Expatriates fear losing link to families as Ryanair axes winter flights
25 July 2009
The Times

The announcement by Ryanair that it is to cut winter services from Stansted has been greeted with dismay in France, where thousands of British homeowners have come to rely on the low-cost airline.

"Ryanair has turned itself into a sort of bus route and it's suddenly saying that it's going to take loads of buses off the timetable," said Stewart Edwards, 62, who lives in the Dordogne, southwest France. "It could be a problem for a lot of people."

Michael O'Leary, chief executive of the Irish carrier, said he planned to cut ten routes and reduce capacity on 30 others in response to falling demand and air passenger taxes in Britain and Ireland. The routes to be cut have yet to be announced, but British expatriates in France fear services that they have come to see as a link to families back home may be affected.

The news also alarmed local authorities, many of which have spent millions of euros upgrading airport facilities for Ryanair, which flies to 23 destinations in France. "There are lots of people down here who commute to Britain every week," Mr Edwards said. "I see them in Limoges on a Monday morning. They're on their laptops in airport before the flight takes off. Those people are going to be hit really hard."

Adrian Raynor, 47, a retired policeman who also has a home in the Dordogne, described Ryanair as a "vital lifeline for us to get back to Britain and for people to come out to see us here". He said he used the carrier up to seven times a year, paying a total of ¤75 for a return trip for two adults and two children on his latest visit.

"There are alternatives, such as the ferry or other airlines, but there all dear," he said. "There's nothing else which is as cheap."

No end to airfare reduction, Ryanair says

DUBLIN, July 27 (Reuters) - Irish airline Ryanair sees no end to the constant lowering of its fares and no need to acquire any rivals to continue to grow, Deputy Chief Executive Michael Cawley said on Monday.

"We still have only 10 percent of total market in Europe so there's plenty of scope for us to reduce fares to stimulate that growth... consequently I don't see any end to the constant reduction in fares," Cawley said in an interview.

Cawley said talks with Boeing and Airbus on orders to expand its fleet beyond 320 by 2012 were in an early stage and that the Dublin-based airline would continue to grow organically, rather than through acquisitions.

"We can grow organically ourselves by pretty well the size of British Midlands or Aer Lingus every year so there's no real issue for us to have to acquire somebody to grow," he said.

Ryanair shifting winter routes aggressively, expanding services to Canary Islands
29 July 2009

DUBLIN (AP) - Irish budget airline Ryanair announced a major shifting of its winter routes Wednesday to capitalize on Europeans' love affair with Canary Islands sunshine.

The Dublin-based carrier said it would launch 39 routes in October linking sun-starved Belgium, Britain, Germany and Ireland to the three major Canaries resort islands of Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. Portugal and mainland Spain also are getting new links to the Canaries.

The move represents a challenge to the package holiday operators and chartered airlines that traditionally dominate tourist traffic to the Canaries, which lie west off the coast of Morocco. Ryanair is seeking to compete with the package operators by offering its own on-line booking services for hotels and rental cars.

As with other recent moves, Ryanair attributed its decision to British and Irish taxes on air passengers, rather than the challenges of recession or shifting seasonal demands.

Ryanair's announcement asserted that the airline was moving its aircraft to the Canaries from Britain and Ireland, "where passenger taxes damage tourism."

Nonetheless, most of the new routes link the Canaries to both countries: 20 routes to Britain, and four more to Ireland.

Last week, Ryanair announced it was withdrawing 16 of its 40 aircraft over the winter period from its biggest base, Stansted Airport northeast of London, and planned to make similar winter reductions in its No. 2 base, Dublin. It blamed British and Irish tax for that move and made no mention of its Canary Islands plans.

Ryanair pursued its offensive against taxes on another front Wednesday, filing a formal complaint to European Union competition authorities against the Irish government over its euro10 ($14) tax on air passengers.

Ryanair argued that the tax constitutes illegal state aid to its two main Irish competitors, Aer Lingus and Aer Arann. The tax is not imposed on Aer Lingus passengers who use Irish airports to transit between flights, while the government levies a lower euro2 ($2.80) tax on passengers using the internal Ireland flights of Aer Arann.

Ryanair announce five new routes from Glasgow
30 July 2009

Budget airline Ryanair has announced five new Spanish routes from Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

The airline has confirmed that from the end of October 2009 they will start flying from Glasgow Prestwick Airport to Alicante, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Palma while a fifth new route to Ibiza will commence in March 2010.

Ryanair expects the new routes to carry an extra 100,000 passengers each year from the Glasgow Airport.

As well as the five new routes, the airline also plans to increase the frequency on flights to Faro, Malaga and Tenerife.

Ryanair's director of new route development Ken O'Toole said: "Ryanair is delighted to announce five new sun routes and increased frequencies on three routes to and from Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which will allow us to bring more low fares, more competition and choice to even more Scottish consumers and visitors.

Economic downturn grounds easyJet's ambitious growth and fleet size targets
30 July 2009
The Times

EasyJet has bowed to pressure from Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the budget airline's founder, and halved its growth rate target to 7.5 per cent.

In previous years the Luton-based carrier was growing its passenger numbers at about 15 per cent a year as it sought to build its market share across Europe.

However, Sir Stelios, whose family controls 38 per cent of the airline's shares, had grown concerned about the rate of growth, particularly in an economic downturn.

The entrepreneur is not thought to have demanded a specific reduction in growth but said yesterday that he was comfortable with the company's new target.

The airline said yesterday that in the three months to the end of June, passenger numbers increased by only 2.9 per cent to 11.9 million and full-year growth was expected to be only about 4 per cent.

Sir Stelios further extended his influence over the airline yesterday with the appointment of Bob Rothenberg as a non-executive director. Mr Rothenberg is Sir Stelios's personal accountant and a partner with the Blick Rothenberg firm in London. He will not be considered an independent director.

As part of its review of growth plans, easyJet has agreed to reassess deliveries of new aircraft to ensure it does not add excessive capacity.

It has 91 planes on order from Airbus but will increase its fleet size by only 30 to 207 in the next three years. Some older planes will be sold and leased aircraft will be returned to their owners, but this is unlikely to account for the full 91 planes on order. The remainder may be deferred or cancelled but no decision has been taken on that yet.

Despite the difficult economic environment, easyJet said that it had increased revenues by 12 per cent to £721 million in the three months to the end of June.

It also signalled that it would make a profit of between £25 million and £50 million for the full year, which ends in September.

The airline had previously said that it expected to be profitable but had given no further guidance.

A spokesman for the easyJet founder said: "Stelios is comfortable with the current growth strategy and fleet plan in the context of the current trading environment and given the existing contractual obligations to Airbus.

"No doubt the strategy and the fleet plan will be tweaked in the future, according to need. The recession hasn't affected passenger demand as much as Stelios and some other commentators had feared after the collapse of Lehman last autumn, but consumer confidence is a fragile thing at the best of times."'Stelios is comfortable with the current growth strategy'

Ryanair defends visa check for non-EU citizens
1 August 2009
Irish Times

RYANAIR HAS defended a rule requiring passengers from outside the EU to have their visas checked by the airline before proceeding to their flights.

The Irish Timesis aware of a number of passengers who have missed their flights because they failed to have their boarding cards stamped as required by the rule, which is applied by no other airline.

The airline says all non-EU and non-EEA passengers travelling on its flights must have their online boarding passes checked and stamped at the Ryanair “document/visa check desk” before going through security. It says this is necessary “to ensure compliance with immigration authorities”.

A Ryanair spokesman said it had introduced the rule early this summer to allow non-EU and -EEA passengers to use web check-in. Previously, the airline did not allow non-EU and -EEA passengers to check in online; instead, it offered a refund of the extra cost of checking in at the airport.

Aer Lingus says it does not have such a requirement. “For those passengers who check in online, passports are checked either at the bag-tag desk or bag-drop machine or at the boarding gate,” a spokeswoman said.

The Ryanair spokesman said: “Other airlines don’t offer passengers the convenience of 100 per cent web check-in, so they don’t need to do this yet. They check visas at their long-queue check-in desks, which Ryanair passengers now avoid.”

The Garda Press Office, speaking for the Garda National Bureau of Immigration, said all passengers were required to have valid travel documents and carriers could be fined for allowing passengers to travel with defective documentation.

However, a spokesman said no new rule had been introduced for EU or EEA citizens.

Are holiday homes a flight risk?
Low-cost airlines triggered property booms across Europe but left owners exposed, says Zoe Dare Hall
8 August 2009
The Daily Telegraph

Ryanair is launching 16 new routes, starting this winter. Spain is desperate to boost tourism and has cut landing charges to zero. Ryanair will be parking aircraft from cut flight routes there. They are to be used on European routes, bringing more holidaymakers to the Canaries.

Southern Spain

Winter sun guarantees year-round visitors. The expanding Malaga airport is becoming a major hub and the choice of airports ensures you will never get stuck.

Girona

No longer in Barcelona's shadow, Girona is a destination in its own right, thanks to Ryanair. Even if the airline pulled out, "which is very unlikely - a competitor would take their place'', says Rik de Ridder from Engel & Volkers estate agency in Girona, Barcelona is only an hour away or you can fly to airports just over the French border.

Oslo

Not the most obvious holiday destination, but amid all its cuts, Ryanair is launching a new route there in October.

Places to be fearful

Poland

Ryanair has cut 19 routes to nine Polish airports - partly because Polish workers are no longer travelling to the UK in such numbers.

Valencia

Particularly awkward if you live in the north of England as both Ryanair and Jet2 pulled their Valencia routes from Liverpool and Leeds Bradford, leaving travellers to either fly from London or to Alicante, about two hours by car from Valencia.

Agadir

It's a long drive from Marrakesh, the nearest alternative airport, if the low-cost carriers - who only launched the route last year - pull out of this Moroccan resort.

easyJet's routes from Bristol and Birmingham have already been cut.

Southern Italy

In a precarious climate, destinations out on a limb - or the foot, in Italy's case - are vulnerable.

Lamezia in Calabria is served only by low-cost carriers from Britain.

Western France

Ryanair currently serves a cluster of airports in the region, including Angouleme, Limoges and Poitiers, but for how much longer? If empty winter flights are O'Leary's target, then these are likely to be the first places to go.

Protection against closing flight routes

D Don't get stuck if an airline pulls out. Buy near holiday hubs (such as Malaga, Faro) or capital cities served by numerous airlines. Flight services are more reliable and air fares are competitively priced. This is important if you are dependent on rental income from other holidaymakers.

D Buy within easy access of a train station. With Eurostar and new fast routes to the south coast, travelling by train from Britain to Europe is becoming easier, faster and not always more expensive than flights, particularly in peak season. See www.seat61.com for routes and prices.

D Drive. If you have the luxury of time, and enjoy the journey as much as the final destination, then travelling overland across France and beyond needn't be a drudgery.

It's also more eco-friendly and saves on the hassle and expense of car hire once you're there.

Like most holiday home owners in the southern Italian region of Calabria, Carole Davies's rental income relies almost entirely on Ryanair and easyJet. She owns a two-bedroom house in the village of Falerna, 20km from Lamezia Terme airport, which is serviced by both of these budget airlines. "If those routes were to close, the nearest alternative is Naples and then a four-hour train journey to Lamezia,'' says Davies, who moved to Calabria 30 years ago and now rents out her home through Owners Direct (property IT2083).

"The arrival of low-cost flights in the last couple of years has started to introduce tourism,'' Davies says. "Without Ryanair, which is how nearly all of my guests arrive, this would come to an end.''

The easyJet effect - the property boom that blossomed on the back of low-cost flights - saw the second-home market expand to Morocco and less well-trodden areas of Spain, to much of Eastern Europe and as far as Egypt.

Low-cost airlines homed in on secondary airports and former military airfields that weren't used by mainstream carriers. But this led to the less welcome trend of Ryanair's Revenge, when these airlines started to pull underperforming routes, leaving those who bought locally high and dry.

Ryanair recently announced that it is reducing the number of aircraft it runs from Stansted by 40 per cent and is cutting the number of flights by 30 per cent. The destinations have yet to be revealed, but Ryanair's boss Michael O'Leary hints that areas of France where demand dies in winter are vulnerable. "People who go to a holiday home in the west of France for one weekend in November are hardly going to fill a plane,'' he comments.

BA flights from Gatwick to New York, Alicante, Barcelona, Kraków, Madrid, Malta and Palma are being suspended indefinitely from October.

Bob Atkinson, travel industry expert from Travelsupermarket.com, adds that airports that serve areas of off-the-beaten-track Italy, such as Bari and Brindisi in the south, could also be at risk, along with Eastern European destinations such as Kraków, Poland and the Czech Republic.

"Take Zadar in Croatia, where practically no airline in the world flies to other than Ryanair,'' Atkinson says. "You can now get there and you can pick up cheap property there, but what happens when Ryanair pulls out? That's where the problem lies, that Ryanair has opened up routes to secondary airports that no one else flies to. And flights to those out-of-the-way destinations are also usually more expensive - not the famous 1p offers - when Ryanair is the only carrier.''

Jane Hanslip, who runs holiday rental business Dordognerental.com, with chateaux and farmhouses around Bergerac, says the potential victims in France are obvious. "People who bought in Rodez, east of Bergerac, could be stuck. Also the area around Angoulême, Limoges and Poitiers. Who goes there in winter? And Pau relies entirely on the winter skiing market.''

However, Hanslip - who helped do the deal between Bergerac airport and Ryanair - believes Bergerac's routes are safe, "because it serves such a huge hinterland that runs down to Bordeaux'', she says. And the core of her summer rental business is families who come by car. But the swarm of British property buyers that Ryanair brought to the area affects her business in low season. "There's too much capacity and too little demand, especially out of season,'' Hanslip says. "I've had to start offering French language courses and riding holidays.''

While southern Spain's routes may resist drastic winter cuts due to a climate that brings year-round visitors, foreign home owners in Granada know what it's like to be left in the lurch. The Monarch route from Gatwick to their newly international airport was axed in 2007. Spanish low-cost carriers Vueling and Spanair have also cut routes to Granada, cutting out holiday-makers from Paris and Rome.

"Ryanair is the only British carrier serving Granada airport now and as they fly to Stansted, which is hopeless for me as I run a business in Brighton, I have to fly from Malaga airport instead,'' says Jo Chipchase, who lives in Lanjaron in the Alpujarras mountains. "At least the drive to Malaga has been cut to about two hours as the new stretch of motorway is complete. Expats have generally resigned themselves to the fact that they have to fly to the south of England from Malaga, which is currently a chaotic, large-scale construction site.''

But the property market in the area is suffering. "People are trying to sell their properties as a result,'' says Caroline Frohwein Rocano, who lives in Granada and runs online holiday home rental business Tiemporural.net. "But due to the economic crisis, nothing is selling and people are running into debt. I just sold my own house - a large three-storey town house in Orgiva - without an estate agent and people nearly fall off their chairs when they hear this as nothing has sold in the area for so long.''

During the boom years, it was easy to see the effect a low-cost airline brought to an area. Savills estimated that living near an airport served by low-cost airlines could add 37 per cent to the property's value, particularly in mid-distance locations such as Cyprus or the Canary Islands. Girona in northern Spain was a success story. The airport saw 500,000 passengers a year before Ryanair arrived in 2004 and now sees six million a year. Local properties values shot up 15 to 20 per cent.

Trisha Mason, the Languedoc-based director of Validus Financial Services, which specialises in arranging French mortgages for overseas buyers, witnessed the southern French property boom triggered by the opening of cheap routes.

"Nowhere was this more evident that in Limousin, where Buzz and, when they collapsed, Ryanair operated flights to Limoges, a region that had always boasted some of the cheapest properties in France because of its inaccessibility,'' Mason says.

"British buyers flocked there to buy old farmhouses and prices shot up, generally by about 25 per cent as soon as a new airline route was announced - and that continued for at least four years, meaning a 100 per cent increase overall,'' says Mason, who is now selling her exquisitely renovated Roman farmhouse, Mas du Poet, in Uzes for pounds 1.93 million.

Southern France's Languedoc region has recently been put on the map by Ryanair. Now tiny local airports such as Beziers and Carcassonne see a constant flow of British commuters making the most of 1p flights.

"I'm sure if Ryanair pulled out of Carcassonne it would have an adverse effect, although Beziers is only an hour's drive away,'' comments Shaun McLoughlin, who rents out a beautiful three-bedroom stone Villa des Rosiers (pictured, top) half an hour from Carcassonne (www.villa-france-minervois.com) and lives next door. "This is our first operational year and we are surprised at the level of business, with 17 confirmed weeks and eight for next year.''

According to Julian Cunningham of Knight Frank estate agency, the top end of the market isn't affected greatly by the loss of low-cost flight routes. "But at the entry level of around pounds 160,000, losing a route has a massive impact, particularly on buyers who depend on rental income,'' he says.

But the loss of a low-cost air route now, Mason says, may not hit the Languedoc region as badly as some might expect. "Around 40 per cent of property buyers in France are buying to live there, so the only impact will be that it becomes harder or more expensive for people to visit them,'' she says. "We have also seen growing disillusionment with low-cost airlines as the additional costs increase, so many buyers have returned to road and rail.''

Simon Munro Kerr has given those who rent his Spanish cortijo (www.lajarilla.net), a 200-year-old farmhouse and three cottages in the Andalusian mountains (pictured, top right), another option. Besides being within a two-hour drive of Malaga, Almeria and Granada airports, all served by low-cost airlines, La Jarilla also comes with its own helipad.

"I found myself virtually equidistant between three airports, so the loss of one airline server does not influence holidaymakers here unduly,'' he says.

Ryanair rejects court ruling on 'handling fees'
8 August 2009
Irish Times

RYANAIR SAYS it has no intention of abandoning “handling charges” it imposes when passengers pay by debit or credit cards in spite of a German court ruling challenging the practice.

The airline also insists the additional charges are optional, as they are not imposed on customers who pay with a Visa Electron card. However, Visa Electron cards are not available in the Republic of Ireland.

The airline is appealing the decision of a Berlin court that the charges are inadmissible unless Ryanair offers a charge-free method of payment.

“This decision is not legally binding, and it is being appealed anyway. It said we don’t offer an alternative method of payment, but we do: Visa Electron,” said a spokesman.

In Ireland Ryanair charges €10 per return flight when a customer pays by debit or credit card; the charge applies for each passenger travelling, even though only one transaction is involved. Aer Lingus imposes a similar €10 per return flight per passenger “handling fee” for debit- or credit-card bookings, also with the exception of those made by Visa Electron.

About 25 million of Ryanair’s 67 million passengers each year book using Visa Electron cards, the airline claims, including an unspecified number of bookings from Ireland.

Electron cards are not available here or in many European countries, according to a spokesman for Visa in Ireland. “They belong to history,” he said.

The Ryanair spokesman continued to insist that Visa Electron cards were available in Ireland and said he had one. He declined to provide details.

Ryanair says its average fare, including all charges and one piece of luggage, is €37.

Under pressure from the EU and British authorities, most airlines, including the two main Irish ones, have made their websites more transparent, so a flight’s overall cost is clear early in the booking process, with all charges displayed and no opt-out boxes for optional services.

EasyJet to be prosecuted in France for labour law breaches
19 August 2009
Agence France Presse

Low-cost airline easyJet is to be prosecuted on charges of violating French labour law by failing to declare staff employed at Paris airports under British contracts, court officials said Wednesday.

The airline has been under investigation since 2006 over the legal status of some 170 workers then based at Orly airport south of Paris and was ordered on August 5 to stand trial, said the state prosecutor's in Creteil near Paris.

It is accused of failing to declare workers in Orly between June 2003 and December 2006. If found guilty it could face a bill for several million euros in unpaid French social security and health insurance contributions.

No date has been set for the hearing at which the carrier will answer charges of concealing employment, hampering staff representation and failing to register business activities in France, an official said.

Under a government decree adopted in November 2006, low-cost airlines with bases in France are obliged to comply with French labour laws.

France's highest court in 2007 rejected appeals by both easyJet and Ryanair, which argued that their cabin staff worked for company headquarters outside France and were not subject to French law.

Orly, according to easyJet, was merely a "rest area" for its workers, with the planes their actual workplaces.

Ryanair flights are finally very dear !

I am far from rich and when I travel, I try to do at the best price. But what is the true price of a trip with Ryanair, have you ever thought?

-They only use secondary airports often have an architecture of industrial hangar with comfort and facilities very limited.
-The time needed to reach these airports and the price of the shuttle buses (minimum 10 euros, mostly around 15 !)
-The overall "quality" of the Company :at Ryanair everything is ugly, kitsch, ultra-cheap:
*Hostesses' uniforms (they must pay with their own money!) Are elegant enough for road works, but surely not for air hostesses (personally, I like watching them: this is part of the pleasure of flying )
*Harassment of those hotesses to sell you all kinds of things you do not need (even lottery tickets! It is missing more than carpets and kebabs ...). Everything in English only of course ,even if you are on a flight Italy- Spain or Estonia-Germany...

