Ryanair is to shut four of its Spanish bases in January, putting the jobs of more than 500 pilots and cabin crew at risk, the local USO union said on Friday.

It is understood the airline has told staff its main focus will be to minimise job losses through transfers, but that some jobs may be lost altogether.

The move will affect bases in Las Palmas, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Girona.

Ryanair operates around 2,400 daily flights from 87 bases.

The airline told staff last month it planned to cut its presence on the ground at airports due to delays in the delivery of the grounded Boeing 737 MAX, that has left it with 900 more pilots and crew than it needs.

The airline’s chief people officer told Reuters last week that it would likely close its base in the Portuguese city of Faro and two on the Canary Islands but that a final decision had yet to be made on how many bases, jobs and routes would go.

Ryanair confirmed the closures to the USO union in an email on Friday and also announced the opening of a collective dismissal process, the union said in a statement.

It said 512 workers could be affected by the decision at the four airports, three of which are based in Spain’s Canary Islands and the other on the mainland.

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