It's a been labelled a ''devastating blow for the airport and its staff.''
Ireland West Airport at Knock will close for a month, after Ryanair announced it would be suspending flights from the facility due to the impact of Covid-19.
Ryanair won't be flying from the Mayo facility or other regional airports from November 14th until December 13th.
In a statement, Ireland West Airport says it will close during this period as a result:
''Ryanair have today (Wednesday 27th October) announced they will suspend flight operations from Ireland West Airport and the other regional airports from Saturday November 14th until Sunday December 13th 2020.
The airline has announced the suspension of flight services due to a complete collapse in travel demand as a result of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current travel restrictions in place.
Following today’s announcement and the suspension of all commercial flights from the airport with Ryanair, Ireland West Airport will close on November 14th and reopen on Sunday December 13th.
This is a further devastating blow for the airport and its staff where passenger numbers this year have plummeted by over 90% with annual passenger numbers now forecasted to decline to less than 150,000 for the full year – the lowest in over 20 years.
The airport is calling on Government to provide urgent support through an expanded regional airports programme for the airport to address the enormous financial losses to support and protect its cash position resulting from the devastating collapse in passenger traffic as a result of COVID-19 which have been further impacted following todays announcement by Ryanair''.