**But these are details compared to the rest. On several occasions crews informed me discretly on the failings of the company safety.
**Those who wants to work on that company must themselves pay for the training given by the company! 1500 Euros for an unemployed Poles who wants to find a job, it's huge!
And it is outrageous to pay for work, not to mention ridiculous wages and poor social conditions...
**Furthermore, this company only goes where they are heavily subsidized by local authorities. Ryanair never hesitate to put in concurrence two platforms for raising the stakes. The airport that pays the most has the honor to receive the Ryanair flights.
Who paies these subventions ? You, me .
Often, despite the commitments made with the authority that subsidize them (with our money), they leave the platform because the benefits are not commensurate with their calculations.
They already had several lawsuits because of this piracy (South Brussels, Strasbourg ...) but continue to ransom our taxes across Europe !

-Result: company personnel working under shameful conditions , passengers are treated like cattle (or sheat if you prefer...)
And our taxes are used to pay their benefits (not knowing the crisis).
They are the main beneficiaries of the current crisis.

Since I realized that their prices are finally expensive (price of ticket + extras: baggage, registration, credit card supplement+ price and time of the shuttle ...)
Since I understood that they are by far the worst low-cost, while finally as expensive as others .
= Travel with SkyEurope, Myair or Transavia and see the difference!
Since I understood how my taxes pays their benefits by the subsidies paid by our local authorities to Ryanair...
And because I don't really appreciate to be treated like shit when I fly and travel , I decided to boycott Ryanair.

I always travel as much, finally without spending more. But I feel much better in-flight.

Before ryr bad excuse for an airliner = tickets at 1500€

After ryr = ryr at 25€+taxes ... others at 100/200€


Gotta luv' Ryr ... even if you don't fly el'cheapo with them ... :cheers::nuts::bash:

Aer Lingus sees new Ryanair bid, response unclear

DUBLIN, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Aer Lingus expects Irish rival Ryanair to return with a fresh takeover offer in the future, Chief Financial Officer Sean Coyle said on Thursday, adding that Aer Lingus' response to any new bid was unclear.

"Ryanair will always come back with a bid, Ryanair from the point of view of having a (near) 30 percent shareholding will continue to pursue the company," Coyle told reporters.

Coyle, a former Ryanair executive, said he had "no idea" if Aer Lingus would resist any fresh bids, adding that it was up to shareholders to evaluate the merits of any offer.

EasyJet to downsize in UK, over 250 jobs affected

LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Low-cost airline easyJet Plc plans to switch some resources from Britain to continental Europe, blaming high airport costs and a rise in passenger taxes and saying the move would affect over 250 jobs.

The company said on Thursday it planned to cut its flying programme at London's Luton airport by a fifth and would close its East Midlands base.

It also plans to cut the number of flight crew at Belfast, Bristol, Newcastle and Stansted.

"The rise in APD (airport passenger duty) hits regional airports hardest and increases the pressure to move aircraft to mainland Europe," Chief Executive Andy Harrison said.

"The government seems to think that APD is a free lunch. It isn't; it costs jobs in the UK."

EasyJet also criticised Abertis, the Spanish operator of Luton airport, and its owner, Luton Borough Council, for a 25 percent hike in airport costs over the past three years.

The airline said it remained committed to its medium-term goal to grow its network by around 7.5 percent a year and hoped to redeploy as many staff as possible.

A spokeswoman said 120 employees would be affected by the closure of East Midlands airport and around 40 by the planned reduction in flight crews.

She added around 100 of the firm's 530 staff in Luton could be affected by the decision to redeploy some aircraft to continental Europe.

EasyJet also reported a 4.7 percent increase in passenger numbers in August to 4.8 million.

At 1055 GMT, its shares were up 0.3 percent at 316-1/2 pence.

What i heard about Ryanair is cheap but they charge for everything exceptth eoxygen they provide for breathing during flight.is this right?

yes. I stopped using it years ago. now you even have to pay for the online check in :lol:

with all the extra charges they're often not the cheapest option anymore. bad service, bad connections, extra charges for everything (you pay for luggage !!!!! for example) ... all this often for the price of a regular flight with a full service airline, or even more expensive than that.

it's still in people's minds that these airlines are cheap. but they have been screwing passengers for years. a flight from glasgow to budapest this weekend for 250 pounds ? yeah right ...

Dunno if it was in this thread or another.. My Ryanair flights:

2007: Brussels Charleroi (BE) - Milan Bergamo (IT)
2007: Rome Ciampino (IT) - Brussels Charleroi (BE)
2009/6: Tampere (FI) - Frankfurt Hahn (DE)
2009/9: Brussels Charleroi (BE) - Riga (LV) - Brussels Charleroi (BE)
Booked:
2009/10: Eindhoven (NL) - Stockholm Skavsta (SE) - Eindhoven (NL)
2009/12: Brussels Charleroi (BE) - Riga (LV) - Brussels Charleroi (BE)

My girlfriend lives in Estonia, that's why I fly to Riga a lot. But for next year I'm planning to take a Eurolines bus to London, transfer to Stansted and fly to Tallinn (EE) directly with Easyjet.

Price for the flights, including everything I need:

FI - DE: €70
BE - LV - BE: €20 (+€30 Eurolines bus to Tallinn)
NL - SE - NL: €80 (pretty expensive because I booked a few days ago for a flight in 3 weeks)
BE - LV - BE: €110 (Christmas and New Year period)

I don't really see any other possibilities, considering cost and speed. For example Lufthansa charges over €800 for a return trip Brussels - Tallinn. That's just crazy.

My experience with Ryanair is very good. I only hate it that people who don't use Ryanair are always so slow and blocking everything :p.

And really, you don't need extra luggage for a 1 week trip. You can take 10kg cabin luggage, so except for liquids like shampoo and shower gel, you can take anything in a trolley.


Pic to cheer this thread up:

http://www.wover.be/planes/P1020582.JPG

At Riga RIX airport

Je suis très intéressé! J'aimerais en savoir plus.
moi aussi, j'ai besoin d'informations plus détaillées

Dunno if it was in this thread or another.. My Ryanair flights:

2007: Brussels Charleroi (BE) - Milan Bergamo (IT)
2007: Rome Ciampino (IT) - Brussels Charleroi (BE)
2009/6: Tampere (FI) - Frankfurt Hahn (DE)
2009/9: Brussels Charleroi (BE) - Riga (LV) - Brussels Charleroi (BE)
Booked:
2009/10: Eindhoven (NL) - Stockholm Skavsta (SE) - Eindhoven (NL)
2009/12: Brussels Charleroi (BE) - Riga (LV) - Brussels Charleroi (BE)

My girlfriend lives in Estonia, that's why I fly to Riga a lot. But for next year I'm planning to take a Eurolines bus to London, transfer to Stansted and fly to Tallinn (EE) directly with Easyjet.

Price for the flights, including everything I need:

FI - DE: €70
BE - LV - BE: €20 (+€30 Eurolines bus to Tallinn)
NL - SE - NL: €80 (pretty expensive because I booked a few days ago for a flight in 3 weeks)
BE - LV - BE: €110 (Christmas and New Year period)

I don't really see any other possibilities, considering cost and speed. For example Lufthansa charges over €800 for a return trip Brussels - Tallinn. That's just crazy.

My experience with Ryanair is very good. I only hate it that people who don't use Ryanair are always so slow and blocking everything :p.

And really, you don't need extra luggage for a 1 week trip. You can take 10kg cabin luggage, so except for liquids like shampoo and shower gel, you can take anything in a trolley.


Pic to cheer this thread up:

http://www.wover.be/planes/P1020582.JPG

At Riga RIX airport

i think this is a good option for people who are traveling on low budget.if i am going with a bag and Ryanair ask for busfare instaead of Airfare :P then they are right in charging for everything.Atleast few people can save some money.Certainly for extra luggage or comfort on has to pay something :P

Ryanair has highest charges for in-flight food and drink
19 September 2009
The Daily Telegraph

Ryanair charges more for in-flight food and drink than any of the other principal British or Irish airlines, according to new research.

A survey by Nowfly, an online travel comparison website, shows that the Irish no-frills airline charges more than its rivals in every category apart from spirits - which it does not offer on board its flights. It charges 35 per cent more for tea and coffee, 50 per cent more for a small bottle of wine and up to 30 per cent more for sandwiches than its rivals, including easyJet, Flybe, Monarch and Bmi (see table).

According to the American research group IdeaWorks, Ryanair took almost pounds 550 million in ancillary revenue last year - this includes spending on in-flight food, baggage charges and check-in fees, and the commission it receives from hotel bookings, car rental and insurance.

Its income from these will rise from next month, when it plans to increase its baggage fee by 50 per cent.

Ancillary revenue last year accounted for nearly 20 per cent of the airline's total revenue. Only American Airlines, United and Delta received more.

A spokesman for the airline said: "Ryanair provides passengers with Europe's guaranteed lowest fares by providing a range of ancillary revenue services such as hotel, villa, camping and hostel accommodation, travel insurance, bus and rail tickets, car hire, gift vouchers, financial services and in- flight telephone services as well as in-flight beverages and food.''

The spotlight has turned on the extra charges imposed by airlines following the decision by British Airways to stop providing complimentary in-flight meals earlier this month and to begin to charge for the carriage of sports equipment. BA is to continue to serve breakfast on flights that take off before 10am, but has cut out meals on flights lasting less than two-and-a-half hours. It expects to save about pounds 22 million a year.

It will continue to offer a full meal service on long-haul flights.

Up in smoke: Ryanair launches smoke-free cigarettes
21 September 2009
Agence France Presse

Passsengers flying with Irish budget carrier Ryanair and banned from smoking while on board can get their nicotine fix by inhaling "smokeless" cigarettes, the airline announced this week.

The new range of cigarettes, which do not have to be lit but provide a nicotine "hit" for smokers, are available on all Ryanair flights, the Dublin-based airline said in a statement received on Monday.

Ryanair said smokers no longer had "to worry about long flights without a cigarette as it launches a new range of smokeless cigarettes to ensure passengers get their required nicotine hit without breaking the law by 'lighting up' onboard".

It added: "Smoking on commercial flights has been illegal since the 1990s but now to cater to passengers' demands, Ryanair has introduced Similar Smokeless Cigarettes, which look and feel like a real cigarette and deliver a small amount of nicotine through inhalation."

The smokeless cigarettes are available to passengers aged over 18 years old, while a pack of ten costs six euros (9.0 dollars).

Ryanair :lol:

Ryanair hopes to order 200 aircraft by year-end

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Irish budget airline Ryanair said on Tuesday it wanted to wrap up an order for 200 aircraft from either Boeing or Airbus by the end of the year, for delivery after 2012.

Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said: "If for some reason we can't conclude an agreement with Boeing and Airbus, certainly by the end of the year, we will simply announce we are not going to buy any more aircraft.

"We will then stop growing beyond 2012 when our current delivery stream runs out."

Ryanair's fleet currently consists of Boeing aircraft but O'Leary said if Airbus offered a better deal he would order Airbus planes.

If he couldn't conclude a deal he would start distributing cash to shareholders.

"If you can't get Boeing or Airbus to make a decision between now and December I will lose interest and go with plan B," he said.

O'Leary was speaking at a press conference in London after the BBC current affairs TV programme Panorama broadcast a profile of the airline on Monday which said its website was misleading and that it imposed hidden charges.

"We have plenty of charges but none of them are hidden," said O'Leary, who reiterated that charging passengers to use the toilets remained a longer-term aim.

COLUMN-O'Leary treats shareholders like passengers: Neil Collins

LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - It would be easy to dismiss Michael O'Leary as a brazen bigmouth were it not for his irritating habit of delivering profits where other airlines struggle to survive. Now he is threatening to switch Ryanair's strategy from growth to cash generation if Boeing fails to cut the price on his next 200 aircraft. The shareholders may moan that they are being treated as badly as the airline's passengers, but O'Leary is right (in both cases).

The passengers are treated like cattle, subjected to levels of misery inconceivable to air travellers a couple of decades ago, but Monday's half-time figures showed that they don't care. People love O'Leary's combination of dirt-cheap prices and reliability. Your plane may not come down anywhere near your final destination, but it will do so on time.

The result is a 15 percent rise in passenger numbers, to 36.4 million, and oil-fired profits up by 80 percent to 387 million euros despite a 17 percent fall in the average fare. The shareholders might learn from this robust approach. It's always hard to tell whether O'Leary is entirely serious, but his threat to change the business model from growth to cash generation does not sound like a joke.

It's a fine tactic to bully Boeing , which needs the order far more than Ryanair does. There will be no shortage of slightly-used planes if he wants them; as he put it: "Many of our competitors are losing money, consolidating or going bust." His threat to "end the relationship" with Boeing sounds entirely plausible.

The market disliked the idea of Ryanair distributing profits to shareholders rather than reinvesting, but it makes eminent sense. Both BAA in Britain and, according to O'Leary, its "clueless" counterpart in Ireland, the DAA, have invested billions in extravagant projects at London Heathrow and Dublin, and the airline industry is riddled with examples of vainglorious expansion.

O'Leary has built Ryanair by unrelenting focus on costs and prices. His grandstanding about "stupid" tourist taxes in the UK and Ireland on planes (but not trains or ferries) and his earlier suggestions about getting passengers to stand are merely light entertainment; the real proof of the model is 2.5 billion euros in cash on the balance sheet, and a pay freeze rather than pay and job cuts for the company's 7,000 employees. Shareholders in airlines are used to getting wiped out by their management's ambitions. Ryanair is a demonstration that it does not have to be so.

It looks like Ryanair are set to announce a new route from Glasgow to Carcassonne.

Good to see more new Ryanair routes from Glasgow after they recently announced five new routes. :cheers:

Ryanair announce new route from Glasgow to Carcassonne
18 November 2009

Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares airline, has today (Wednesday 18 November 2009) announced it will launch a new route from Glasgow to the French city of Carcassonne, giving customers in Scotland direct access to the South of France.

Flights to Carcassonne will commence on 31 March 2010 with flights departing every Wednesday and Sunday. Flights can be booked online now and are available from just £30 return, including tax. The new route starts just one day after Ryanair's new route to Ibiza takes-off.

The budget carrier expects to carry 10,000 passengers on the route over a period of one year giving Glaswegians an opportunity to enjoy a visit to one of the most beautiful cities in France as well as bringing a large number of French tourists to Glasgow.

Carcassonne is a great destination, whatever your budget and holiday plans are. Whether you want to visit the Medieval City and the Bastide Saint Louis, or just enjoy some quiet moments of relaxation by the banks of the lake in the Raymond Chésa Leisure Park or by the Canal du Midi, you can really do a bit of everything in Carcassonne and with direct flights now on offer from Glasgow, there has never been a better time to visit.





Ryanair launch four new routes from Glasgow Prestwick Airport
05 November 2009

Europe’s largest airline Ryanair, has launched four new routes from its Scottish base at Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

New flights to Alicante, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Palma on the Island of Majorca all took off this week for the first time.

Flights to Palma Majorca will operate five times per week, while Alicante will be served by four flights a week. Both Gran Canaria and Lanzarote will operate twice a week.

Mr. Sweenie of Glasgow Prestwick Airport said: "These new routes are a huge vote of confidence in Glasgow Prestwick by Europe’s largest low fares airline. Just half an hour from Glasgow city centre, we offer great flight times, quick, hassle free check-in, cheap parking and a 50% discount on rail travel to / from anywhere in Scotland."

"For cheap winter sun, Lanzarote's volcanic landscape, Gran Canaria's mountainous scenery and for Tenerife’s year-round appeal, the Canaries are unbeatable," he said.

Ryanair plan to add a fifth new route from the airport in April 2009 when the airline will launch a new thrice weekly flight to Ibiza. Ryanair flights from Glasgow to 29 European destinations can be booked online now at ryanair.com

Ryanair Announces 37th Base At Oslo Rygge
24 November 2009

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYAAY), an Irish airline, said Tuesday it would open its 37th base at Oslo Rygge in March 2010 with three based aircraft and 16 new routes being launched.

MAIN FACTS:

-Ryanair will offer 100 weekly return flights and invest over $200 million in airport.

-16 new routes from Oslo Rygge to Aarhus, Berlin (Schonefeld), Dublin, Dusseldorf (Weeze), Eindhoven, Gdansk, Krakow, La Rochelle, Malaga, Memmingen (Munich West), Palma, Paris (Beauvais), Riga, Wroclaw, Valencia and Venice (Treviso)

-Ryanair's traffic at Oslo Rygge to increase to 1.7 million passengers p.a., thereby creating 1,700 jobs in region.

Does anyone know if is Ryanair planning in upcoming months open another base (in central Europe, there are negotiations with BTS from what we've read in news (4 planes, 20 new lines)) or this is last one for longer time?

Does anyone know if is Ryanair planning in upcoming months open another base (in central Europe, there are negotiations with BTS from what we've read in news (4 planes, 20 new lines)) or this is last one for longer time?

I wouldn't rule it out. Ryanair have announced three new bases this week alone.

I do know Wizz Air have decided against a base at Bratislava.

The size of Ryanair is insane and they are only going to get bigger. They now have 37 bases in Europe. There are people in Europe who could not even name 37 European cities!

So I guess they don't use British / Irish crews on all flights anymore.

The size of Ryanair is insane and they are only going to get bigger.

I wouldn't exactly call it insane. They currently have a fleet of 207 planes and approx. 60 million annual passengers. Southwest Airlines, the largest American lowfare airlines has 546 planes and 102 million annual passengers.

Keep in mind that Europe has more than twice the population of the US and that especially the market in Eastern Europe will still grow considerably in the future, so Ryanair still has a lot of growth potential, especially if they now really even expand their network beyond Europe's borders. I've heard lots of rumors of new destinations in Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Tunisia.

So I guess they don't use British / Irish crews on all flights anymore.

They haven't for a long time. I've took quite a few Ryanair flights were the crew were almost entirely German, Italian, Spanish or Polish depending on where the plane was stationed.

So I guess they don't use British / Irish crews on all flights anymore.

Far from it. Most bases are staffed by locals/ nationals of that country.

I recently used Ryanair's new Glasgow to Alicante flight and as the flight is operated by an Alicante based aircraft, the crew were entirely Spanish.


I wouldn't exactly call it insane. They currently have a fleet of 207 planes and approx. 60 million annual passengers. Southwest Airlines, the largest American lowfare airlines has 546 planes and 102 million annual passengers.

Do you know how many bases Southwest Airlines have? It would be interesting to know if it was more or less than Ryanair's 37.

Keep in mind that Europe has more than twice the population of the US and that especially the market in Eastern Europe will still grow considerably in the future, so Ryanair still has a lot of growth potential, especially if they now really even expand their network beyond Europe's borders. I've heard lots of rumors of new destinations in Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Tunisia.

I would not be surprised to see Ryanair starting flights to Northern Africa. These routes are very high-yielding for easyJet, FlyGlobespan and Jet2. However I did hear Ryanair's aircraft are not capable of flying the distance between the United Kingdom and Egypt. Apparently something to do with the type of engines they use. I dont know how true, or not this is...?

EasyJet says worst over but 2010 to be slow

LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - The Chief Executive of low-cost airline easyJet believes the worst of the recession is over for the airline industry but warned recovery would be slow.

"I think the worst is over but I don't see any improvement either and expect demand to be stable for the next nine months at least," Chief Executive Andy Harrison told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

"Winter will be a continuation of what we have seen...we will see continuing weaker consumer demand."

The airline last week reported a 65 percent fall in full-year profit, its worst annual performance since 2001, after it hedged fuel prices at high levels.

Passenger numbers rose 3.4 percent to 45.2 million, its slowest growth rate since the airline listed on the London Stock Exchange in November 2000, and analysts cautioned that the turning point in sector demand might be some way off.

Harrison said the airline, which uses Airbus aircraft, would not look to cancel any of its existing aircraft orders, despite the sluggish demand picture.

"We have got something like 70 new committed aircraft deliveries over the next three years and they will go ahead," he said.

EasyJet, which is the biggest carrier at London's Gatwick airport, has also launched online check-in to passengers with hold baggage. Previously only passengers travelling with hand baggage were able to check-in online.

The global recession has battered the airline industry as consumers cut back on trips and the International Air Transport Association last week repeated its forecast that airlines would lose a collective $11 billion this year, despite year-on-year ticket sales growing in September.

Shares in easyJet, which have risen 14 percent in the last three months, were down 2.9 percent at 368.7 pence by 1142 GMT, valuing the group at close to 1.6 billion pounds.

Do you know how many bases Southwest Airlines have? It would be interesting to know if it was more or less than Ryanair's 37.

As far as I know either 11 or 12.

I would not be surprised to see Ryanair starting flights to Northern Africa. These routes are very high-yielding for easyJet, FlyGlobespan and Jet2. However I did hear Ryanair's aircraft are not capable of flying the distance between the United Kingdom and Egypt. Apparently something to do with the type of engines they use. I dont know how true, or not this is...?

Depending on the engines and the fuel capacity 737-800's have ranges between 3790km and 6650km. If they have the version which has only a range of 3790km, STN-CAI would still be possible, however STN-HRG or STN-SSH would be too long. But it would easily be within the range of their other main bases such as HHN or CIA.

