Originally Posted by
Severn
Eye-opening! (taken from ch-aviation)
Buzz, the wholly-owned Polish subsidiary of Ryanair Holdings, is set to increase its role in the group as it prepares to take over a further two Central European bases and potentially personnel from closing Spanish bases.
Chief Executive Michał Kaczmarzyk told Polish aviation website Fly4Free that Buzz - which is in the process of rebranding from Ryanair Sun - will take over the operation of Ryanair bases at Prague Ruzyne and Sofia on November 1.
The Irish LCC currently has five B737-800s based out of Prague and three out of Sofia. According to the ch-aviation capacities module, it operates 150 and 89 weekly scheduled departures out of the two capitals, respectively.
As previously reported, Buzz will also take over the operation of Ryanair's Budapest base as of December 1, 2019. The Polish airline has a lower cost base than its Irish sister and is, therefore, able to more efficiently compete with Wizz Air. Buzz already operates all of Ryanair's bases in Poland; at Gdansk, Kraków, Poznan, Warsaw Modlin, and Wroclaw airports.
Separately, Spanish media have reported that Ryanair offered 432 staff members, currently employed at four bases in the country which are due to be closed in early 2020, voluntary relocation to Croatia, Poland, or the United Kingdom as an alternative to layoffs. Those who choose to move to Croatia would be employed by Malta Air, another subsidiary of Ryanair, staff in Poland would be hired by Buzz, while employees who move to the UK would work for Ryanair UK. In any case, affected employees would lose their seniority benefits and terms guaranteed under Spanish labour law, labour union USO (Unión Sindical Obrera) said in a statement quoted by El Pais daily.
Ryanair plans to close bases at Girona, Lanzarote, Tenerife Sur, and Las Palmas airports on January 8, 2020.