Ryanair announce winter cuts from Stansted
17.07.08
Ryanair is to cut capacity from Stansted this winter. The number of weekly flights is to drop by 14%, resulting in 900,000 fewer passengers being carried compared to last year, the airline said (last winter, around 5m passengers flew via Stansted with Ryanair), although the airport said that last years capacity cuts did not lead to a reduction in passenger numbers.
The budget airline has announced that it will reduce the number of flights from Stansted from more than 1850 to less than 1600 a week. Over a third of its fleet - 15 of the 43 aircraft that fly from the airport - will be grounded between November and March, 8 more than last winter. No routes will be eliminated, but the frequency of flights to less popular destinations will be reduced.
Ryanair blamed high oil prices, the cost of using Stansted and what it says is a failure by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority to control costs for airlines using the airport. A spokesman said that it will lose less money this winter by sitting its aircraft on the ground, rather than flying them at 'an expensive airport like Stansted when fares are extremely low, but oil prices are stubbornly high'.
CEO Michael O’Leary said: ‘These winter schedule cutbacks, which are significantly greater than last winter, show just how damaging the BAA airport monopoly has become to consumers, the best interests of London and UK tourism, and the economy generally.’
BAA, he said, had dismissed Ryanair’s ‘reasonable’ request to cancel landing fees in response to traditionally lower winter demand combined with ‘stubbornly’ high oil prices. He said: ‘We asked BAA for a 100% reduction in the landing fees and we received a two-word response, the second being ‘off.'
However, a spokesman for BAA said that although Ryanair had cut capacity last winter, there had been no decline in passenger numbers. He also hinted at possible concessions. He said: ‘We are looking at how best we can help them. We are trying to narrow the gap between being poles apart.’
Ryanair will also close seven of its European destinations temporarily this winter. Between November and mid-December, Ryanair will close operations in Basel, Budapest, Krakow, Rzeszow, Salzburg, Valencia and Palma, but will add some new ‘winter sun’ routes.
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