As far as I know either 11 or 12.

In that case maybe I should reword what I said earlier to "Ryanair have an insane number of bases".

Depending on the engines and the fuel capacity 737-800's have ranges between 3790km and 6650km. If they have the version which has only a range of 3790km, STN-CAI would still be possible, however STN-HRG or STN-SSH would be too long. But it would easily be within the range of their other main bases such as HHN or CIA.

I would guess Ryanair have the 3790km variant as the routes I heard were out of range were specifically UK-SSH.

Ryanair CEO says expects to quit in 2-3 years

DUBLIN, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Michael O'Leary expects to retire as chief executive of Irish airline Ryanair in two to three years' time, he said on Saturday.

O'Leary has pushed out the projected date of his retirement from the helm of Europe's biggest budget carrier several times, saying last year it had become a "moveable feast".

"In two or three years' time I expect to be gone out of Ryanair," O'Leary told RTE radio, adding he would like to see the takeover of Irish rival Aer Lingus -- which he has twice tried and failed to achieve -- before he goes.

O'Leary said earlier this month he was planning to pay substantial management bonuses in 2011 when a large capital investment programme approaches its end and possibly also end his policy of not paying any dividends around the same time.

As far as I know either 11 or 12.


They have numerous 'focus cities' though.

Ryanair 'moves the goalposts' by charging for Visa debits
1 December 2009
The Scotsman

RYANAIR is abolishing the only payment option that enables passengers to avoid fees for booking flights.

The no-frills airline is replacing the Visa Electron debit card as its free payment option with a MasterCard prepaid cash card, which normally incurs a range of fees from its issuing banks.

The Electron had been the only way travellers could avoid "payment handling fees" of GBP 5 per passenger, per flight. But from 1 January the Electron will join other credit and debit cards by incurring the Ryanair fees.

This means two adults booking return flights are charged GBP 20, even if the flights are paid for on the same card in the same transaction.

Ryanair said that instead it would accept from today the MasterCard prepaid credit card as its "sole free from of payment".

The airline said the card was more widely available than Visa Electron, which is being phased out by some banks. It is not available in several countries including Ireland, where Ryanair is based.

MasterCard prepaid cards are available through a number of banks and other parties, including Ryanair.

The cards are pre-loaded with funds, so people do not need to be credit-checked to get one, but they do typically charge a range of fees, such as a set-up fee, monthly service charge, loading fee or cash withdrawal or purchase fee.

Consumer groups said the move was another blow for passengers.

Daniel Lawrence, consumer products analyst at Moneysavingexpert.com, said: "This is another example of Ryanair making it difficult for passengers to avoid charges.

"It has moved the goalposts given many would have already got a Visa Electron card to beat the charge.

"It's not all bad news as savvy consumers can still bypass the fee, but it adds complication to what should be a simple process."

Ah well, with that I guess my last ever Ryanair flight will be in January which I already have booked.

I have a Visa Electron Card which I always used for booking Ryanair flights. I refuse to pay £5 per passenger, per flight for a Card Transaction. It would cost me £10 in Card fees for a return flight, per person! Ryanair would pocket about £9 of that.

How can Ryanair justify there huge card charges while easyJet and other airlines charge a max of £2 for the full booking?

Ah well, with that I guess my last ever Ryanair flight will be in January which I already have booked.

I have a Visa Electron Card which I always used for booking Ryanair flights. I refuse to pay £5 per passenger, per flight for a Card Transaction. It would cost me £10 in Card fees for a return flight, per person! Ryanair would pocket about £9 of that.

How can Ryanair justify there huge card charges while easyJet and other airlines charge a max of £2 for the full booking?

I wouldn't mind so much when I'm paying 1 pence and there is free check-in. :)

I wouldn't mind so much when I'm paying 1 pence and there is free check-in. :)

Until now, I could take advantage of there 1p flights and actually pay just 1p. Will Ryanair still be able to advertise flights from 1p? As the huge credit card charges are no longer avoidable.

Major Ryanair expansion at Alicante Airport
3 new aircraft, 7 new routes and 3 million passengers a year in Alicante
from 2010

Ryanair, the world's favorite airline, today announced Dec. 1 that from March 2010, will add three new aircraft (nine total), will open seven new routes (56 in total) and carry three million passengers a year at its base in Alicante, keeping 3,000 jobs. Ryanair will operate about 500 flights weekly to and from Alicante which represents an investment in the airport more than $ 600 million.

The new routes to Altemburg, Krakow, Seville, Smaland (Vaxjo), Stockholm (Vasteras), Valladolid, Venice (Treviso), as well as increased frequencies on 9 routes allow more low fares, competition and choice to a even greater number of Spanish consumers and tourists.


Today in Alicante Michael O'Leary has said,

"At Ryanair we are excited to announce three new aircraft and seven new routes from Alicante from March, which will enable us to offer more low fares, competition and choice to a growing number of tourists and Spanish consumers.

Ryanair's new routes and increasing frequencies on existing routes will generate three million passengers a year and maintain at least 3,000 jobs in Alicante and the region.

Ryanair welcomes these new three planes, routes and frequencies by bringing to an offer Christmas sale of 250,000 tickets to 5 € for travel on over 500 routes from Ryanair in late December. The offer is available until midnight on Thursday and promises to be huge demand. "

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/710/nuevasrutasryrenalc.png

What about AirArabia/AirArabia Maroc, they have only been existing for 6 years and they already have 11 million passengers and they are already launching their third company AirArabia Egypt! :-)

Until now, I could take advantage of there 1p flights and actually pay just 1p. Will Ryanair still be able to advertise flights from 1p? As the huge credit card charges are no longer avoidable.

I wonder how the EU thinks about their non all-inclusive pricing. Isn't that technically illegal now?

Ryanair Nov passengers rise 15 pct, load factor up

DUBLIN, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Ryanair carried 4.96 million passengers in November, 15 percent more than a year ago, with the average flight slightly fuller than last year, the Irish airline said on Thursday.

Load factor -- an indication of seats sold as a percentage of capacity -- increased by 1 percentage point compared with the same month of 2008 to 80 percent of capacity.

Major Ryanair expansion at Alicante Airport
3 new aircraft, 7 new routes and 3 million passengers a year in Alicante
from 2010

Ryanair, the world's favorite airline, today announced Dec. 1 that from March 2010, will add three new aircraft (nine total), will open seven new routes (56 in total) and carry three million passengers a year at its base in Alicante, keeping 3,000 jobs. Ryanair will operate about 500 flights weekly to and from Alicante which represents an investment in the airport more than $ 600 million.

500 a week?! thats really good for the airport's size

What about AirArabia/AirArabia Maroc, they have only been existing for 6 years and they already have 11 million passengers and they are already launching their third company AirArabia Egypt! :-)
11m? Are you sure?

And it's pretty good considering Air Arabia is nowhere near as low-cost as Ryanair. At a lot of tiems its fares are almost on par with Emriates/Etihad, and in most situations they're around 70-80% of their fare. Ryanair on the other hand...

11m? Are you sure?

And it's pretty good considering Air Arabia is nowhere near as low-cost as Ryanair. At a lot of tiems its fares are almost on par with Emriates/Etihad, and in most situations they're around 70-80% of their fare. Ryanair on the other hand...

Yes im 100 percent!!! It's written on their website check it out! http://www.airarabia.com/home&clearall=1260117664

And i remember the first month they started up their moroccan based Airline their where aproxematly 125.000 bought tickets!!! Only at the Moroccan airlines! :colgate:

Budget carrier easyJet pulls out of regional UK airport, cuts capacity at Luton
7 December 2009

LONDON (AP) - Low-cost airline easyJet PLC said Monday it is closing its operations at a regional British airport and cutting capacity at its home base of London's Luton airport by 20 percent.

The airline will cease operations at East Midlands Airport on Jan. 5. The airline operated 10 routes from East Midlands Airport -- to Prague, Nice, Venice, Faro, Barcelona, Alicante, Malaga, Ibiza, Palma and Geneva.

Passengers booked to travel after Jan. 5 will be offered either a free transfer to another easyJet flight, a free transfer to a flight on low-cost airline bmibaby or a full refund.

The 20 percent capacity reduction at Luton means the airline will cease to operate routes to Athens, Cagliari and Vienna, and reduce frequencies on routes including Alicante, Dortmund, Edinburgh, Geneva, Glasgow, Nice and Paris.

The changes follow a three-month consultation with workers and the carrier said that all 107 affected cabin crew and pilots who requested to transfer to other easyJet bases will be accommodated.

Two new Ryanair bases announced today

Ryanair announces Malaga as 38th base
4 aircraft, 39 routes & 2 million passengers

Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, today (16th Dec 09) announced it would open its 38th base at Malaga in June 2010 with 4 based aircraft and 19 new routes (39 in total) being launched. Ryanair will create over 200 direct jobs and offer 360 weekly flights to/from Malaga in an investment of over $250 million in the airport.

Ryanair’s 19 new routes from Malaga to Aarhus, Berlin (Schonefeld), Bratislava, Eindhoven, Gothenburg, Krakow, Maastricht, Memmingen (Munich West), Oslo (Torp), Paris (Beauvais), Pisa, Santander, Santiago, Stockholm (Skavsta), Tampere, Valladolid, Venice (Treviso), Wroclaw and Zaragoza will increase Ryanair’s traffic at Malaga to over 2m passengers p.a. which will sustain 2,000 well paid local jobs in the Malaga region.

Ryanair celebrated its new Malaga base by releasing 500,000 €5 January seats for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on 500 routes across its European network in the new year. These €5 seats are available for booking on www.ryanair.com until midnight Thursday (17th Dec).

In Malaga today, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“Ryanair is delighted to announce Malaga as our 38th base with 19 new routes from next June which go on sale on www.ryanair.com tomorrow. With a total of 39 low fare routes from Malaga next summer Spanish consumers and visitors can beat the recession by choosing Ryanair’s lowest fares and our no fuel surcharge guarantee on 39 exciting destinations all over Europe including France, Italy and Germany among others. Ryanair’s 2m passengers p.a. will sustain 2,000 jobs locally at Malaga Airport”.

19 New Malaga routes in 2010 to:

To Date To Date
Aarhus 23 Jun Pisa 24 Jun
Berlin (Sch) 25 Jun Santander 24 Jun
Bratislava 23 Jun Santiago 23 Jun
Eindhoven 23 Jun Stockholm (Skav) 24 Jun
Gothenburg 25 Jun Tampere 25 Jun
Krakow 24 Jun Valladolid 23 Jun
Maastricht 23 Jun Venice (Treviso) 24 Jun
Memmingen 24 Jun Wroclaw 25 Jun
Oslo (Torp) 23 Jun Zaragoza 24 Jun
Paris (Beav) 23 Jun





Ryanair announces 39th base at Faro
6 aircraft, 28 routes and 1.3 million passengers

Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, today (16th Dec) announced it would open its 39th base at Faro in March 2010 with 6 based aircraft and 14 new routes (28 in total) being launched. Ryanair will create over 300 direct jobs and offer over 200 weekly flights to/from Faro in an investment of over $400 million in the airport.

Ryanair’s 14 new routes from Faro to Billund, Birmingham, Derry, Eindhoven, Kerry, Knock, Madrid, Marseille, Maastricht, Milan (Bergamo), Oslo (Rygge), Paris (Beauvais) and Stockholm (Skavsta) will increase Ryanair’s traffic at Faro to 1.3million p.a. which will sustain 1,300 well paid local jobs in the region.

Ryanair celebrated its new Faro base by releasing 500,000 €5 seats for travel on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays on over 500 routes across its European network in January. These €5 seats are available for booking on www.ryanair.com until midnight Thursday (17th Dec).

In Faro today, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“Ryanair is delighted to announce Faro as our 39th base with 14 new routes from next March which go on sale on www.ryanair.com tomorrow. With a total of 28 low fare routes from Faro next summer Portuguese consumers and visitors can beat the recession by choosing Ryanair’s lowest fares and our no fuel surcharge guarantee on 28 exciting destinations all over Europe including France, Italy and Germany among others. Ryanair’s 1.3m passengers p.a. will sustain 1,300 jobs locally at Faro Airport.”

14 New Faro routes in 2010 to:

To Date To Date
Billund 30 Mar Marseille 30 Mar
Birmingham 28 Mar Maastricht 27 Apr
Derry 30 Mar Memmingen (Mun) 27 Apr
Eindhoven 27 Apr Milan (Bergamo) 25 Mar
Kerry 30 Mar Oslo (Rygge) 30 Mar
Knock 30 Mar Paris (Beauvais) 27 Apr
Madrid 27 Apr Stockholm (Skavsta) 30 Mar

Ryanair announces 6th Aircraft for Glasgow After Flyglobespan Collapses

Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, announced today (18th Dec 09) that it will base a 6th aircraft in Glasgow (Prestwick) and open a new route to Fuerteventura from March next after the collapse of Flyglobespan. Ryanair’s six Glasgow (Prestwick) based aircraft will deliver 2m passengers p.a. and sustain 2,000 Glasgow jobs including 300 direct Ryanair jobs.

Ryanair’s sixth aircraft will focus on routes once offered by Flyglobespan to/from Alicante, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma and Tenerife, which are available for booking on www.ryanair.com.

Ryanair celebrated its sixth aircraft and its new Fuerteventura route by extending its 500,000 £5 January seat sale on www.ryanair.com to midnight Sunday (20th Dec), for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in January.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“Ryanair is delighted to announce a sixth aircraft and a new sun route for Glasgow Prestwick which will ensure that Glasgow holidaymakers can still jet to sun destinations in Alicante, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma and Tenerife. Ryanair will deliver 2m passengers to/from Glasgow Prestwick which will sustain 2,000 local jobs.

“To celebrate this new aircraft and route Ryanair is extending its 500,000 £5 January seat sale, for travel across Europe in the new year, until midnight Sunday. Since seats at these crazy low prices will be snapped up quickly, we urge passengers to book them immediately on www.ryanair.com”.

New Ryanair routes
Glasgow to Fuerteventura from March 2010

Increased frequency on existing routes
Alicante
Faro
Gran Canaria
Lanzarote
Malaga
Palma
Tenerife

I guess no compensation for the lost transatlantic flights.

I guess no compensation for the lost transatlantic flights.

Virgin Atlantic, Thomas Cook and Thomson Airways have all added extra flights to Orlando from Glasgow.

With the extra Orlando flights and extra based Ryanair and Thomas Cook aircraft for short haul flights, I think most of the capacity lost by Globespan has been replaced.

Ryanair jet slides off Glasgow Prestwick airport runway
23 December 2009

A Ryanair jet slid off the runway at Glasgow's Prestwick airport this morning but there were no casualties among the 129 passengers and cabin crew.

Treacherous conditions saw the Boeing 737-800 slide on to a grass verge of Glasgow's second-largest airport as it taxied to the terminal.

"When you come on to the runway it's full of black ice," Ryanair passenger Alex Paton told the BBC.

Prestwick has been closed temporarily while emergency services attempt to remove the jet.

A Ryanair spokesman said passengers and crew on the Dublin-to-Glasgow service were bussed to the terminal after leaving the aircraft routinely, albeit on to a muddy patch of grass rather than the tarmac.

"Ryanair engineers are at the aircraft, which appears to have suffered no damage, and they are working with Glasgow Prestwick to return the aircraft to the stand area so that the runway can be reopened with minimum delay," the spokesman said.

The accident adds to problems for air passengers attempting to reach Scotland's largest city this morning, with Glasgow International airport also suffering delays owing to the weather. Before the incident, flights from Glasgow International were diverting to Glasgow Prestwick due to snow.


Ryanair FR7682 09:00 CITY OF DERRY Delayed
Ryanair FR407 09:40 LONDON STANSTED Delayed
Ryanair FR416 10:05 LONDON STANSTED Delayed
Ryanair FR7683 10:55 CITY OF DERRY Delayed
Ryanair FR7923 11:25 BRUSSELS SOUTH Delayed
Ryanair FR742 11:45 MILAN BERGAMO Delayed
Ryanair FR7924 11:50 BRUSSELS SOUTH Delayed
Ryanair FR7643 12:40 WROCLAW Delayed
Ryanair FR411 12:55 LONDON STANSTED Delayed
Ryanair FR652 13:10 FARO Delayed

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Ryanair threatens to ground domestic flights in Italy in January over ID documents dispute
23 December 2009

ROME (AP) - Ryanair is threatening to stop domestic flights in Italy starting next month amid a dispute with the country's authorities over new rules on ID documents that passengers can show at airport gates.

Domestic flights operated at 10 Italian airports, including Rome and Milan, will be grounded from Jan. 23 until the issue is resolved, the Irish budget airline said in a statement posted Wednesday on its Italian Web site.

Last month, Italy's civil aviation authority, known by the acronym ENAC, ordered airlines to accept driving licenses, government badges, fishing and hunting licenses and other documents to identify passengers at boarding gates for domestic flights.

Ryanair said that since it started operating entirely with online check-ins, passengers are asked at booking time to show their passport or identity card before boarding. It said in the statement that the documents now allowed are less secure and this threatens flight security.

"We are really sorry for the inconveniences that this decision will cause," Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said in the statement.

"It's completely inappropriate for ENAC to introduce measures that reduce security on Italian domestic flights, compared with the security measures successfully used on all Ryanair flights in the EU and all Ryanair domestic flights in every other EU country," he said.

ENAC dismissed Ryanair's protests, saying that the new rules were based on a law passed in 2000 and that all other carriers had complied with them.

"No carrier can operate on the national domestic market without respecting the rules," the authority said in a statement. "Ryanair is the only EU and international operator that demands to fly in Italy without respecting Italian law."

ENAC said it would lodge a protest with the Irish civil aviation authority and inform Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini of the situation.

Last week, an administrative tribunal in Rome rejected Ryanair's request to suspend the new rules. The company said Wednesday it would appeal to a higher administrative court.

Italy airport says Ryanair faces penalty on flights

MILAN, Dec 28 (Reuters) - An Italian airport operator said on Monday that Ryanair would have to pay penalties if it cancels flights as part of a continuing dispute with the country's civil aviation regulator over check-in documents.

Last Wednesday, the low-cost Irish carrier said it would temporarily stop domestic Italian flights at 10 airports from Jan. 23 because of the row with ENAC.

Ryanair objects to ENAC's decision to cut requirements on documents that passengers have to present, saying the new rules will not ensure a secure form of identification.

On Monday, Societa Aeroporto Toscano (SAT), which operates the Pisa airport in Tuscany, said Ryanair had a contractual obligation to meet certain passenger targets.

"Such a contract foresees the payment of penalties to SAT in the case that even part of the flights are cancelled," SAT said in a statement.

'Puerile' Ryanair under attack by OFT chief
4 January 2010
The Independent

BRITAIN'S TOP business regulator has accused Europe's biggest airline, Ryanair, of "almost taunting" passengers in a strongly worded attack on its charges.

John Fingleton, the chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading, described Ryanair's levying of fees for paying by card online as "puerile" and "almost childish", adding the carrier was only operating within "the narrow letter of the law".

Ryanair advertises taxes and other fees upfront but only mentions charges for paying by plastic at the end of booking on the grounds that customers could escape the fee by using an obscure prepaid card. The no-frills carrier - along with other airlines and ticketing agencies - is being investigated by the OFT over online pricing and advertising. Of particular concern is "drip-pricing" where shoppers only discover the full cost of a service late in the booking process, which makes it difficult to shop around.

In a rare and exclusive interview, his first for 18 months, Mr Fingleton, whose organisation has previously clashed with Ryanair, criticised the airline's "funny game".

"Ryanair has this funny game where they have found some low frequency payment mechanism and say: 'Well, because you can pay with that [the charge is optional]'," he said. "It's almost like taunting consumers and pointing out: 'Oh well, we know this is completely outside the spirit of the law, but we think it's within the narrow letter of the law'."

Mr Fingleton - whose criticism elicited an angry response from Ryanair - hopes that ironing out problems on airline websites will set standards for online shopping, which is forecast to account for half of retail sales by 2020.

Under consumer law, businesses must advertise all compulsory charges. At the payment stage online, Ryanair levies a £5 debit or credit card charge per passenger, per journey, although the cost to the company is only about 30p per payment. The charges can add £40 to the cost of a return trip for a family of four - several times the airline's cheapest advertised fares.

From last month, payments by Electron card that had previously been free began to attract the fee and Ryanair switched its free option to MasterCard pre-pay. Mr Fingleton suggested Ryanair had found "some low frequency payment mechanism" to get round the rules.

He said: "On some level, it's quite puerile, it's almost childish, and you sort of smile. And newspapers like yours or BBC Radio 4's Moneybox do a good job in pointing this out to consumers. This is just playing silly games at the margins of it all and we might or might not go running after something like that."

