Nicky Byrne has announced big news ahead of his 2019 reunion tour with Westlife

This was to be expected.

As Westlife are going on tour in 2019, reuniting for the first time since 2012, it looks like focusing on the band will be the boys' full-time job and so, Nicky will be taking a break from radio. Revealing he would be temporarily leaving 2FM earlier this week, it looks like the break is going to be longer than expected. Nicky explained:

“If the Westlife thing explodes into a worldwide tour and albums and songs that are taking over, I presume my break from 2FM will have to be extended for some time. But I don’t see it as the end of my run on radio, certainly not, with Jenny.”

  And now, 2FM boss, Dan Healy is expecting his absence from the airwaves could least a year or longer. He spoke to the Irish Sun saying:

“Now Croke Park is sold out, my feeling is the Westlife tour is going be longer than five months. “They have a comeback written by Ed Sheeran which is going to be massive and number one across Europe."

But he is confident that the show must go on and although they'll miss Nicky, it won't stop them from pushing forward and doing what they do best.

“2FM has been through this before. We had a massively popular broadcaster in Gerry and when he passed away, we dropped listeners. “But we have built a station where we are strong through breakfast, mid-morning, lunch afternoons, drivetime. We will continue to evolve while Nicky is away," he told the publication.

Westlife will be playing in Croke Park on July 4 and July 5, adding a second date yesterday when the first gig sold out in record time.