BAD news for expats in Spain who make regular trips back to the family nest: Ryanair has threatened to stop running flights in the UK post-Brexit.
Admittedly, this is a last resort and worst-case scenario, but the low-cost Irish airline is very concerned about the impact on its operations in Britain once it leaves the EU.
The oft-quoted uncertainty around the divorce has led to the carrier shrinking its growth forecast for the UK market for 2017 from an initial 15% down to 6% - a drastic drop which the firm says is 'inevitable'.
“Unavoidably, Brexit will cause a fall in growth,” said Ryanair's financial director Neil Sorahan.
“We haven't seen it yet, but we believe it will generate a slowdown in economic growth both in the UK and the EU, since both parties will have to face up to a completely new scenario.”
The airline has been pushing the British government for greater clarity on its negotiating strategies with the remaining EU-27 over the two years up to the 'Brexit' deadline.
Companies do not have two years to sit around and wait – especially airlines, since the majority schedule their flights 12 years in advance, so Ryanair is one of many which will have to work out its plan of action by March 2018 at the latest.
So if there is no concrete plan by then, Ryanair flights to and from the UK may have to stop 'for a while'.
“We're diverting our growth away from the UK,” said Sorahan during a presentation in London of Ryanair's new customer service programme, 'Always Improving'.
Set up four years ago to tackle what was then its weakest area, the new, friendly and much more flexible attitude has led to an upturn in profits.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com