The automatic addition of insurance to flights by airlines including Ryanair, unless customers opt out, was, he said, another legal "grey area". But public anger about such charges might prove to be more effective than regulatory action, he said. "It would be silly to go after something like that every time because they would quickly change it to something else, and it's trying to establish a general principle that what's not optional is not in there. Consumer anger and frustration, and an element of transparency, often changes these things much quicker than legal action."

In July, Ryanair agreed to give more prominence to fees and charges on its website after the OFT's intervention. The OFT had been asked to act by the Advertising Standards Authority, whose rulings have been repeatedly dismissed by the no-frills airline, which carried 58 million passengers last year.

Ryanair responded to Mr Fingleton by referring to the OFT's ongoing inquiry into the long-running price-fixing of fuel surcharges, which eventually led to British Airways being fined £121m three years ago. Stephen McNamara, Ryanair's head of communications, said: "As a general rule, anything that comes from an office that has chosen to ignore fuel surcharging airlines like British Airways and remained mute while London air passengers were being ripped off by the BAA monopoly should be taken with a pinch of salt.

"Ryanair is not for the overpaid John Fingletons of this world but for the everyday Joe Bloggs who opt for Ryanair's guaranteed lowest fares because we give them the opportunity to fly across 26 European countries for free, £5 and £10."

The OFT needed to realise, Ryanair said, that its passengers could avoid costs such as baggage charges "still included in the high fares of high-cost, fuel-surcharging, strike-threatened airlines such as BA". The airline had become Europe's biggest because it was so cheap, he added.

'The central issue now is price transparency'

UK may take action over Ryanair's payments system

LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The head of Britain's business regulator has hit out at Ryanair, saying in a newspaper interview it may act over the way the budget Irish airline almost taunts passengers with its payment system.

John Fingleton, chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading, told the Independent newspaper the airline engaged in "puerile" and "almost childish" behaviour in the way it charges passengers for paying for flights online.

Ryanair rejected the criticism as inaccurate.

The newspaper said Ryanair advertises taxes and other fees up front but only mentions charges for paying by credit card at the end of the booking procedure to prevent customers from opting to use an alternative and free credit card to escape the fee.

Under consumer law, businesses must advertise all compulsory charges, but Ryanair offers one type of card for free.

"Ryanair has this funny game where they have found some low frequency payment mechanism and say 'Well, because you can pay with that (the charge is optional)," the newspaper quoted Fingleton as saying.

"It's almost like taunting consumers and pointing out 'Oh well, we know this is completely outside the spirit of the law, but we think it's within the narrow letter of the law'," he said.

"On some level it's quite puerile, it's almost childish. This is just playing silly games at the margins of it all and we might or might not go running after something like that."

The airline, which has clashed with the regulator before, defended itself to the newspaper.

Ryanair also said in a separate statement there were no hidden fees on its website and it included all non-discretionary charges in its advertised prices.

"Ryanair fails to understand why it was singled out for these inaccurate criticisms by Mr Fingleton, when its charges policies are copied by high fare UK airlines," the airline said.

Ryanair, Italy resolve row over check-in documents

ROME, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Irish airline Ryanair Holdings on Thursday reached a deal with Italian aviation authorities to resolve a row over check-in documents, averting the cancellation of some flights within Italy.

Ryanair had threatened to stop domestic flights at 10 Italian airports from Jan. 23, saying civil aviation authority ENAC had lowered standards on identification documents and approved fishing permits and company badges as valid IDs.

Under the deal, passengers will have to produce either a passport or a European Union/European Economic Area national identity card on all flights, the low-cost airline said. Tourist-heavy Italy is one of Ryanair's top markets.

ENAC, which had threatened to sue the airline for libel over its statements on security standards at Italian airports, said that Ryanair had apologised for a "misunderstanding" over its comments on security.

Some Italian driving licenses will not be accepted now as valid IDs until the matter is examined further.

Earlier on Thursday, Italian Infrastructure Minister Altero Matteoli was quoted as saying that the airline must observe Italian rules on documents if it wants to operate here.

This is not the first time Ryanair has been at loggerheads with Italian authorities.

It has clashed over Italian plans to shut Rome's Ciampino airport and build an airport further away from the city, and been critical of Italy's state support for national airline Alitalia.

Further Easyjet expansion at JLA ready for take-off
18 January 2010
Daily Post

No saturation point, says head of airline

EASYJET chief executive Andy Harrison sees no saturation point for growth in budget air travel - or in capacity at Liverpool John Lennon airport.

The airline is the biggest by passenger numbers at JLA, carrying 2.5m passengers a year, and later this year it will celebrate its 25 millionth passenger through Liverpool since its arrival in 1997.

It already bases nine aircraft at JLA and in June will add a 10th to service three new routes.

And the son of a Bootle docker's family pledged more will follow. He said: "There's no reason to think the growth will stop.

"Over the past three months we have flown 10% more people.

"We have found it easier to win market share in a recession than in the good times.

"We are doing this in the teeth of a recession. In a more normal environment we expect to still move forward. There is no saturation point for us."

Mr Harrison said Easyjet takes a longer-term view than rival Ryanair and sees long-term growth for JLA.

He said: "Easyjet is going to carry on growing in Liverpool.

"We have a much longer term philosophy. We don't just move the planes around like butterflies.

"We have a number of ideas for Liverpool and there will be some new routes coming out in the next couple of months."

Mr Harrison was hosting a tour of Easyjet's JLA facilities for North West Euro MP Brian Simpson, chair of the European Parliament's transport committee, and he backed Mr Simpson's call for Government to provide funds for any extra airport security measures following the latest Delta Airlines scare.

Mr Simpson said: "Terrorism is not an attack on an airline, they're attacking the state, so the state needs to help with the cost of security.

"An airport is not the first line of defence against terrorism, it is the last line, so member states should help aviation with enhanced security measures."

He said security cost airports 5-6% of their total costs in the mid-90s. Now it costs on average between 25% and 26%.

Mr Harrison added: "What we need to avoid is a thoughtless political response to a terrorist threat. We need an intelligent risk-based response. We don't need a knee-jerk reaction.

"The passenger experience is getting worse and costs go up and it is not clear we are safer, so I am encouraged by what Brian is saying."

EasyJet Q1 revenue rise offsets big freeze hit

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - EasyJet grew first quarter revenue by 10.5 percent and said it would deliver higher full-year profit, offsetting losses caused by Britain's big freeze and boosting hopes of a recovery in budget air travel.

The airline, the biggest carrier at London's Gatwick airport, posted revenues of 607.5 million pounds ($991.6 million) as total revenue per seat grew 4.2 percent to 47.50 pounds for the three months to end December.

Shares in easyJet, which have fallen 6 percent in the last three months, were up 5.1 percent at 383.40 pence by 1005 GMT, valuing the airline at around 1.9 billion pounds.

During the quarter, easyJet took delivery of nine Airbus A319 aircraft and said it had sufficient resources to fund future plane deliveries through until June 2011.

"The underlying performance of the business in the first quarter has been encouraging and we are on track to deliver substantial profit improvement in 2010," said Chief Executive Andy Harrison, who is due to leave the company in June.

"EasyJet's pretax result in 2010 at current fuel prices and exchange rates is expected to benefit by around 60 million pounds in the first half and 100 million for the full year."

BIG FREEZE HIT

The airline incurred 8 million pounds of additional operating costs from the snow and freezing weather which disrupted travel in Europe in recent weeks, and expects to take a similar hit in the second quarter.

EasyJet said it carried 11 million passengers in the quarter, up 9.1 percent compared with the same period last year, with 54 percent of customers coming from outside Britain. Its load factor -- a measure of how full its planes were -- grew 2.4 percentage points to 85.8 percent.

"We expect capacity to grow by around 10 percent in the first half and in the full-year," Harrison said on an analyst call, adding that the airline was in the advanced stages of talks to appoint a new finance director.

The worldwide economic downturn has battered the airline industry as consumers cut back on trips.

But earlier this week the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said economy travel was growing positively in year-on-year terms, rising 3.5 percent in November and just 4 percent below levels in early 2008.

The industry body forecasts the sector will lose $5.6 billion in 2010, down from a loss of around $11 billion last year.

EasyJet is expected to report an average pretax profit of 169 million pounds for the year to end of September, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 15 analysts.

The airline, which typically posts a loss in the first six months of the year and makes the bulk of its profits over the summer, expects to report a pretax loss of between 80 and 95 million in the first-half.

Analysts had previously expected the carrier to lose around 130 million pounds in the six months to the end of March.

"In terms of outlook, the airline remains on track to achieve guidance. Forward bookings are slightly ahead of expectations with over 65 percent of winter seats sold, first-half revenue is performing better than initially forecast," said Davy stockbrokers analyst Simon McGrotty.

Irish low-cost rival Ryanair last week said it could slightly raise its full-year earnings forecast after a strong third quarter and is set to raise fares.

Easyjet accused in French court over job contracts

CRETEIL, France, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Low-cost airline easyJet was accused of breaking French labour laws on Friday on the first day of a trial in which the airline is charged with unlawfully employing workers on British contracts in Paris.

The case involves contracts for 170 people who worked at Orly airport in Paris between 2003 and 2006.

The company said it changed the contracts for the employees in 2007, following a judicial investigation and it denied that it had abused workers' rights.

"This issue arises from the idea that easyJet carried out a kind of social dumping by trying to profit from more favourable legislation - which would be the British legislation," easyJet's lawyer, Frederique Beaulieu said.

The prosecutor's office, which said the company avoided paying millions of euros in French tax and charges by using the contracts, argued that French labour code is applicable to air transport companies which run operations on French soil.

It said low-cost airlines cannot get around French law by using foreign contracts to cut salary costs and charges even if they are not legal entities in France.

Franck Mikula, president of UNAC, an airline association which represents easyJet competitor Air France among others and which is associated as a civil party to the case, said budget carriers had been abusing the law for some time.

"EasyJet is one of the companies which has been operating in France for many years at French bases, without applying French law," he told Reuters.

"The aim is to slip between the rules, in the loopholes of European legislation in order to make more money," he said.

A judgement is expected in several weeks.

Ryanair narrows its 3rd quarter losses as fuel costs fall
1 February 2010

DUBLIN (AP) - Budget airline Ryanair Holdings PLC on Monday reported a loss of euro10.9 million ($15.22 million) in the third quarter, compared to a loss of euro118.8 million in the same period a year ago when the company spent euro121 million more on fuel.

For the three months ending Dec. 31, Ryanair said operating revenue was up 1.2 percent to euro611.9 million although passenger numbers rose 14 percent.

Ryanair shares were up 5.6 percent at euro3.53 on the London Stock Exchange.

"Market conditions remain difficult, although the increasing pace of consolidation and closures among our competitors allied to Ryanair's continuing fleet expansion will lead to further market share gains this year in particular in Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, and the U.K.," said Chief Executive Michael O'Leary.

For the nine months ending Dec. 31, Ryanair reported a profit of euro376.1 million compared to a loss of euro23.4 million a year earlier.

What is the longest flight by ryanair and easy jet ?

Ryanair boss challenges Easyjet rival to foot race

DUBLIN, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Michael O'Leary, boss of low-budget airline Ryanair, famed for cut-throat competition in the skies, has challenged arch-rival Easyjet to a race at ground-level.

After a flurry of legal letters over allegations Ryanair made about Easyjet, O'Leary said he and Easyjet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou should settle the matter "man-to-man" with a race around Trafalgar Square in London, rather than wasting money on legal fees.

To throw down the gauntlet, O'Leary held a conference call, saying he had been unable to get to London to convene a press conference because Ryanair flights were already full.

Meanwhile, he was training hard.

"I am currently in rigorous training and believe that my daily regime of 40 cigarettes, 24 beers and extended sessions on the couch watching TV leaves me in perfect shape to beat Stelios in a 21st-century version of the Chariots of Fire race around Trafalgar Square," he said.

If necessary, Ryanair was willing to provide the music from the sound-track of the British film that tells the story of two Olympic athletes.

"If Stelios is too tired to run, then I will offer him the alternative of a wheelbarrow race," O'Leary added.

Asked whether he would also consider a sumo wrestling bout if that's what Stelios preferred, O'Leary said he felt up to that challenge too, or even an arm-wrestling contest.

He also announced he was publishing the exchange of legal correspondence on the Ryanair website, which follow on from British press advertisements placed by Ryanair.

Easyjet -- characteristically more publicity-shy than Ryanair -- has declined to comment.

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Ryanair to build new maintenance hangar at Glasgow Prestwick
10 February 2010

Ryanair, Glasgow’s largest airline, today (10 February 2010) announced that it will build a second maintenance hangar at Glasgow Prestwick Airport at a cost of £8 million, which will create 200 new engineering jobs, increasing the total jobs sustained by Ryanair in Glasgow to over 2,400.

The facility, which is due to open in October 2010, was announced at Glasgow Prestwick Airport by Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond and Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary.

The Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Glasgow Prestwick Airport secured this 6,000 sq/m hangar investment despite intense competition from five other Ryanair bases throughout Europe.

By securing this new investment Glasgow Prestwick Airport has helped to create over 400 engineering and support jobs between the two hangars, which will maintain a large portion of Ryanair’s 210 aircraft fleet.

Ryanair recently announced that they will base a sixth aircraft at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, with three new routes to Carcassonne, Fuerteventura and Ibiza launching later this year.

Ryanair fly to 29 European destinations from Glasgow, carrying over 2 million passengers per year to and from the airport.

FlyGlasgow has learned that Ryanair are in talks with Glasgow Prestwick Airport to base a seventh aircraft at the airport by the summer, however nothing has yet been confirmed.

For the latest on this and all other news from Glasgow’s Airlines Industry, check back with FlyGlasgow frequently.


http://www.flyglasgow.net/news.html

Ryanair set to announce new Malta route from Glasgow Prestwick
14 February 2010

FlyGlasgow can exclusively reveal that budget airline Ryanair, are set to announce a brand new flight from Glasgow Prestwick Airport to the holiday island of Malta.

Ryanair plan to operate the new service two times per week, with flights available every Monday and Thursday. The new route will commence flying on 29 April 2010 and will be the airlines fourth new route from Glasgow in 2010.

An official announcement has not yet been made however FlyGlasgow expect the route to be on sale within the next week.

2010 is set to be a record breaking year for Glasgow Prestwick Airport, with Ryanair basing a sixth aircraft at the airport, with four new routes an increased frequencies on six existing routes.

Earlier this week Ryanair announced that they will invest £8 million in a new maintenance hangar at the Glasgow Airport, while FlyGlasgow also revealed that Ryanair are in talks with airport management with the view of basing a seventh aircraft at the airport by summer 2010.

For the latest on this and all other news regarding Glasgow’s Airlines Industry, keep up-to-date with FlyGlasgow.net.


http://www.flyglasgow.net/news.html

Just as a matter of interest Mr Glasgow man, when did Glasgow airport GLA handle 11.5 million passengers as you have stated on the British Airways forum???? Just interested?????

Edingburgh now handles more passengers than GLA???


Going off topic i know :nuts:

Just as a matter of interest Mr Glasgow man, when did Glasgow airport GLA handle 11.5 million passengers as you have stated on the British Airways forum???? Just interested?????

Edingburgh now handles more passengers than GLA???


Going off topic i know :nuts:

I didnt say "Glasgow Airport (GLA)" I said, Glasgow as in GLA+PIK (Both Glasgow Airports) and dont get me started on BAA's preferential treatment to EDI!! :)

:lol:

What is the longest flight by ryanair and easy jet ?

For Ryanair I think it must be the Tampere (Finland) - Malaga (Spain). That route will operate from this summer on.

FR 2561 Malaga - Tampere
06:00 - 11:30 (local times)
Flight time: 4h30min

FR 2562 Tampere - Malaga
11:55 - 15:30 (local times)
Flight time: 4h35min

Barr Construction to build new Ryanair hangar
24 February 2010

Barr Construction has won the contract to build a second maintenance hangar for Ryanair at Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

The £8m three-bay facility will help service the budget airline's fleet of more than 200 aircraft.

Work on the 6600 sq m building has already started and it is due to open in September 2010.

Ryanair said the project to build the maintenance hangar would "allow up to 200 high-tech well paid jobs to be created from September this year".

Barclay Chalmers, managing director of Barr Construction, said: "This contract will enable us to continue our involvement in the on-going upgrade of Glasgow Prestwick Airport, having completed late last year the expansion and refurbishment of the departure lounge."

Winner of €10,000 Ryanair scratch card eats winning ticket
Passengers asked to vote for which charity should receive this €10,000 prize

Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, today (26th Feb) confirmed that the winner of a €10,000 Ryanair scratch card, on Thursday’s FR1724 flight from Krakow to East Midlands, ate the €10,000 winning ticket after crew confirmed he had won the €10,000 prize.

When the delighted crew congratulated the winner and advised him how to claim his prize he apparently became upset that Ryanair’s cabin crew could not pay him the €10,000 there and then on the flight. When the crew explained to him that these very large €10,000 prizes needed to be verified with, and collected directly from, the scratch card company the prize winner became angry and decided to digest his win – literally!

Since this €10,000 prize will now go unclaimed Ryanair and Brand Force, the scratch card company, have decided to offer the cash to charity and have asked Ryanair passengers to vote on www.ryanair.com (until Fri 5th Mar) for which type of charity Ryanair should donate the €10,000 prize to, from the following list:

1. An Anger Management Charity
2. An Eating Disorder Charity
3. A Gamblers Charity
4. A Disruptive Children’s Charity
5. A Mental Health Charity

Full results of this ‘angry’ poll will be announced on Friday 5th March.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said,

“In the last two year’s Ryanair’s scratch cards have given away 10 cars, over €300,000 in cash prizes and over 100,000 flight vouchers. Passengers have always been delighted to claim their large cash prizes after returning home. Unfortunately our latest winner felt that we should have his €10,000 prize kicking around on the aircraft.

Yesterday’s events prove that while Ryanair’s scratch cards offer large cash prizes they clearly taste great too! Crew tried to stop the air Gourmet Scratch Card eater by offering him one of our great tasting sandwiches, pizzas or snacks instead, but clearly he had much more expensive tastes!

Ryanair is now asking passengers to vote on which type of charity Ryanair should donate the €10,000 prize money to with one charity from anger management, eating and digestive disorders to disruptive children’s and mental health charities now set to benefit from a real meal ticket!”

VOTE HERE
http://mail.ryanairmail.com/subscribe/survey?f=19


:lol: :lol: :nuts:

I went for the Anger Management Charity. :lol:

Ryanair Carried 4.37M M Passengers In Feb Vs 4.13M
3 March 2010

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Ryanair PLC (RYAAY), the budget airline, said Wednesday it carried 4.37 million passengers in February compared with 4.13 million in February 2009 a rise of 6%.

MAIN FACTS:

-For the 12 months ended Feb. 28, the airline carried 65.9 million passengers.

-February load factor, the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers, was

75% compared with 78%, and 82% for the rolling 12 months.

EasyJet and Ryanair top complaints league
Cancellations and missing bags dominate mailbox
Lib Dems say standards are falling with prices: Ups and downs
13 March 2010
The Guardian

The aviation watchdog has revealed that easyJet and Ryanair were the subject of the most complaints from British airline passengers last year.

Cancellations, missing bags and denied boarding were among the gripes that saw Europe's largest budget airlines dominate the mailbox at the Air Transport Users' Council (AUC).

EasyJet had the most complaints of any major airline, with 719; Ryanair, which revels in its penny-pinching notoriety, was not far behind with 673.

The Liberal Democrats, who secured the figures in a freedom of information request, said the numbers proved that service standards were a casualty of lower fares.

Ryanair complaints have risen by 70% since 2005 and easyJet's by a third over the same period.

"This huge across-the-board rise in complaints shows that at some airlines customer service is going out of the window," said Norman Baker, the Lib Dem transport spokesman. "They think they have a captive market and can treat their passengers badly and get away with it."

Cancellations and flight delays accounted for more than four out of 10 complaints to Ryanair and easyJet last year. The usual budget airline whinges - baggage limits and extra charges - accounted for only about 6% of the two airlines' complaints.

One industry analyst said the apparent surge in passenger anger at the budget airlines was comparatively small considering their growth over the past 10 years.

In 2000 Ryanair and easyJet combined carried 13 million customers, compared with more than 100 million now. "It is a consequence of their size and scale in the market," said John Strickland, an aviation consultant. "Wherever they introduce capacity they fill it. They could not do that and sustain their passenger numbers if they were delivering a service that was unsatisfactory. If anything, it shows that, proportionately, their customers are pretty happy."

The two airlines' no-frills approach was derided by rivals more than a decade ago but it has transformed short-haul air travel, forcing conventional carriers to cut fares and in some cases drop their business-class cabins or abandon free food.

EasyJet, which carried more than 29 million passengers in and out of the UK last year, said the figures showed that it received one complaint per 40,000 passengers. "We take every complaint seriously, but passengers are voting with their feet," said an easyJet spokesman.

Ryanair, now the largest short-haul airline in Europe with more than 60 million passengers per year, said the AUC statistics showed that Ryanair received fewer complaints per passenger than easyJet and British Airways. BA came third in the AUC list with 528 complaints.

