Ryanair announce winter flight cuts
16.07.08
Ryanair is to cut its flights out of Dublin Airport this winter, Michael O'Leary, the airline's chief executive, announced yesterday. He blamed costs at the airport and the surging price of oil for the cutbacks, which will see 18 Ryanair planes operating from the hub compared with 22 last year, weekly routes cut by an average of 12% and around 500,000 less passengers.
Flights between Dublin and Stansted will be cut by 14% and there will be 31% fewer flights to Leeds Bradford. The 7 weekly winter flights from Dublin to Warsaw are being scrapped altogether.
All in all, Ryanair expects to ground just over 10% of its fleet for the winter, Mr O'Leary said, adding that he expects Ryanair to carry about 58 million passengers, 1 million fewer than an earlier forecast. He did not change the airline's profit guidance, which is break even or a small profit.
Mr O'Leary said rising costs at Dublin airport had made it more profitable for Ryanair to ground more than 150 flights a week this winter. He added: ‘We regret this significant capacity reduction at Dublin airport this winter. It will be the first time for many years that Ryanair has reduced capacity at the airport.’
However, in an increasingly bitter war of words. a spokesman for Dublin Airport said: ‘The combination of a sharp economic slowdown in its key markets, its failure to hedge against historically high oil prices and its heavily loss-making investment in Aer Lingus are the key factors driving this decision to consolidate seasonal schedules, not airport charges, which are paid fully by the airline’s passengers.’
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