to accelerate its post-Covid recovery and plans to create 5,000 jobs over five years, which would offset the some 3,000 job cuts decided at the start of the health crisis.
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"
Ryanair plans to create 5,000 new jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers over the next five years,
" boss Michael O'Leary said in a statement, after speaking at the annual general meeting of the company which was held Thursday in Dublin.
2020, the black year
The airline industry has been one of the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic with traffic wiped out for months.
The group had recorded the worst financial year in its history in 2020-2021 with a loss of around one billion euros, and announced the loss of some 3,000 jobs, or 15% of its workforce.
These new hires are part of the group's desire "
to accelerate its post-Covid growth
", according to the
press
release.
Ryanair has therefore revised upwards its 5-year growth forecasts, from 33% to 50%, hoping to reach 225 million passengers in March 2026 against 149 million before the pandemic.
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To achieve this, the company expects in particular over this same period the delivery of 210 Boeing 737 new generation supposed to "
reduce costs and emissions
" and plans to open 10 new bases in Europe this year.
At the end of July, the low-cost carrier had published a loss for its first quarter shifted from 47% over one year to 273 million euros. The company had returned to profit in July and August at the height of the summer season, but specified to expect "
a difficult winter
".