EasyJet 719 complaints. Rise since 2005: 33%
Ryanair 673. Rise since 2005: 70%
British Airways 528. Decline since 2005: 24.8%
Air France 97. Decline since 2005: 33%
KLM 78. Decline since 2005: 40%
Lufthansa 75.
Rise since 2005: 114%

I find that surprising. On internet boards, ryanair customers normally sound the most satisfied.

I find that surprising. On internet boards, ryanair customers normally sound the most satisfied.

I have flown with them only once and it might as well be the last time. Never again.

I have flown with them only once and it might as well be the last time. Never again.
I heard you have to leave your dignity home when you fly ryanair.

I tend to find that 99% of people who complain about easyJet and/or Ryanair have never actually flown with either airline.

I find that surprising. On internet boards, ryanair customers normally sound the most satisfied.

I heard you have to leave your dignity home when you fly ryanair.

Firstly; your last two posts completely contradict each other.

Secondly; how on earth do you lose your dignity because you fly Ryanair?

I have flown with them only once and it might as well be the last time. Never again.

What happend to put you off? Also if you dont mind, how much did you pay for your flight?

What happend to put you off? Also if you dont mind, how much did you pay for your flight?

I can overlook flying to such distant airports and delays, but I will not accept a dirty plane and when I mean dirty I really mean it, they asked me to put my belongings (jacket) on the floor where I found 2 empty juice boxes and their content spilled all over the floor. As I was flying from Frankfurt the crew was mostly german speaking. I do speak german but I prefer english. I had to speak german after all since the flight attendant was not able to make a simple sentence in proper english without mistakes and silly accent. I could overlook that as well but they were not attentive at all. I was glad to get of that flight.

I paid about 60 euro for the whole trip (excluding means of getting to and from the airport) . I know I can't expect much for that but at least some level of professionalism should be expected even if I was flying for free.

Well, I see garbage on buses as well, and that's what we should expect out of these low-cost carriers ... a flying bus.

I tend to find that 99% of people who complain about easyJet and/or Ryanair have never actually flown with either airline.





Firstly; your last two posts completely contradict each other.

Secondly; how on earth do you lose your dignity because you fly Ryanair?



What happend to put you off? Also if you dont mind, how much did you pay for your flight?
They don't really contradict. All I was saying in the first post are flyers like you. A Ryaniair fan really loves defending it. I've never seen such ardent fans of any other airlines (nothing wrong with it, btw. just mentioning it). As for me, the gaudy interior itself is a huge putoff, so there's no way I'll fly Ryanair. Secondly, even when I fly full-fare airlines, I make sure I fly those which have the newest planes. I hate planes which are either old or overused (which ALL LCC planes are). In fact, you can see my post in the THY thread that I don't fly them simply coz they fly 737s without IFE.

Lastly, I don't like sitting next to dirty filthy people. The fact that Ryaniar tickets can be bought for as low as 5 pounds or even less inevitably means there'd be people sitting next to me whom I don't want to fly with. In Pakistan, where in some cultures even rich people fly like a bunch of beggers I only take the early morning flight when only businessmen fly (and only PIA coz of their new sexy 777s which I absolutely love). And not to mention sometimes flying to small airports, some of which are far away from the cities.

And I totally forgot to mention, I simply never fly 737s regardless of how new/old it is and regardless of which airline it is. The only time I fly a 737 is when going to my hometown because it's the only plane that flies there, and it's an agonizing 90 minute journey for me.

China Southern Airlines - also nowhere near as fast as Ryanair and EasyJet: :)

2000 - 16,850,740
2001 - 19,120,860
2002 - 21,492,730
2003 - 20,470,230


Dear Monkey: yo created this thread about 6 years ago.
Consistently you posted statistics and very interesting material.
Unfortunately for about a yeaar you dissapeared....
Please come back!

They don't really contradict. All I was saying in the first post are flyers like you. A Ryaniair fan really loves defending it. I've never seen such ardent fans of any other airlines (nothing wrong with it, btw. just mentioning it). As for me, the gaudy interior itself is a huge putoff, so there's no way I'll fly Ryanair. Secondly, even when I fly full-fare airlines, I make sure I fly those which have the newest planes. I hate planes which are either old or overused (which ALL LCC planes are). In fact, you can see my post in the THY thread that I don't fly them simply coz they fly 737s without IFE.

Lastly, I don't like sitting next to dirty filthy people. The fact that Ryaniar tickets can be bought for as low as 5 pounds or even less inevitably means there'd be people sitting next to me whom I don't want to fly with. In Pakistan, where in some cultures even rich people fly like a bunch of beggers I only take the early morning flight when only businessmen fly (and only PIA coz of their new sexy 777s which I absolutely love). And not to mention sometimes flying to small airports, some of which are far away from the cities.

And I totally forgot to mention, I simply never fly 737s regardless of how new/old it is and regardless of which airline it is. The only time I fly a 737 is when going to my hometown because it's the only plane that flies there, and it's an agonizing 90 minute journey for me.

nBelT-Xi1CY

^^ +1 :lol:

EasyJet claims ‘UK’s national airline’ title


EASYJET has claimed the mantle of the UK’s favourite airline for a second year running – putting troubled flag carrier British Airways (BA) well in the shade.

Luton-based easyJet says it carried 28.15million passengers to and from UK airports last year.

By comparison, BA is said to have carried a total of 26.27million people after adjustments to reflect travellers transferring between services on a single journey.

EasyJet’s figures, calculated using Civil Aviation Authority statistics, put BA in third place among operators serving UK airports.

In second spot is Dublin-based budget carrier Ryanair, with passenger numbers totalling 28.09million during 2009.

EasyJet said yesterday passengers had voted with their feet, attracted by low fares from convenient airports.

Chief executive Andy Harrison said: “EasyJet is now the UK’s national airline.”

Further down the league table, BMI and Flybe are said to have carried 6.89million and 6.75million people respectively in 2009.

EasyJet has grown from a small two-aircraft business to an airline operating from 16 UK airports within 15 years.

Meanwhile, BA has ditched its “world’s favourite airline” slogan and lurched from one crisis to another.

Ryanair announced a “St Patrick’s Day hangover seat sale”, slashing up to 50% off all seats on all routes for travel every day in late April and May for bookings made by midnight on Monday.

nBelT-Xi1CY
I'd have taken offense to being called a douche had you not posted my favorite show. Arrested Development is the best comedic show ever created.

I find that surprising. On internet boards, ryanair customers normally sound the most satisfied.

I didn't notice the numbers before, so kind of a late reply:

Ryanair/Easyjet probably have their passenger numbers multiplied by 5 or more in the last 5 years, while the other airlines probably only had a status quo or a slight increase. It's very logical that the rise in complaints is much less with the other airlines...

BA finds an unlikely ally in Ryanair boss O'Leary

Michael O'Leary, the Ryanair chief executive who once ran an advert branding British Airways "Expensive BAstards", has leapt to the defence of the UK flag-carrier in its battle with union Unite.

Burying past differences, Mr O'Leary backed the way his counterpart at BA, Willie Walsh, was handling the strike and rounded on Unite, which claims to represent 12,000 BA cabin crew.

"We believe the Unite union are a bunch of dimwits," Mr O'Leary said. "It's insane that the cabin crew are striking at a time of recession. The timing is spectacularly stupid."

Describing Tony Woodley, Unite's joint-general secretary, as a "dinosaur", Mr O'Leary said he hoped that the crew "realise that they are lions being led by donkeys and overpaid donkeys at that.

"BA is in financial difficulties. It has an enormous pension deficit. But at the top of the trade union movement in the UK they have a lot of old headbangers clinging on to the 1960s and 1970s."

Mr O'Leary said Ryanair had leased BA three planes last weekend and that Mr Walsh called him on Monday requesting "four or five" for the four-day walk-out planned from this Saturday.

He said he was prepared to help a rival, noting that "it's not often in my life that I am in support of Willie Walsh", but felt it was "vital that they win this dispute and the union loses it".

Renowned for having little truck with unions, Mr O'Leary said: "Most other airlines don't want to upset the goons in the trade unions but we have no relations with them."

However, he could not resist a dig at BA, saying the planes leased to BA last weekend "were all on time too, which I must say gave the BA passengers a bit of a shock".

BA, which has said the first three strike days cost the airline £21m, attempted to turn up the pressure on Unite last night by claiming that it would cancel fewer planes for the second walk-out because more crew were willing to cross the picket line.

"As a result of the numbers of crew wanting to work, we are increasing significantly our flying schedule and will be operating a full schedule at Gatwick and London City airports," Mr Walsh said. At Heathrow, BA intends to fly 70pc of long-haul and 55pc of short-haul flights.

Mr Woodley hit back saying: "This schedule has more holes than a Swiss cheese. Passengers are paying for management machismo. BA management should spend more time on addressing their employees' concerns and less on fantasy schedules sending empty planes to unknown destinations."

Mr Walsh stressed that "our door remains open to Unite, day or night, if it wants to find a sensible settlement".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/7507626/BA-finds-an-unlikely-ally-in-Ryanair-boss-OLeary.html

Possibly the first ever picture of a Ryanair aircraft at Glasgow International Airport! Ryanair have a large base at Glasgow Prestwick Airport however they don’t have any scheduled flights from Glasgow International Airport. This aircraft was operating on behalf of British Airwyas.

Credit for this photograph goes to Kevinwm. :)

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/8633/39338233.png

Well, when crisis hits BA needs to consider all options, including competitors.

I find that surprising. On internet boards, ryanair customers normally sound the most satisfied.

You have low expectations if you fly with Ryanair.

Well, when crisis hits BA needs to consider all options, including competitors.

Indeed. British Airways have handled the strike phenomenally well IMO.

You have low expectations if you fly with Ryanair.

Have you ever flown with Ryanair? :)

My Ryanair experience consisted of them loading the wrong passengers onto the aircraft - staff that could hardly speak English and a delay of an hour...

Never again... British Airways will always get my custom - mainly because of pre allocated seating so you dont get that surge of people running across the tarmac towards the aircraft - and drinks - im not bothered about it just being snacks on short hall now. Its funny because 9 times out of 10 you end up paying about the same as you would if you flew Ryanair.

Although i would recomend Flybe!

Ryanair launch three new routes from Glasgow Prestwick Airport
01 March 2010

Glasgow Prestwick Airport emphasised its status as Scotland’s low-cost gateway to Europe this week with the launch of three new Ryanair routes.

Ryanair’s sixth based aircraft arrived in Glasgow this week for the launch of new flights to Carcassonne, Fuerteventura and Ibiza, bringing the number of destinations served from Glasgow Prestwick Airport to 31.

Flights to Carcassonne, Scotland’s only direct flight to the French city will operate every Monday, Wednesday and Sunday while flights to Fuerteventura are on offer every Monday and Friday, with flights to Ibiza departing every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The three new routes are just the latest part of Ryanair’s recent rapid expansion from Glasgow Prestwick Airport. In December the airline launched four new routes from the airport and has since increased the frequency of flights on six existing routes.

FlyGlasgow has learned that Ryanair plan to base a seventh aircraft at Glasgow Prestwick Airport in the spring of next year.

Glasgow Prestwick Chief Executive Iain Cochrane said: “its sunsational! Glasgow Prestwick is number one for sun-loving Scots this spring and summer. Thanks to Ryanair, we’re providing people with punctual, reliable flights at the lowest prices in Scotland.”

Ryanair’s Maria Macken said: “Ryanair is delighted to welcome passengers on board its new routes from Glasgow Prestwick. Whether it’s clubbing in Ibiza, relaxing over a nice glass of French wine in Carcassonne or soaking up the sun in Fuerteventura, Ryanair has got it covered.”


http://www.flyglasgow.net/news.html

Have you ever flown with Ryanair? :)

No, and I never would. Pay rather 100 EUR more and start from major aiport and have good service. Seat allocation is also important.

Don't need such cheap crap in my life.

No, and I never would. Pay rather 100 EUR more and start from major aiport and have good service. Seat allocation is also important.

Don't need such cheap crap in my life.

Thank you for baking up my earlier point, 99% of people who complain about easyJet and/or Ryanair have never actually flown wither either airline.

How can you have an opinion on a product/company you have never used?!

On the news reported that EasyJet and WizzAir will commence operations in Moldova by 2011 :)

Thank you for baking up my earlier point, 99% of people who complain about easyJet and/or Ryanair have never actually flown wither either airline.

How can you have an opinion on a product/company you have never used?!

Well I don't have to fly with them to know that they have crap service and only fly to second class airports (at least outside UK/ Ireland). And I won't fly with an airline where I can't have allocated seats.

I rather fly with Air Berlin which is somewhere positioned between premium airlines such as Lufthansa and the really cheap crap airlines. They fly to major airports, have ok service and you can have connection flights.

Well I don't have to fly with them to know that they have crap service and only fly to second class airports (at least outside UK/ Ireland). And I won't fly with an airline where I can't have allocated seats.

I rather fly with Air Berlin which is somewhere positioned between premium airlines such as Lufthansa and the really cheap crap airlines. They fly to major airports, have ok service and you can have connection flights.

How do you know its crap if you have never used it?

Easyjet's customer service, on the ground and in the air, is far superior to British Airways. I've actually flown with both airlines so I think I'm in a position to make that comparison.

Second class airports? OK; Ryanair do serve allot of "secondary" airports, however they also serve major airports such as Dublin, London Gatwick and Madrid Barajas.

easyJet fly to very few "secondary" airports, most easyJet flights operate to/from cities main airports such as Barcelona, Geneva, London Gatwick, Madrid Barajas, Paris CDG, Zurich and many more.

I don't personally see connecting flights as a plus. Give me direct non-stop flights from my local airport over a connection anytime!

I don't personally see connecting flights as a plus. Give me direct non-stop flights from my local airport over a connection anytime!

That is the paradox of the low-cost expansion. They don't sell connecting tickets (at least the more hardcore low-costs). So if you happen to live near a Ryanair or Easyjet base, fine, you get plenty of direct flights. Otherwise, you don't have options.

So the actual coverage of such low-cost services is not that good. Sure, they've pushed major legacy airlines to the corner on routes linking major capitals, but if you want to fly Zaragoza-Bari or Malmö-Genève, you can't resort to such low-cost companies.

LCC model is based on point-to-point travel. But Air Arabia does offer connecting flights, however it's hardly a true LCC. A lot of times its ticket is more expensive than at least Etihad. Even at its cheapest, it's usually like 70-80% of Emirates/Etihad. Why would anyone fly it is a mystery to me.

That is the paradox of the low-cost expansion. They don't sell connecting tickets (at least the more hardcore low-costs). So if you happen to live near a Ryanair or Easyjet base, fine, you get plenty of direct flights. Otherwise, you don't have options.

So the actual coverage of such low-cost services is not that good. Sure, they've pushed major legacy airlines to the corner on routes linking major capitals, but if you want to fly Zaragoza-Bari or Malmö-Genève, you can't resort to such low-cost companies.

Low cost airlines converge of Europe is far superior to what the full service airlines offers. You just need to look at the amount of European destinations Ryanair serve compared to the amount of European destinations British Airways serve.

Ryanair have 40 bases in Europe, so there is a good chances there is a Ryanair base within an hours drive of your home. The same cannot be said for the likes of BA, Air France, KLM etc.

I would not be surprised to find out that Ryanair fly to more European airports than British Airways serve worldwide.

Ryanair hikes peak summer baggage fee

The cost of checking in a bag is being hiked to £20 by Ryanair for passengers flying during the summer peak.

The £5 increase from £15 for a checked in bag will apply to passengers travelling in July and August.

The additional charge comes into force for all bookings made after midnight tomorrow (April 7).

The no-frills carrier urged passengers to travel with carry-on bags only using its free 10kg carry-on baggage allowance.

A spokesman said: “Ryanair is determined to incentivise passengers to travel light this summer by increasing our checked-in baggage fees for the months of July and August only.

“These baggage fees, which are avoidable by passengers, will apply to bookings made after midnight (24:00hrs) Wednesday for travel in July and August.

“From 1st September the checked-in bag fee will return to its current level of £15.

“Over 70% of all Ryanair passengers will be unaffected by these changes because they travel with no checked-in bags.”

:lol:Ryanair is working with Boeing to develop a coin-operated door release system so it can charge customers to use the toilet.

Court slams easyJet over UK terms for French staff

CRETEIL, France, April 9 (Reuters) - British budget airline easyJet was ordered to pay more than 1.5 million euros ($2.01 million) after a French court ruled it broke labour laws, setting a precedent for future disputes in the low-cost sector.

The case centred around 170 staff who worked at Orly airport in Paris between 2003 and 2006 and were hired under British contracts.

The prosecutor's office had said the company avoided paying millions of euros in French tax and charges by using more favourable British legislation.

The court ruled on Friday easyJet would have to pay 1.42 million euros to job authorities, a 150,000-euro fine and 40,000 euros to two unions.

The verdict is likely to encourage prosecutors who argued that the French labour code is applicable to air transport companies which run operations on French soil, whether they are legally based in France or not.

"It has never been our intention to break the law ... it was at the time a hole in legislation and since then we employ under French contracts," Francois Bacchetta, country manager easyJet France told reporters.

The court rejected a claim for a further 8.4 million euros to be paid to unemployment insurance as social security agreements were in place between France and the United Kingdom.

EasyJet has about 10 days to appeal the ruling, which covers the period of Jan. 2005 to Dec. 2006 before a law standardising the issue was introduced.

PRECEDENT SET

The prosecutor has said low-cost airlines cannot get around French law by using foreign contracts to cut salary costs and charges even if they are not legal entities in France.

Rachid Brihi, a lawyer for UNAC, an airline association which represents easyJet competitor Air France among others and which is associated as a civil party to the case, said the verdict was the first of its type in a French court and he hoped it would lead to more penalties against airlines not respecting labour laws.

He said two French unions, including UNAC, have filed a complaint in southern France against Ryanair over a similar case related to the Irish carrier's base in Marseilles. ($1=.7477 Euro)

"Ryanair is working with Boeing to develop a coin-operated door release system so it can charge customers to use the toilet."

Couldn't passengers just hold the door open for the next person to use the toilet? Or will a coin be required to *unlock* the door? If it's the latter I can't begin to imagine the horror stories.

Or a couple of people can go in together and get their money's worth :)

"Ryanair is working with Boeing to develop a coin-operated door release system so it can charge customers to use the toilet."Frankly, this has long gotten ridiculous. Carrying luggage is every day more expensive. You even have to pay for a lousy drink on their planes. They will not leave you alone with the lottery tickets and stuff. Now the toilettes... and wasn't it the Ryanair chairman who proposed to have people fly standing to save space (luckily someone informed that idiot EASA would never accept that)?
Do they not fear customers will grow nauseated by their cheapskate gimmickry? (of course not, they've made their polls and statistics)! Well they are shameless, that's what they are. :ohno:

Frankly, this has long gotten ridiculous. Carrying luggage is every day more expensive. You even have to pay for a lousy drink on their planes. They will not leave you alone with the lottery tickets and stuff. Now the toilettes... and wasn't it the Ryanair chairman who proposed to have people fly standing to save space (luckily someone informed that idiot EASA would never accept that)?
Do they not fear customers will grow nauseated by their cheapskate gimmickry? (of course not, they've made their polls and statistics)! Well they are shameless, that's what they are. :ohno:

That's the price to pay for rock-bottom fares.

That's the price to pay for rock-bottom fares.They're not that "rock-bottom" anymore if you count in all I've mentioned above. At least if you need to take one or more pieces of luggage to your destination as normally happens (Ryan brazenly claims 70 percent of travellers only has hand luggage!!). There are cheaper airlines around. True, they don't have as wide an offer. They are more serious tho'. People could start thinking (and rightly so) that if Ryan managers are this cheapskate they could as well be applying the same mindset to aircraft maintenance.

They're not that "rock-bottom" anymore if you count in all I've mentioned above. At least if you need to take one or more pieces of luggage to your destination as normally happens (Ryan brazenly claims 70 percent of travellers only has hand luggage!!). There are cheaper airlines around. True, they don't have as wide an offer. They are more serious tho'. People could start thinking (and rightly so) that if Ryan managers are this cheapskate they could as well be applying the same mindset to aircraft maintenance. You get what you pay for. If you're going with cabin baggage only and would not want any other services, you pay the basic rock-bottom fare, just like someone would pay more to fly a traditional legacy carrier with all the services included. It's a matter of whether you want truly no-frills or full service.

I don't understand why people expect full service at a no-frills fare. The moment you pay a few pounds for a flight, you know things will be basic. You get what you pay for.

Given these are short flights, I don't see a problem with holding it in for an hour until landing.

You get what you pay for. If you're going with cabin baggage only and would not want any other services, you pay the basic rock-bottom fare, just like someone would pay more to fly a traditional legacy carrier with all the services included. It's a matter of whether you want truly no-frills or full service.

I don't understand why people expect full service at a no-frills fare. The moment you pay a few pounds for a flight, you know things will be basic. You get what you pay for.

Given these are short flights, I don't see a problem with holding it in for an hour until landing.

