'Passengers will ignore quarantine' – Ryanair boss claims flights are already two thirds full

The first wave of Ryanair flights departed two thirds full today as British families are prepared to ignore UK quarantine to go on their summer holidays, Michael O’Leary has told The Telegraph.

The low-cost airline returned hundreds of its aircraft to the skies today, carrying 105,000 passengers, as it ramped up its schedule after a three-month pandemic hiatus.

O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, said early indications showed a load factor of 67-68 per cent.

"We expected it to be weaker, but it’s quite clear that British families going on holidays have decided, one, either the quarantine will be removed before they come home, or two, they will fill in the form and then just go about their normal lives [on return]," he said.

"I don’t think anyone is going to pay any attention to the form-filling exercise."

The Government is expected to say tomorrow whether it will be relaxing its quarantine measures for all international arrivals and introduce air bridges for UK holidaymakers.

Ryanair, along with British Airways and EasyJet, intends to take its legal action opposing the quarantine policy to the High Court on Friday.

O’Leary said the quarantine has been a “complete and utter failure” and that bilateral air bridge agreements are “meaningless”.

“The air bridge concept is meaningless, but what we think the Government will announce is an air bridge with all the EU countries, apart from Greece and Poland, because they won’t let the Brits in yet,” he said.

“Ryanair gave up on going on the Department for Transport [conference] calls. Complete waste of time. They have no idea what they are talking about.

“None of [the quarantine or air bridge plans] is science-based.”

The Government said negotiations on air bridges are on going and that the quarantine measures were necessary to prevent a second wave of coronavirus cases in the UK.

Ryanair said it was forced to cancel some flights after Greece extended its ban on UK flights to mid-July, and O’Leary said he could not rule out further cancellations over the summer.

“There may be some small scale cancellations,” he said.

On refunds due to customers whose flights were affected by the pandemic as early as March, O’Leary said Ryanair had processed cash refunds for “all of March and most of April”, and that by the end of July 90 per cent of all applications will be processed.

He said he expected air fares to remain low for the next 12 months to “get people moving again” and that Ryanair “can only survive with low fares”.

Holidaymakers flying with the Irish carrier today and over the coming weeks will have to wear a mask and will only be offered a reduced food and drink service.

O’Leary said to avoid queues forming in the aisle, anyone who wishes to use the toilet will have to press their bell for attention and wait their turn.