Ryanair scrambles to contain damage from cancellation fiasco

London

RYANAIR Holdings plc sought to contain the damage caused by scrapping hundreds of flights till the end of October, promising to compensate affected passengers and apologising for the mismanagement that led to a shortage of available crews.

With mass cancellations set to leave about 400,000 passengers in the lurch, Europe's biggest discount airline is likely to take a 25 million euro (S$40.2 million) profit hit from refunds and compensation, the Dublin-based company said on Monday, three days after announcing the surprise cutbacks that started on Saturday. The disruption stemmed from Ryanair scheduling too many pilots for vacation.