But where does the unbundling end?

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to the rapid decompression in the cabin, oxygen masks will be deployed. Please swipe your credit card to the slot on your armrest in order to activate the flow of oxygen..."

But where does the unbundling end?

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to the rapid decompression in the cabin, oxygen masks will be deployed. Please swipe your credit card to the slot on your armrest in order to activate the flow of oxygen..."

Well, the Americans are more extreme with this. I suspect anything non-essential or non-safety-related will get a dollar sign. The biggest revenue earners are likely food and baggage, and the others probably can make a little.

You get what you pay for. If you're going with cabin baggage only and would not want any other services, you pay the basic rock-bottom fare, just like someone would pay more to fly a traditional legacy carrier with all the services included. It's a matter of whether you want truly no-frills or full service.

I don't understand why people expect full service at a no-frills fare. The moment you pay a few pounds for a flight, you know things will be basic. You get what you pay for.

Given these are short flights, I don't see a problem with holding it in for an hour until landing.:ohno: I see you're not getting it yet. This is not a matter of "frills", we are discussing if this kind of enterprise philosophy is compatible not only with respect for the customer (and his intelligence, like when you claim people almost never carry additional luggage), but even with safety. In any case, proposing something like having passengers fly standing implies a profound ignorance of the very basic rules of aviation.

:ohno: I see you're not getting it yet. This is not a matter of "frills", we are discussing if this kind of enterprise philosophy is compatible not only with respect for the customer (and his intelligence, like when you claim people almost never carry additional luggage), but even with safety. In any case, proposing something like having passengers fly standing implies a profound ignorance of the very basic rules of aviation.

I don't think the flying standing point ever got off the ground due to safety concerns. Don't think they're pushing ahead with that. Charging for baggage, toilets, and food do not compromise safety. Passengers might be annoyed, but ultimately people fly these airlines to save cost, and the fares certainly will please the passenger willing to forgo the extras. Don't see how catering to that market segment can be a bad thing.

In Europe, people make short hops for weekend trips and cabin baggage can oftentimes do. Why would they need to take a huge bag with them for 2-3 day weekend getaway? If they want to, pay more for a legacy carrier. You don't get things for free. Nobody in their right minds will offer legacy carrier services at a no-frills cost. They go out of business.

The standing passengers and charging passengers to use the toilets are both publicity stunts. Ryanair have no serious intention of doing either. As usual the media and there ignorance will print anything and as a result Ryanair are getting allot of free advertising, worldwide.

Smart move from Ryanair. The media are ignorant fools.

hehe, just had a marketing exam with ryanair and easyjet as a case study in it. Now I know how they do it! :P

People do not use Ryanair and EasyJet because they want. They use them because they are cheap.

People expect service to be rude, and border on the offensive. But hey, it is cheap if you book flights at midnight on monday, carry habd baggage and take your own food and water.

Basically, you can expect that the security measures are the minimun to prevent the plane from crashing. I am doubful about that last one.

The standing passengers and charging passengers to use the toilets are both publicity stunts. Ryanair have no serious intention of doing either. As usual the media and there ignorance will print anything and as a result Ryanair are getting allot of free advertising, worldwide.

Smart move from Ryanair. The media are ignorant fools.The media are no ignorant fools, they either get paid by companies to publish fake news or anyway are bound by duty to publish what the CEO of an important company said. In this case I don't think this is good "advertising" for Ryanair, because the point is that even if they didn't "push forward" (they had no chance to), such an ignorant proposition came anyway from the mouth of Ryan CEO (not a second-tier manager) and this cannot but make people think.
To Hkskyline: now I understand you love Ryan very much, but it's not about "huge bags", because even for a "2-3 day weekend getaway" you are not likely to fit your stuff in a backpack that fits into the hand luggage standard, and my point is that people do actually, in their vast majority, carry additional luggage on Ryan flights. I've flown several times with Ryan recently and I've seen them recover said luggage. So the "70 percent" figure is a lie. And personally I don't like companies that lie - at least in such an overt way. Especially in this field.
People do not use Ryanair and EasyJet because they want. They use them because they are cheap.

People expect service to be rude, and border on the offensive.Crazy. Maybe that's you. I can assure you the vast majority doesn't tolerate a rude service in any context.

The media are no ignorant fools, they either get paid by companies to publish fake news or anyway are bound by duty to publish what the CEO of an important company said. In this case I don't think this is good "advertising" for Ryanair, because the point is that even if they didn't "push forward" (they had no chance to), such an ignorant proposition came anyway from the mouth of Ryan CEO (not a second-tier manager) and this cannot but make people think.

The media should be researching what companies give them in the form of a "press release". If they did this, they would find its not possible, nor lawful for Ryanair to do either.

However journalists are now very lazy and will just print anything a company gives them. Ryanair know this and use it to their advantage.

You might not see it as good advertising but Ryanair do and its made them what they are today; one of Europe's biggest and most successful airlines.

easyJet criticises Liverpool Airport security

Low-cost airline easyJet has criticised the security measures in place at Liverpool Airport, saying that it is causing severe delays.

Liverpool Airport released a statement in the Daily Post last week asking passengers to arrive at least two hours before their flight to allow enough time to pass through security.

easyJet spokesman Andrew McConnell said that the carrier wants the airport to take on more security personnel to improve the situation.

"Telling people to arrive earlier is not good enough. It is time the airport put its hand in its pocket and employed more security staff," he commented.

Mr McConnell claimed that "dozens" of people each day were missing their flights because of the current situation.

In contrast, Manchester Airport was praised for its customer service in the area.

Another UK facility, Newcastle Airport, took steps to reduce the time it takes through the facility with the creation of a new fast-track pass.

Once checked in, passengers can purchase the passes for £3 and join a separate queue at the security area.

The standing passengers and charging passengers to use the toilets are both publicity stunts. Ryanair have no serious intention of doing either. As usual the media and there ignorance will print anything and as a result Ryanair are getting allot of free advertising, worldwide.

Smart move from Ryanair. The media are ignorant fools.

How is this smart? It just makes Ryanair look bad.

Below is Boeings thoughts on Ryanair scrapping the toilets... it is unsafe.

I think the Ryanair idea to charge passengers for having seats may be made safe, provided the standing passengers can be securely harnessed together during takeoff, landing and turbulence.

I wonder how they will make sure the toilet users wont hold the door open for the next user, as theres always a queue or will someone stand there. Perhaps a passenger could get the door and charge users 20p, or will the flight attendents have to enforce the rules (since they do little else anyway)
and perhaps let the passengers who pay more to jump the toilet queue :dunno:

When will Ryanair follow Spirit Airlines and charge for cabin baggage? I suppose they would consider charging for what people are carrying in their pockets too.


Boeing won't scrap toilets for seats on Ryanair planes
AP April 14, 2010 4:09AM 33 comments
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/boeing-wont-scrap-toilets-for-seats-on-ryanair-planes/story-e6frfq80-1225853427776

BUDGET airline Ryanair says aircraft manufacturer Boeing does not want to fulfil its request for planes with more seats and fewer toilets because it believes that would compromise passenger safety.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said he still hoped to convince Boeing that removing two toilets and adding six seats would not slow down emergency evacuations.

A Boeing spokeswoman said the company did not discuss conversations with customers.

Keen to cut costs, the Irish airline says it also wants passengers to pay to use the toilets on its short flights within Europe.

Ryanair is planning to make its toilets coin-operated.

"By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behaviour so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight," Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara told the Daily Mail last week.

"That will enable us to remove two out of three of the toilets and make way for at least six extra seats."

The news came as the carrier came under fire for hiking fees for check-in baggage by 33 per cent to $33 a bag.

People do not use Ryanair and EasyJet because they want. They use them because they are cheap.

People expect service to be rude, and border on the offensive. But hey, it is cheap if you book flights at midnight on monday, carry habd baggage and take your own food and water.

Basically, you can expect that the security measures are the minimun to prevent the plane from crashing. I am doubful about that last one.

I didnt think you could take the water aboard Ryanair because it is a liquid, and food sometimes not allowed for quarantine reasons. However you can buy a small bottle of water aboard for just £5, and a little bag of peanuts for £3 :)

I didnt think you could take the water aboard Ryanair because it is a liquid, and food sometimes not allowed for quarantine reasons. However you can buy a small bottle of water aboard for just £5, and a little bag of peanuts for £3 :)


I think you can still buy water once past the security check in the terminal and bring it on board.

People do not use Ryanair and EasyJet because they want. They use them because they are cheap.

Combined, easyJet and Ryanair carried over 111.4 million passengers in 2009.

Do you speak on behalf of 111.4 million people? No, I think not! So how can you tell us why people chose to fly with easyJet and/or Ryanair?!

When people book flights, they very rarely choose their selected flight down to just one factor. One of the main factor people take into consideration when booking a flight is the routing.

For example; why would any sane person fly British Airways from Glasgow to London to Alicante when you can fly direct from Glasgow to Alicante with easyJet and Ryanair?

Low cost airlines offer a far greater number of routes across Europe than the legacy carriers do. Convenience is one of the main reasons behind the popularity of low cost airlines.

People expect service to be rude, and border on the offensive. But hey, it is cheap if you book flights at midnight on monday, carry habd baggage and take your own food and water.

You have never flown with easyJet before have you? I’ll tell you right now they offer a far better service than many of the legacy carriers and their staff are far friendlier than any other airline I have ever came across.

Last year I was flying from Valencia to Glasgow. I arrived at the airport at lunchtime but my flight was not till 6pm. I went to the airlines Ticket Sales desk and said “I’m booked on the 6pm flight to Glasgow...” before I could even finish my sentence the woman behind the desk had responded with “Do you want me to transfer you onto the 3pm flight to Glasgow?”.

I and two others were transferred onto the earlier flight, free of charge and the whole process took about 60 seconds. Now was this fantastic customer service offered by a legacy carrier or a low cost airline? It was easyJet!

If you want to talk about rood and offensive cabin crew then take a look at American Airlines and British Airways...

As for “midnight departures on a Monday”. Sorry but now you are just lying! Ryanair aircraft start their day at 6am, perfect for business passengers and are all usually back at their home base by around 10pm that night. I would bet money that Ryanair do not have any midnight departures.

Basically, you can expect that the security measures are the minimun to prevent the plane from crashing. I am doubful about that last one.

Again; utter rubbish! All EU registered airlines have to meet the same strict safety standards. So to say Ryanair is unsafe and British Airways is safe is just rubbish! You might also want to look at easyJet and Ryanair’s safety records, no loss of aircraft, no loss of passengers... that speaks for itself!

The standing passengers and charging passengers to use the toilets are both publicity stunts. Ryanair have no serious intention of doing either. As usual the media and there ignorance will print anything and as a result Ryanair are getting allot of free advertising, worldwide.

Smart move from Ryanair. The media are ignorant fools.

You said it. They are doing free advertising.
Yesterday I read Ryanair's CEO said "We'll Give Pay Toilet Money To Charity" and people were talking about it.

But one thing I do not understand is how they approve their LOGO. Each time see it , I can help but laughing. :lol:

I think you can still buy water once past the security check in the terminal and bring it on board.

Yeh, i forgot the £3 water in the terminal, thats a saving. At least the water in the terminal restrooms is more palatable than that found on the plane. Some terminals even have drinking fountains, if I can find them, and then I can fill an empty bottle.

Yeh, i forgot the £3 water in the terminal, thats a saving. At least the water in the terminal restrooms is more palatable than that found on the plane. Some terminals even have drinking fountains, if I can find them, and then I can fill an empty bottle.

I got two for £1.69 from Boots. Where did you go to get ripped off like that?

I think you can still buy water once past the security check in the terminal and bring it on board.
NEver been to a European airport, but to the ones I've been to it depends on the airport. Like in Bangkok, after the last security check there are no shops (only exception I can think of right now). So you can't buy water. But in most airports you can.

I got two for £1.69 from Boots. Where did you go to get ripped off like that?

I exaggerated a little :) , but there are many airports that dont have a Boots or similar in the secured area, some only with expensive cafes.

Ryanair to withdraw from Budapest
April 30th, 2010

Low-cost airline Ryanair is to withdraw its flights from Budapest Ferihegy International Airport from October after failing to reach agreement with Budapest Airport on a reduction of the fees charged for using Ferihegy airport, Ryanair said at a press conference.

Budapest Airport says it is not concerned, asserting that the vacancy left by Ryanair will soon be filled by competitors.

Ryanair currently operates flights to Bristol, Dublin, East Midlands Airport and Glasgow's Prestwick Airport. The company was unable to achieve a reduction in fees even though it pledged to launch 25 new flights, it was reported by the online versions of several newspapers.

Ryanair said the new flights could have brought 2 million passengers per year within 1-2 years for Ferihegy Airport, in exchange for which the airline would have expected a significant reduction in airport costs. The new destinations could have included Barcelona, Malaga, Sicily and Gothenburg. Budapest Airport, however, rejected this offer, therefore, Ryanair decided to leave Budapest beginning in October, just as it leaves Prague airport earlier for similar reasons.

Budapest Airport Spokesman Károly Szilágyi told MTI that he does not expect Ryanair to leave a vacancy on the market for low-cost airlines as competitors have been expanding and announcing new flights.


http://www.bbj.hu/?col=1000&id=52618

EasyJet gets key backing after Stelios fallout

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Budget airline easyJet's largest institutional investor, Standard Life , said on Monday it would back the group's management after founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou led a shareholder revolt on Friday.

Shares in airline easyJet fell as much as 6 percent on Monday after Haji-Ioannou, widely known as Stelios, resigned from the board on Friday.

"We are happy with the current management team, we are happy with the strategy, things are improving. They are doing a good job given what is happening in the airline industry," David Cumming, head of UK equities at Standard Life, said on BBC Radio's Today Programme.

"To be honest, although we are, as a sort of act of courtesy, listening to what Sir Stelios's views are, we are not supportive of them at present," he said.

Stelio accused management on Friday of pursuing "the wrong strategy for the expansion of the business", revolting against plans to increase the size of the airline's fleet. [ID:nLDE64D1PS]

He is expected to have a series of meetings this week to win over key investors as allies. Stelios controls 26 percent of easyJet via easyGroup, while his brother owns 11 percent. Standard Life is the second largest shareholder.

BRAND NEW

Analysts said a forthcoming high court case against easyJet over the interpretation of the brand licence agreement, expected to begin the week of June 8 and led by easyGroup, may also be linked to Stelios's decision.

"An annual payment for the use of the name would clearly get Stelios cash out of the business so the timing of his resignation may be in connection with this case, rather than simply to do with the future growth of easyJet," said analysts at Redburn Partners.

Stelios will also be fighting to return capital to shareholders, although his battle is likely to dent confidence in the stock in the short term, said analysts.

"In our view, Stelios wants to extract cash from the business by slowing capex and paying a dividend," said analysts at Deutsche Bank.

Want A Quote For An easyJet A320, Sir?
24 June 2010
Wall Street Journal

It's one of the best-kept secrets in the world. How much do airlines actually pay for their planes? The prices can be negotiated by airlines but should remain confidential, as that'll ensure no aggressive price war between duopoly manufacturers Airbus and Boeing.

I've been told I wouldn't be off the mark if you were to think that easyJet paid about $25 million originally for its first batch of A320 aircraft in 2002, probably paying closer to $35 million more recently. Let's remember the average list price for an A320 is $81.4 million; the basic aluminum tube will set you back $50 million.

easyJet's A320 orders and options to buy more planes have proved a bone of contention between the airline's boss Andy Harrison and founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou. The CEO wants to continue growing, while Stelios would rather the fleet expansion stops, and a dividend deployed.

I've seen minutes from the board meeting of May 5, which show the outgoing CEO Harrison still thinks exercising options are the right decision.

"AH [Andy Harrison] referred to 24 aircraft options for which the company had paid $250,000 each. These options had to be exercised by 31 July. As the aircraft order pipeline stood new aircraft would run out in 2013 if no more were ordered."

Harrison then says it would be sensible to convert some of those purchase rights.

Let's remember in 2005 and 2007 the Board approved the conversion of purchase rights granted under the Airbus contract to the status of firm orders and no aircraft have been ordered from Airbus since June 2007.

Minutes show Harrison then goes on to say: "The company retained the right to defer aircraft options by up to 2 years. Delivery dates should be agreed for the 24 options over the period 2012-2013. Having deferred the options twice already it's very unlikely that Airbus would allow the company to defer for a third time."

Now, easyJet have said many times it won't make any decision until incoming Chief Executive Carolyn McCall and Financial Director Chris Kennedy arrive. But it seems Airbus may need to give them more breathing space.

Ryanair to cut UK winter capacity, sees profit lift

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Irish airline Ryanair said it would cut UK winter capacity by 16 percent from November, blaming the UK government's Air Passenger Duty (APD), adding that the move would lower its costs and boost profits.

The airline said it will switch these London-based aircraft to lower cost European bases, where governments have scrapped "tourist taxes" and reduced passenger charges, resulting in the loss of over 2 million passengers at UK airports.

At a press conference, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said Ryanair could save about 10 million pounds ($15 million) by taking two aircraft out of London Stansted.

The UK capacity cuts should lower costs and boost profits, he said, declining to give further guidance.

The APD came into effect in November 1994 and taxes every passenger leaving the UK. The four-band duty currently ranges from 11 pounds to 110 pounds depending on the destination.

Ryanair said capacity at London Stansted will be reduced by 17 percent with the loss of up to 1.5 million passengers at the airport between November and March 2011.

It said this could lead to 2,500 jobs being cut at the airport of which less than 200 are expected to come from within Ryanair.

It cut winter capacity at Stansted last year by 14 percent.

Ryanair will also cut winter flights at most of its other UK bases, except Edinburgh and Leeds Bradford.

The tax and BAA's high airport charges are damaging UK tourism and the British economy generally, O'Leary said.

SUMMER BOOKINGS

Bookings, which were disrupted significantly by the volcanic ash cloud's impact on passenger confidence, have improved recently.

"Bookings over the last couple of weeks have been very strong and jumped significantly in the UK since Sunday," he said.

O'Leary, sporting a German soccer shirt, said bookings in the UK jumped 15 percent on Sunday from the week earlier after England's World Cup defeat to Germany took them out of the competition. Bookings were up 20 percent on Monday on the previous week, he added.

He tipped Brazil as winner of the tournament adding that he would be happy if all the European teams were knocked out so that bookings could get a lift.

The airline has carried 27 million passengers in the first five months of this year, a 3 million increase on the year earlier.

The ash cloud disruption affected bookings between April-June although average fares were higher and O'Leary said he expects these to rise significantly in the second quarter to end September.

EasyJet puts volcano costs at £65m
29 July 2010
Guardian Unlimited

The ash cloud which grounded flights over the Spring cost Easyjet £65m as the budget airline was forced to cancel 7,314 and disrupt the travel plans of nearly a million passengers

The volcanic ash cloud this spring cost easyJet £65m as the budget airline was forced to cancel 7,314 flights and disrupt the travel plans of nearly a million passengers.

Despite the disruption, easyJet said that revenues in the three months to end June rose more than 5%, to £759.2m and it expects to make a profit for the year as a whole of between £100m and £150m, compared with £43.7m last year.

The company, which has been embroiled in a spat with bitter rival Ryanair, said forward bookings are in line with last year and it has sold 64% of seats for the three months to end September, its fourth financial quarter.

The eruption of a volcano on Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull glacier caused travel chaos in April and May as vast swathes of European airspace were closed. Last week Ryanair said the volcano cost the airline €50m (£42m).

Easyjet said that stripping out the effects of the volcano, the number of "seats flown" – or occupied seats – in its flights increased 10% in the quarter. Taking into account the volcano, however, growth was a more modest 1.7%. Overall, total revenue per seat in the last three months actually rose 3.5% to £53.23, driven by an increase in passenger revenues.

The firm's new chief executive, Carolyn McCall, former boss of Guardian Media Group, said: "EasyJet has continued to deliver a good commercial performance in the quarter with total revenue up 5.3%. This was in spite of the challenges presented by significant disruption caused by volcanic ash and, more recently, the combination of air traffic control industrial action and crewing issues in some parts of our network."

McCall is already having to deal with a potential shareholder rebellion despite only being with the business for four weeks; Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the airline's founder and still its largest shareholder, has been waging a bitter public battle over strategy with the board for well over a year. Earlier this month Haji-Ioannou even threatened to remove the low-cost airline's right to the "easy" name claiming it is in breach of a brand licence that limits the carrier's earnings from non-core activities to no more than 25% of revenues. Haji-Ioannou has demanded that easyJet curbs plans to boost its fleet from 189 aeroplanes to 208 by 2012 and wants the board to recommend a dividend.

In Ukraine, killing the dogs before the Euro 2012

The organization of EURO 2012 became the pretext for the authorities of Ukraine to the mass extermination of stray animals living on the streets. streets. For this purpose, inter alia, purchased Lisicziansk Mobile crematorium, by which, in theory utilizes the killed animals, in practice throwing a vivid, sometimes only stunned or anaesthetized by pharmacological means.

