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Summer travel looking 'remarkedly optimistic' - Michael O'Leary

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The head of Irish airline Ryanair has said the travel landscape is now looking "remarkedly optimistic".

It comes as Ryanair reported a third quarter loss of €306m, while traffic fell from 36 million to eight million - a 78% drop.

It also outlined its "firm order" for 75 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft aircraft, out of a total of 210 in the pipeline.

The aircraft has recently been cleared to fly in the European Union, following a ban since 2019.

Ryanair Group CEO Michael O'Leary told Newstalk Breakfast families will be going abroad this summer.

"The vaccines are coming, the UK will have vaccinated half their population by the end of March.

"Europe and Ireland are running a bit behind that, but we would expect them to have most of the over-50s vaccinated by the end of June.

"Then I think you'll see a return to normal travel patterns".

"Long haul will take longer, but Irish people and families will be booking and going abroad to Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy this summer".

He also suggested the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, should announce daily vaccination figures, instead of daily coronavirus cases.

"Our public health people have a duty now to get the vaccination programme rolled out.

"And instead of the daily dose of deaths and hospitalisations, it's remarkable they haven't yet decided on a daily basis to announce how many people were vaccinated".

And he said proposals for 'vaccine passports' may quickly become obsolete.

"The rate of vaccination will accelerate quite dramatically through February, March, April May and June - not just in Ireland but across Europe".

"There will be widespread availability of vaccines, and the question is how fast can you get them into people's arms".

"Are we going to be working Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, or are we going to be doing seven days a week from 7am to 10pm at night - and that's the challenge".

He dismissed being cricitised by Dr Holohan over Ryanair 'Vax and Go' adverts, accusing NPHET of mismanaging the crisis.

"It may be harsh, but we deserve harsh treatment - I'm fed up listening to NPHET being eulogised on RTÉ.

"NPHET have repeatedly mismanaged this crisis, that's why we're in our third lockdown at the moment".
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