Ryanair CEO reports surge in holiday bookings, sees UK dropping quarantine

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ryanair expects Britain to join other European countries in dropping COVID-19 quarantine plans in the coming weeks, chief executive Michael O’Leary said in an interview on Wednesday as he reported a “big surge” in holiday bookings from the country.

O’Leary said booking patterns in recent days made him “reasonably confident” that the low-cost giant’s planes would be 50%-60% full when it restarts 40% of its fleet in July.

“We have seen a big surge in bookings on our flights out of Ireland and the UK on flights to Spain, Portugal and Italy over the weekend, and that seems to be continuing this week,” he said.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Jan Harvey)