In Kiev and other cities to the extermination of the poison used, resulting in long and painful agony of the animals. Officially, the dogs buried in mass graves, calling it "method of soil mineralization. Representatives of organizations defending the rights of animals in Ukraine reported that the dealings, which are spent enormous financial resources, is highly corrupt - the majority of funds for this purpose is stolen, resulting in the killing of animals without retaining any procedures, at the lowest cost.

September 18, 2009 in Nikolayev city departments have carried out a massive campaign winding dogs. Witnesses saw how the dogs were shot in broad daylight, their corpses were lying in public places. Part of the poisoned animals - used small doses of poisons, which is why the dogs died slowly and in pain. The carcasses of dead dogs are exported out of town and there were buried in mass graves.

In the mass liquidation of dogs killed the pets that have got lost, which are waiting at home owners. The ditch in Lugano, volunteers found a dog with a visible trace of the collar. It turned out that it was the dog that fit the description of the animal, in Lugansk sought by his owner. The woman identified the dead animal to have a photograph taken by volunteers.

"He was quiet, gentle and well mannered dog. He was loved by car park security, custodians, drivers. He was very trusting towards people. It is not known if he had been given poison. However, suffered the longest, was still able to crawl under the car and hide, hoping to survive. But the poison has performed its task. The killer did not take the dog. “Mischka” was lying dead in the parking lot two days. "

Unwanted and Forgotten Foundation - SOS for Animals plans to make a petition directly to the Ukrainian authorities as well as through the Polish authorities, as co-organizers of the championships, to exert pressure on their partners. Call to stop the disgraceful laundering will also be directed to the football associations, UEFA, the Football Association and other institutions responsible for organizing the EURO 2012.

Also, you can protest against the treatment of animals bestial Ukraine and join those already protesting the site Wirtualni.wp.pl . Organizers will also encourage the shares to join the protest on Facebook. For more information, please visit the Foundation www.niechcianeizapomniane.org .
Hi! I know this is not an appropriate thread to put such an information, but I just want to inform people around the whole world what terrible and cruel things are happening( with an approval of ukraine's government!!!) in a country that is going to organize EURO 2012!!! I realize that I expose myself to get a ban, but my intention is only to do sth to stop this barbarous procedure in Ukraine....
Here you'll find movies and other informations regarding the article:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...66744&page=249

Ryanair promises 500,000 arrivals in five years
19 August 2010
Cyprus Mail

LOW-COST airline Ryanair’s two new routes to Cyprus from November will deliver 60,000 passengers a year to as part of an agreement that will increase tourist numbers by 500,000 over the next five years, the airline said yesterday.

Ryanair spokeswoman Laura McCormack said yesterday that the airline will commence flights between Brussels and Cyprus on November 3. "We have one route from Larnaca to Brussels (Charleroi) and a second route to be confirmed very shortly, which will provide visitors to Cyprus with really low fares for the first time. The two new Cyprus routes will deliver 60,000 passengers a year to Larnaca, and will create up to 60 jobs", she said.

Tickets for the Brussels service, which will operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays, will initially cost from 34.99 including all taxes.

Hermes Airports CEO Alfred van der Meer said that "what Ryanair are offering to the market is fantastic price levels, and that is what will bring new people, new markets to Cyprus. They have committed to bring half a million tourists to the country over the next five years. When you consider that each tourist will spend 700, that’s 350 million added to the economy of Cyprus - that is what Ryanair is bringing us."

Van der Meer said that the opening of the new Larnaca airport last November was a milestone, as "it fundamentally changed the product that Cyprus has to offer to visitors, tourists and the Cypriot people. But it didn’t change the market - it did not necessarily bring a lot of new people to the country. I think that with the introduction of Ryanair we will have more milestones, because we will see a fundamental change in the market. The product that Ryanair offers is a different product, which will open new markets. Young people who before maybe flew once a year will now fly three or four times a year for the same price."

"Of course, they are not doing this because they like us so much, they are doing it to make money, and I think that if we work well together we can all make money", he added.

After more than three years of on-off discussions, and several weeks of hard negotiating recently between Ryanair, Hermes Airports - which operates Larnaca and Paphos airports - the CTO and the government, the Dublin-based airline made its final decision on Monday evening.

One crucial factor in Ryanair’s decision was the issue of landing charges in Cyprus - passed on to travellers in the form of "airport taxes" - which have come in for industry criticism for being too high in the current economic climate.

Van der Meer told the Mail that the agreement with Ryanair on landing charges had a very specific basis. "We have a commitment from them, that in the next five years they will bring a total of 500,000 tourists to the country, and on the basis of that commitment we gave them a deal on charges", he said. "We are giving them a discount on the passenger seats they don’t use, but that is only if they deliver on the annual targets they have committed to", he added.

Hermes’ contribution will be in addition to the government’s continuing emergency subsidy of all airlines to the tune of 25 per cent of landing charges plus an additional payment of 4 per traveller. Currently, this subsidy is officially due to finish at the end of the year.

Another crucial factor is Ryanair’s strategic plans for growth through expansion into the Middle East, broadly hinted at by the Commerce Ministry, Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) as well as van der Meer, although McCormack refused to be drawn on the subject.

"We have seven or eight airports competing at the moment to be a base, and it would be great to make Cyprus a base and involve it in our development here. We are open to suggestions", McCormack said.

Ryanair is Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, the third largest airline in Europe in terms of passenger numbers and the largest in the world in terms of international passenger numbers - 66 million in 2009, with a target of 73.5 million in 2010. The airline has 44 bases, operating 1,300 daily flights on 1,100-plus low fare routes across 26 countries, connecting 157 destinations.

Van der Meer said: "We are looking to grow the numbers at the airport, and through that grow tourism to Cyprus. So it has to be about new destinations, and in principle about opening new markets... Eastwards is where the growth in the market is. If we can get some flights to Bahrain or Dubai that would be great, but Israel or Lebanon are logical as well, as people will travel more if you offer capacity to the market."

"It’s not about the 60,000 passengers a year - that’s just the first step. If the market is really there, their intention is to grow by looking at different destinations and seeing how they fit. As to exactly what they will do and where, they will play the market as it goes along. But to become part of the Ryanair ‘family’ means a lot", he said.

Speaking at the press conference, CTO chairman Alecos Orouniotis referred to "truly new prospects" opened up by the airline’s arrival, saying that he hoped that "Cyprus will become established as an important and successful hub for Ryanair’s future plans in the region, with very positive consequences for our country."

Orouniotis also confirmed that the CTO will support the airline’s efforts to bring more tourists to the island by promoting its flight schedules through CTO offices abroad and the organisation’s strategic partners.

Delivering a message from Commerce and Tourism Minister Antonis Paschalides, who is abroad on an engagement, ministry official Christos Mallikides said that Ryanair’s move was "a significant step forward" for Cyprus, and both the ministry and the government in general "will continue to support its effort to increase tourist flows to Cyprus."

Although the CTO launched its Air Route Development Scheme (ARDS) a year ago, Phylaktides said that this was not used for Ryanair. The ARDS is an EU-approved start-up scheme that allows public money to be used to support new European air routes.

"The ARDS did not produce any results when we announced the scheme. The timing was perhaps inappropriate, in the midst of an economic recession, when airlines were not including expansion in their plans", Phylaktides said. He added that the CTO will keep monitoring the situation, and "when we consider that the time is right, we will reintroduce the scheme."

Van der Meer said that "Ryanair is about giving you choices. If you want to take bags with you, you pay; if you don’t, you don’t pay for it. On a national carrier, if you go to Athens with just hand luggage, you will pay anyway, because other people have bags - you will pay for the luggage system and so on."

Asked if Ryanair’s arrival might affect Hermes’ revenues from EasyJet and Monarch - the low-cost airlines already operating in Cyprus - van der Meer said that the deal struck over landing charges involves incremental growth in passenger numbers rather than "cannibalising" existing traffic.

Van der Meer added that "if any other airline offers to make the same commitment, we would do the same deal. As we said to the government: if we don’t do it, you get nothing, but if we do it, then it is additional traffic that is generated, incremental tourism and incremental income."

CTO Acting Director General Lefkos Phylactides said "we are cautiously optimistic. Ryanair’s decision to introduce new flights to Cyprus is indeed a milestone - I think it gives a vote of confidence to the aviation and tourism industries of Cyprus. I’m sure that over the next few years we will see an expansion of their operations here, and this will be a clear signal to other airlines to consider Cyprus."

Ryanair Holdings To Close Belfast City Base
31 August 2010

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYA.LN), an airline company announced Tuesday it would close its Belfast City Airport base at the end of the current summer schedule on Sun Oct. 31.

MAIN FACTS:

-This is following the airport's confirmation that the public inquiry into the promised runway extension will be further delayed, thereby delaying the launch of Ryanair low fare flights from Belfast City Airport.

-From early in November, Ryanair will switch its one Belfast City based aircraft to another European airport, with the loss of 50 Ryanair jobs (all staff will be offered relocation elsewhere in the U.K. or Europe) and the loss of 1 million passengers annually, which will result in the loss of up to 1,000 support jobs in and around Belfast City Airport.

EasyJet To Keep Name After Overhauling Terms With Founder
11 October 2010

LONDON (Dow Jones)--EasyJet PLC (EZJ.LN) Monday said it has resolved a two-year brand licence dispute with easyGroup IP, which will see the airline keep its "easyJet" name and founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou lose his right to appoint himself to the board.

The deal allows easyJet to enter new co-branding agreements and promotions with other travel service providers as well as car hire, hotels and travel insurance companies.

It will also now be allowed to lease non-easyJet planes from other airlines or lease out its own aircraft without easyGroup's permission.

EasyJet chairman Mike Rake said, "I believe the revised agreement better aligns the interests of easyJet shareholders and the Licensor."

At 0821 GMT, easyJet shares were up 17 pence, or 3.7% at 468 pence, leading the FTSE 250 climbers in a broadly higher London market.

EasyJet's rights will continue for a 50-year term, with a minimum 10-year commitment. Haji-Ioannou-- who, together with his family, owns a 36.3% stake in the airline --will receive a fixed payment of GBP3.9 millionin 2011, with that sum rising to GBP4.95 million in 2012. Thereafter, there will be an annual royalty payment of 0.25% of easyJet's revenues.

In return, the founder has agreed to surrender his rights to appoint himself as easyJet Chairman or appoint a representative to the board.

Haji-Ioannou said the deal was fair to both sides. However, it could face resistance from other shareholders, whose approval is needed at an upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting.

Charles Stanley analyst Douglas McNeill said other shareholders will focus on how the agreement will affect future dividends.

Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said the airline had spoken to major shareholders this weekend and they were "supportive" of the deal as it takes away some of the uncertainty and creates more flexibility with its corporate governance.

However, she said she could give no guarantees to them about the company's future dividend policy, which will be assessed as part of the company's capital structure and overall review due in November.

Haji-Ioannou said he hopes the board will use the "expanded scope of the brand licence to create value for all shareholders," adding that the way low-cost airlines make money has changed over the 10 years since the original licence was signed.

Under the terms of the previous deal, easyJet paid Haji-Ioannou just GBP1 a year in royalties to use the brand. The airline has also rid itself of the previous 75%-25% rule whereby at least 75% of easyJet's revenue must originate from the airline's core business or services derived thereof. This rule prevents easyJet becoming a conglomerate and easyGroup becoming an airline.

Before the summer, both sides went to the High Court to ask a judge to decide what is defined as core activities and what comes under ancillary revenue, or sales other than ticket fares.

However, there continues to be some concern that tensions could flare up again.

McCall decline to provide the names the airline has chosen to replace "easyJet" if the brand had been withdrawn, adding it may still need it as part of a "contingency" plan.

She added that both sides have agreed that any future dispute will be resolved by "swift arbitration," which will help limit costs and lost revenue.

The two-year dispute has cost easyJet GBP4 million in legal costs and GPB3 million in lost revenue generated from marketing or sports deals. McCall added it has lost GBP3 million to GBP4 million in revenue from foregoing white label opportunities.

McCall said Haji-Ioannou has agreed not to compete with easyJet for one year with his easyHolidays venture, where he could have sold easyJet flights and launched a price comparison site.

"It's competition..but we will have to live with it," McCall said of Haji-Ioannou's plans.

A spokesman for easyJet added that Haji-Ioannou has also agreed not to sell shares in easyGroup or easyJet for two years, or sell easyJet to any airline for three years.

While the deal puts to rest some issues faced by the airline, which has seen a public boardroom spat and a run of senior boardroom resignations, including those of former Group Finance Director Jeff Carr and Chief Executive Andy Harrison, there remain problems with the efficiency of its operations.

Its poor "basic trading performance" continues to risk its share price value, according to Charles Stanley's McNeill. The airline has admitted to crew shortages and ineffective rostering on some parts of its network that has hampered its punctuality and tarnished its brand.

Still, last week the airline raised its profit guidance for the fiscal year to end-September to be slightly ahead of GBP150 million, up from between GBP100 million and GBP150 million. The boost in profits has been driven by robust performance, particularly on routes between the U.K. and European beach and city destinations.

Not every passenger is happy with Ryanair: "O'Leary suggested the airline might do away with co-pilots by training flight attendants to fill their role"??

'I Hate Ryanair' website handed over ... to Ryanair
Brisbane Times - Craig Platt - October 13, 2010
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/travel-news/i-hate-ryanair-website-handed-over--to-ryanair-20101013-16iux.html

http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2010/10/13/1984009/IHateRyanair-website-420x0.jpg

An angry passenger who set up a website called 'I Hate Ryanair' has been ordered to hand over the site's name to the airline he despises.

Robert Tyler, of London, set up the site in 2007 as a means for disgruntled Ryanair passengers to share their horror stories about the budget carrier.

Outspoken Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary complained about the site in April this year, branding the website "vitriolic and highly disparaging", the Guardian reports.

Despite the fact that the website made clear it had no official links to the airline, authorities ruled the web address had to be handed over to Ryanair because Tyler had made money from the site.

The adjudicators at Nominet, which manages web addresses in Britain, said Tyler had made £322 in advertising revenue from the site. This was the crucial factor that saw Tyler forced to shut down the site.

One of Nominet's experts, Jane Seager said if the domain name used a company's brand it “must be wholly devoted to honest criticism and open discussion and not potentially tainted by commercial concerns".

Ryanair had accused the site of taking unfair advantage of its brand name and making defamatory statements about the airline's service and safety standards.

However, the airline's victory has been shortlived. Tyler immediately set up a new website, ihateryanair.org, which he stated on the hompage would “continue to provide you with all the latest" on "this pathetic excuse for an airline”.

“We are yet to decide on whether or not to appeal the decision,” the site read. “It costs around £3000 to do so, which could be used instead to buy 16,000,000 Ryanair flights (not including booking fees, credit card fees, baggage fees, bus from the airport in the middle of nowhere etc).”

Ryanair has regularly courted controversy in Europe over its cost-cutting measures. Most recently O'Leary suggested the airline might do away with co-pilots by training flight attendants to fill their role.

Other suggestions O'Leary has made - possibly in jest - including charging passengers to use the toilets on board aircraft, installing 'standing room' seats and suggesting passengers carry their own checked luggage to the plane's cargo hold.


.

So next time don't put advertising on it!

There should be another page for I hate Easy Shi... too... worst airlines around the globe!!! perhaps the meanest crew and flight attendants in the history of commercial aviation...

There should be another page for I hate Easy Shi... too... worst airlines around the globe!!! perhaps the meanest crew and flight attendants in the history of commercial aviation...

Funny, I have actually never encountered problems with them and the sheer fact that there is no ''I hate easyJet'' site yet only proves me right.

Not every passenger is happy with Ryanair: "O'Leary suggested the airline might do away with co-pilots by training flight attendants to fill their role"??

'I Hate Ryanair' website handed over ... to Ryanair
Brisbane Times - Craig Platt - October 13, 2010
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/travel-news/i-hate-ryanair-website-handed-over--to-ryanair-20101013-16iux.html

http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2010/10/13/1984009/IHateRyanair-website-420x0.jpg

An angry passenger who set up a website called 'I Hate Ryanair' has been ordered to hand over the site's name to the airline he despises.

Robert Tyler, of London, set up the site in 2007 as a means for disgruntled Ryanair passengers to share their horror stories about the budget carrier.

Outspoken Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary complained about the site in April this year, branding the website "vitriolic and highly disparaging", the Guardian reports.

Despite the fact that the website made clear it had no official links to the airline, authorities ruled the web address had to be handed over to Ryanair because Tyler had made money from the site.

The adjudicators at Nominet, which manages web addresses in Britain, said Tyler had made £322 in advertising revenue from the site. This was the crucial factor that saw Tyler forced to shut down the site.

One of Nominet's experts, Jane Seager said if the domain name used a company's brand it “must be wholly devoted to honest criticism and open discussion and not potentially tainted by commercial concerns".

Ryanair had accused the site of taking unfair advantage of its brand name and making defamatory statements about the airline's service and safety standards.

However, the airline's victory has been shortlived. Tyler immediately set up a new website, ihateryanair.org, which he stated on the hompage would “continue to provide you with all the latest" on "this pathetic excuse for an airline”.

“We are yet to decide on whether or not to appeal the decision,” the site read. “It costs around £3000 to do so, which could be used instead to buy 16,000,000 Ryanair flights (not including booking fees, credit card fees, baggage fees, bus from the airport in the middle of nowhere etc).”

Ryanair has regularly courted controversy in Europe over its cost-cutting measures. Most recently O'Leary suggested the airline might do away with co-pilots by training flight attendants to fill their role.

Other suggestions O'Leary has made - possibly in jest - including charging passengers to use the toilets on board aircraft, installing 'standing room' seats and suggesting passengers carry their own checked luggage to the plane's cargo hold.


.
What a retarded ruling.

I used easy shi... twice in my last trip to Europe... I was left on Venice due to easy jet employees strike... I tried to get some help from their part maybe to be relocated on the next flight they would'nt care... they told me I had to call to easy jet help center but the call was on my cost and it was very expensive... then when I send a claim they change the original flight departure from Venice to CDG... even though I had the ticket printed and also I send it to them... then I had problems again flying out from CDG to London my luggage was left at CDG they did not care that London was my final destination to catch Continental flight to fly back to my country... now what I think from Easy Shi... they stole my money and also lie... They should learn a bit of customer care from other airlines...

Ryanair fares to rise almost 10%
2 November 2010
Guardian Unlimited

No-frills airline says an increase in ticket prices over the next six months will push up profits to between €380m and €400m

Ryanair raised full-year profit targets this morning after the budget airline said passengers will pay more for their fares this winter than previously expected.

Europe's largest short-haul carrier said yields, or average fares, would rise by close to 10% over the next six months and push net profits from a forecast range of €350m (£304.5m)-€375m to between €380m and €400m. Last week British Airways swung back into profit for the first time in two years thanks, in part, to a double-digit increase in yields.

First-half figures from Ryanair this morning reaffirmed the airline's status as one of the most profitable in the industry, with net profits for the six months to 30 September rising by 17% to €451.9m.

However, that was not enough to assuage the disappointment of some market watchers after the airline missed second-quarter profit expectations by nearly 10%. Andrew Lobbenberg, analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland, described the figures as "mixed bag", with the improved full-year outlook offset by a surprise rise in unit costs – or the cost of flying one passenger. That metric rose by 17% in the second quarter, stunning observers who are used to an assiduous focus on cost-cutting by Ryanair.

"This is a mixed bag of messages. The full-year upgrade was positive but they missed market expectations for the quarter and it was quite a weak cost performance, with unit costs rising by 17% in the second quarter. That's not meant to happen at Ryanair," said Lobbenberg.

First half revenues increased by nearly a quarter to €2.18bn, driven by an expanding fleet and 12% hike in average fares. Ryanair carried more passengers over the six-month period than British Airways does in a year, with 40 million people using its planes.

Analysts said the seasonal dip in Ryanair's performance over the winter – typical in the airline business – explained why the first-half profit is higher than the expected full-year number. Analysts expect Ryanair to make only a small profit in the third quarter and then a loss in the fourth quarter, during the traditionally quiet January to March period.

Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, said the airline was continuing to increase revenues and profits even in a recession. However, the six-month profit number excluded hits of more than €45m from the Icelandic volcano disruption and a further writedown of the carrier's 29.8% stake in Aer Lingus.

O'Leary added that he expected established carriers such as British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France to cut back on short-haul capacity over the next two years and raise fares, with Ryanair following in their slipstream. "The underlying trend for air fares for the next couple of years is likely to be very slowly upwards." O'Leary said the 12% fare increase was largely due to the airline flying longer trips, incurring higher fuel costs that must be recouped by ticket prices.

Ryanair's average fare over the past six months, including baggage check-in fees, was €44 and O'Leary said he expected fares to continue rising "over the next year or two". Some analysts view this as a consequence of following higher-paying passengers into more expensive airports, where the more costly landing fees help to push up prices.

O'Leary also warned that baggage check-in charges – which in the summer months cost £20 a bag and £35 for a second bag – will increase next summer. Add-on fees are a lucrative business for Ryanair and rose by 22% to €423.8m in the first half, more than double the rate of passenger growth – due in part to customers spending more on longer flights. Asked why he planned to push up baggage charges – a bugbear for some Ryanair travellers – O'Leary said it was to "piss off Yemeni parcel bombers", in a reference to Friday's latest airline terror scare.

O'Leary also echoed last week's criticism of a UK flight tax increase by his BA counterpart, Willie Walsh. Air passenger duty hikes came into force today and will see the tax for short-haul passengers increase from £11 to £12. Because the charge applies to passengers departing UK airports, it represents a double-whammy for customers on domestic flights who are hit with the levy twice. O'Leary backed Walsh's warning that the APD increase could hit the UK's nascent economic recovery by dissuading people from visiting and/or leaving the UK.

"I have no doubt that the increase in APD will have a negative effect on bookings to and from the UK," said O'Leary, referring to a market that accounts for 30 million Ryanair passengers a year. "It does not make much sense if you are an island on the periphery of Europe to be taxing the only means of getting on and off the island."

Ryanair says plans to further cut German flights

BERLIN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Ryanair is planning to further scale down its German operations next year in response to a planned air passenger tax, its Chief Executive said on Tuesday.

Details on cuts to the 2011 summer flight schedule affecting its Niederrhein, Bremen und Berlin airports would be announced before Christmas, CEO Michael O'Leary told a press conference in Berlin.

Ryanair said last month that it would cancel flights on nine routes from its airport in Hahn, its largest German base, in 2011.

The initial cutbacks would reduce the number of passengers Europe's biggest low-cost carrier transports from Hahn by almost a quarter to 2.9 million and affect about 1,000 jobs, Ryanair's deputy chief said at the time.

The German government, battling to find new ways of closing its budget gap, has announced plans to raise 1 billion euros ($1.40 billion) a year by taxing air passengers between 8 euros and 45 euros per flight.

German airlines' association BDF has said it expects 10,000 jobs to shift abroad and German passenger volumes to drop by 5 million per year as a result of the tax.

Hahn airport, mainly used by Ryanair, is a former U.S. military air field about 100 kilometres west of Frankfurt.

^
Very good. Hope one day Ryanair will disappear completly from german soil and airspace. And regional state governments should stop wasting tax payer money to open low cost airports for this airline. If Ryanair wants to fly to Germany they should accept normal airport fares at the major airports.

About 90 passengers stage sit-in, refuse to leave diverted Ryanair plane in Belgium for hours
17 November 2010

LIEGE, Belgium (AP) - Some 90 irate passengers staged a nearly five-hour sit-in on a Ryanair plane in Belgium early Wednesday, refusing to disembark after their flight was diverted due to fog. Authorities said some spat at airport staff.

The passengers, mostly French tourists returning from a Moroccan vacation, refused to leave after the plane landed about midnight at Liege airport because fog had closed down Beauvais airport in northern France.

"It was a very tense situation," said Christian Delcourt, the spokesman for the Liege Airport. "Some of these people were very aggressive, very rude."

Passengers from three other diverted Ryanair planes had accepted an offer of bus transportation to Beauvais, 350 kilometers (225 miles) away. But those on the fourth plane refused to leave and haggled for hours with Ryanair officials who had asked them to wait inside the airport.

"The passengers were unreasonable and refused to follow the advice which would have allowed them to complete their journey," Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said in a statement.

He said Ryanair crew left "the aircraft when passengers became disruptive," adding it is "standard safety procedure" for airlines to divert to another airport when weather closes the destination airport.

Delcourt said the passengers finally left the plane at the request of police.

"Some were aggressive to airport staff. They spat at them," he told The Associated Press.

Ryanair to cut 24 flights in fees protest
18 November 2010
The Irish Examiner

RYANAIR has announced it is cutting back on flights out of Dublin Airport, including a 50% reduction in its daily services to Cork from next year.

The airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, confirmed yesterday Ryanair will axe 24 return flights out of Dublin each week from next January in protest at increased fees charged by the Dublin Airport Authority, as well as the Government’s €10 tourist tax.

Mr O’Leary said the reduction in flights would see passenger numbers at Dublin Airport fall by 380,000 per annum and would result in the transfer of some 400 Ryanair personnel to other bases in Europe.

As part of the cutbacks the, Dublin-Cork service will be cut from two daily return flights to one from the start of 2011, while there will also be cutbacks in the number of flights from Dublin to Edinburgh, East Midlands, Prestwick, Leeds/Bradford and Manchester.

While Mr O’Leary primarily blamed the decision to scale back services out of Dublin on DAA charges, he acknowledged that the full opening of the Dublin-Cork motorway as well as cheaper fares from Iarnród Éireann had also impacted on the numbers flying between the two cities.

He made no reference to the fact that his airline’s add-on charges have also increased dramatically in recent years.

The colourful airline boss also lashed out over Dublin Airport’s new terminal, T2, which will be formally opened by Taoiseach Brian Cowen tomorrow.

Mr O’Leary said the building should be mothballed due to falling passenger numbers.

Mr O’Leary described T2 as a major white elephant akin to the Taj Mahal which will cost €1.2 billion – a figure disputed by the DAA.

The Dublin Airport Authority claims the total cost of the new terminal is €609m.

"At a time when Terminal 1 has capacity for 30 million passengers and Dublin Airport’s traffic has declined for a second year to less than 18 million passengers, it is clear that the DAA’s €1.2bn T2 is a turkey which Irish tourism doesn’t need this Christmas," said Mr O’Leary.

On the economy, the outspoken businessman said it was clear that the country was bankrupt and that he would welcome a bailout by the International Monetary Fund.

"The Government and the civil service are incapable of managing the economy," the Ryanair boss remarked.

Mr O’Leary said that the arrival of the IMF would be a positive development as it would demand "reform, competition and privatisation".

O’Leary: Ad was tasteful

ON recent criticism over a controversial newspaper ad for Ryanair which referred to a recent incident involving Cork DJ Neil Prendeville, Mr O’Leary was unapologetic.

"We ran an ad slagging off Aer Lingus. I thought it was not alone tasteful but topical, humorous and witty," said the airline boss.

Mr O’Leary said the only subject he wouldn’t satirise to promote his airline was safety.

Petra braced for easyJet hordes
By Simon Calder Senior Travel Editor
16 December 2010
The Independent

THE NEW star rising in the East is orange: easyJet's latest route, going on sale later this morning, connects Gatwick with Amman in Jordan. The no-frills airline's maiden flight to Queen Alia International Airport in the Jordanian capital will take off on 27 March. The link opens up the ancient city of Petra, the desert landscapes of Wadi Rum and the Roman ruins of Jerash to the easyJet set.

Jordan's tourism industry, which has endured a difficult decade, will be jubilant at the prospect of around 12,000 new arrivals a year. David Symes, director of the Jordan Tourist Board in the UK, said: "The majority of our visitors are independent travellers, which makes easyJet a good option - travellers can be more flexible with their itineraries."

The airline already flies from Luton to Tel Aviv, making it feasible to construct "open-jaw" trips to the Holy Land using no-frills flights, travelling overland via Jerusalem and the Dead Sea to Amman. The link with Jordan also opens up intriguing possibilities for more intrepid explorers. Amman is the main hub for flights to Iraq, with links to Baghdad, Mosul and Basra. While independent travellers will welcome another low-cost gateway to the Middle East, the move constitutes an attack on the two incumbent airlines currently flying from Heathrow to Amman. One is Royal Jordanian, an alliance partner with British Airways; the other is BMI, part of the German airline, Lufthansa. A series of test bookings made yesterday by The Independent on the Heathrow-Amman route failed to find a return fare below £463. The average easyJet fare is expected to be around half as much; the absolute lowest fare on the new route is £106 return.

Paul Simmons, the airline's UK regional manager, said "We can get there at a much lower price that at present. They can cut fares a little bit, but not enough to trouble us." A spokesman for BMI said: "It's a long flight to Amman, so better to do it in comfort on a full-service, great-value airline like BMI. We love flying to Amman and our customers love flying us to Amman."

A new "open-skies" agreement between the EU and Jordan has just been signed, opening the prospect of other European low-cost carriers muscling in on the market.

EASYJET’S NEW FRONTIERS

* April 1996 Luton - Amsterdam

* July 1998 Luton - Athens

* November 2004 Stansted - Tallinn

* June 2006 Luton - Istanbul

* November 2007 Gatwick - Sofia

* January 2008 Gatwick - Thessaloniki

* April 2008 Gatwick - Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

* November 2008 Gatwick - Helsinki

* November 2009 Luton to Tel Aviv

* December 2010 Gatwick - Amman

Decision on Ryanair probe put back until early January
20 December 2010
Irish Independent

Ryanair will have to wait until the new year for a decision from the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as to whether it believes a probe into the carrier's near 30pc stake in Aer Lingus is necessary, amid competition concerns.

The OFT, which is headed by former boss of the Irish Competition Authority John Fingleton, announced in October that it had initiated a merger investigation over Ryanair's holding in Aer Lingus to determine whether the airline has exerted "material influence" over the former state-owned carrier's strategy, and if the stake building has led to a substantial lessening of competition.

The OFT had been due to announce by Christmas Eve whether it would refer the case to the UK's Competition Commission for a full-blown investigation.

However, a spokesman for the OFT told the Irish Independent that the decision date has been put back to the new year. He declined to give a reason for the delay. It's likely that the OFT will reveal its decision some time in early January.

But even if the OFT wants to refer the case to the Competition Commission, it will find it difficult to do so. The OFT has conceded it has to first examine whether it remains within the statutory time period necessary to launch the probe.

Typically, the OFT has a four-month window from when an event occurs to trigger an investigation. Ryanair main-tains that since it made its first hostile move against Aer Lingus in 2006, the OFT is out of time on the issue. Independent competition lawyers in the UK have also queried how the OFT could overcome the time limit.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said the OFT should not be able to proceed.

"We think they're clearly out of time for this investigation," he said. "We've sent in our submission and I think it's conclusive. It's absurd to think they can come back four years after the first takeover attempt and say they think there's a basis for investigating."

The European Commission blocked the initial takeover attempt of Aer Lingus by Ryanair, but the European Court of Justice said earlier this year it couldn't overturn a previous decision by the commission that Ryanair couldn't be forced to sell its stake in Aer Lingus.

Aer Lingus has previously welcomed the OFT decision to examine Ryanair's stake.

Ryanair launches Plovdiv-Barcelona flight

SOFIA, December 22 (Dnevnik BFNS) - Irish low-cost airline Ryanair will launch flights from Plovdiv, southern Bulgaria, to Barcelona in March 2011, servicing the destination two times a week, a source at the company said as quoted by Dnevnik.

The air carrier will officially unveil the route today, but tickets for the destination are yet to be offered for sale. Plovdiv airport's executive director, Doychin Angelov, confirmed the launch of a new regular flight to Spain but declined to provide further details. The route is currently serviced by Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air, with return fares for the end of March amounting to BGN 362.98, excluding luggage taxes, according to information available on the airline's website.

Ryanair has been operating flights from and to Bulgaria since November, when the airline launched the Plovdiv-London destination.

EasyJet confirms order for 15 Airbus A320s

LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Low-cost airline easyJet has confirmed an order for 15 Airbus A320 aircraft and switched a deal for the delivery of 20 A319 aircraft to the larger A320 to help it gain share in the European market.

The company also said on Tuesday it had secured options over a further 33 A320 aircraft, taking its total number of options to 42, and strengthening its relationship with the European manufacturer.

It currently operates 185 A320 family aircraft and eight Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

EasyJet said it had been granted substantial price concession from Airbus and its engine maker on the total list price of about $1.1 billion for the 15 A320s.

Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said the orders would help deliver easyJet's growth strategy, whilst providing even more flight capacity for passengers.

EasyJet, which switched allegiance from Boeing to Airbus in 2002, said it continued to maintain a productive dialogue with the U.S. manufacturer Boeing on its current and future programmes.

Ryanair faces UK probe over Aer Lingus stake

LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Britain's Office of Fair Trading is to probe Ryanair's stake in Irish rival Aer Lingus on competition grounds, more than four years after the budget airline bought the minority holding.

Irish airline Ryanair, which owns 29.8 percent of Aer Lingus, said it would appeal against the OFT's decision on the grounds it came too long after the event. Aer Lingus welcomed the OFT move and said it would cooperate fully with the watchdog.

Ryanair mounted a public takeover for all of Aer Lingus in October 2006, but the European Commission investigated the bid and decided to prohibit it in June 2007.

The OFT said Ryanair's Aer Lingus stake raised potential competition concerns.

It said it had been hindered from launching a probe in 2006-2007 due to the commission's investigation. Any inquiry had then been delayed by appeals relating to the EU's decisions, but the watchdog believed it now had grounds to get back on the case and launch a fresh review.

"We recognise that this case raises important legal and policy issues in relation to whether competition authorities should be able to apply national merger control legislation whilst related appeals are ongoing under the European Commission Merger Regulation," Sheldon Mills, director of mergers at the OFT, said in a statement.

"We believe that an interpretation of the law that could lead to inconsistent outcomes at national and European level risks undermining the coherence of merger control in the EU," Mills said, adding that the OFT believed it was legally "in time" to review the stake.

Ryanair said it would appeal against the OFT's decision, adding that since the watchdog had missed its original chance to review the Aer Lingus deal back in 2007, it now had no legal grounds to launch a fresh investigation.

"Ryanair adamantly maintains that even if the OFT had jurisdiction back in June 2007, it is now legally out of time because it failed to investigate this offer within 4 months of the EU prohibition in June 2007," it said in a statement.

The OFT said it is normally able to refer mergers to the UK Competition Commission within four months of completion or from the time material facts about the merger are made public.

But a section of the 2002 Enterprise Act allows for it to refer deals outside this timetable if a reference could not have been made earlier because of EC merger regulation.

The OFT's statement came after the stock market closed. Ryanair shares ended up 2.5 percent while Aer Lingus shares closed up 1 percent.

Ryanair says December traffic rose 2 percent

DUBLIN, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Ryanair carried five million passengers in December, two percent more than a year earlier, the Irish airline said on Thursday.

Europe's biggest low-cost airline said its December load factor -- a measure of how well a carrier is selling available seats -- was 80 percent, down 1 percentage point from a year ago.

Overall, Ryanair carried nearly 73 million passengers last year.

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/piclist/20101209/20101209082419376.html

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Ryanair departs from Marseille as French chase taxes
10 January 2011
The Guardian

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, the unflinching king of cost-cutting, may finally have met his match in the strictness of French employment law. The Irish airline will close its only French base in Marseille this week in the latest round of a bitter war with French authorities.

O'Leary has been engaged in a stand-off since pilots' unions and the state took legal action against him for employing Marseille-based crew on Irish contracts rather than paying higher social security and tax in France. It is the first time Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost airline, has faced legal action of this kind.

A furious O'Leary, fearing large fines, said he would remove his staff and from tomorrow, Ryanair will no longer have its Mediterranean hub in the French port. Its aircraft and 200 jobs will be moved to rival airports in Spain, Italy and Lithuania in protest at what O'Leary called the "ill-judged" ways of France.

Ryanair launched its Marseille maintenance hub in 2006, boasting that it would open up Provence to tourists and "save" the French from Air France's high fares.

The French low-cost market, with its large number of UK second-home owners, is a key growth area for budget airlines like Ryanair and easyJet. The year that Ryanair based itself in Marseille, a French book called "Help! The English are invading!" detailed how local French mayors, airports and chambers of commerce had offered financial incentives to bring low-cost airlines to the regions.

Ryanair quickly became the second biggest carrier in Marseille, bringing in 1.7m passengers last year. But France's second largest pilots' union complained that staff based in Marseille were working under Irish contracts and paying no taxes in France.

O'Leary, who saved 30% on high French social charges by using Irish contracts, said he was abiding by European law because his workers were mobile and worked on "Irish registered aircraft defined as Irish territory".

French courts ruled against Ryanair, saying that employees of foreign airlines living in France come under French social security and tax law.

"Sadly, the loss of four aircraft, 200 jobs and 13 routes at Marseille is a high price necessary to demonstrate these are mobile Irish workers," O'Leary said, before axing over half of his Marseille routes and taking the case to the European court of human rights.

Jacques Pfister of Marseille's chamber of commerce said that Ryanair's presence had brought euros 550m into the local economy over four years, saying the court ruling was like "putting the brakes on development".

Jean-Claude Gaudin, Marseille's mayor and a key figure in Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling rightwing party in the south, wrote to the president urging him to drop the action and scrap a decree that foreign airline workers in France should pay French tax. He said the decree, aimed at protecting Air France from competition, was obsolete.

One local centrist MP begged O'Leary to stay, while the Communist party accused him of blackmail in threatening to quit Marseille. Ryanair said it would continue to fly 10 routes, including London to Marseille, using planes based elsewhere.

The British budget airline, easyJet, which intends to expand in France this year, has also fallen foul of French law. Last year it was fined euros 1.4m for breaching French labour law by hiring 170 staff under British contracts at Paris's Orly airport.

Airline hails Estonia flight
12 January 2011
Edinburgh Evening News

BUDGET airline Ryanair has celebrated the first flight on its route between Edinburgh and the Estonian capital Tallinn.

The Irish carrier now has around 30 routes from Edinburgh Airport, having expanded its operations in recent years.

Ryanair's Maria Macken said: "Ryanair is delighted to welcome passengers on board its inaugural flight from Edinburgh to Tallinn.

"Ryanair will operate three flights a week to the Estonian capital on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays."

In November the airline launched new services to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands and the Swedish city of Gothenburg.

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/521/5213202.html

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EasyJet Bosses Waive Annual Bonuses After Tough Year
19 January 2011

LONDON (Dow Jones)--EasyJet PLC's (EZJ.LN) bosses waived their rights to bonuses for 2010 after the budget airline suffered from a series of disruptions and a slew of negative publicity last year.

Accounts show that the management considered it inappropriate to accept their bonuses even if the amount was adjusted to take into account the impact of volcanic ash clouds on European air traffic, because the carrier also suffered from "further operating problems over the summer" that also resulted in "difficulties experienced by customers and staff."

Chief Executive Carolyn McCall would have received GBP159,000, while Chief Financial Officer Chris Kennedy would have been eligible for GBP48,000. Former CEO Andy Harrison would have received GBP267,000.

The Icelandic volcano, which forced the closure of much of Europe's airspace for a week in April, increased easyJet's costs by GBP27.3 million and resulted in GBP30 million of lost revenue.

Performance targets were fully met, but certain management and staff, excluding the executive management team, would have been entitled to 50% of their maximum entitlement.

The budget carrier had admitted to having crew shortages, struggling with scheduling that left pilots out of place and failing to meet punctuality targets for the year. Operations were also hit by strikes by air-traffic controllers across Spain.

McCall's annual basic salary is GBP665,000 plus GBP48,000 as a cash alternative to a pension plan contribution. Kennedy's basic salary is GBP400,000.

Accounts confirmed that Harrison received GBP750,000 for the period from April 1 to Sept. 30 and a GBP250,000 bonus that ensured a smooth transition. He left June 30 but agreed to be available on a consultative basis. He also received GBP1.2 million as a retention bonus to stay with the company after he resigned.

The Source : EasyJet Customers Don't Like Paying For "Extras"
20 January 2011

(This article has been posted on The Source, the Wall Street Journal Online's site for European real-time analysis.)

EasyJet Thursday provided more evidence that rising oil prices are pushing up airline ticket prices, but it is the drop in the low-cost carrier's ancillary revenue in its fiscal first quarter that is troubling.

Ancillary revenue isn't quite the life blood of budget airlines, but it is an important factor for those carriers that offer cheap ticket prices to fill their planes in the hope of maximizing revenue from extras.

Those extras are checked-in baggage that is stowed in the cargo hold, speedy boarding, whereby passengers pay a premium to board aircrafts first to choose their seats, and in-flight sales of food, drinks and other items, and so on.

But it seems far fewer people are prepared to pay for these 'extras' since the imposition value-added tax on some goods, which came into effect in the second quarter of 2010.

Now, easyJet has revealed that revenue per seat from baggage checked into the hold dropped 37 pence to GBP4.02 in the three-month period to Dec. 31.

It may not sound much, but for an airline that flew 48.8 million passengers in its last financial year, it's a big deal.

Essentially, penny-pinching passengers have taken over-sized luggage into cabins and squeezed them into overhead bins, rather than pay to stow them in the holds.

If the trend continues for the year, the impact could be double-digit millions of pounds in lost revenue.

EasyJet said it is reviewing its baggage policy in light of the drop in ancillary revenue. That likely suggests a get-tough approach to passengers whose bags don't meet the standard sizes for carry-on luggage.

Its charges for checked-in baggage compare favorably with rivals. EasyJet's rates vary between GBP9 and GBP11 per bag compared with GBP15 to GBP20 at Ryanair, for instance.

But Ryanair has a policy of discouraging passengers from checking in bags. There's no suggestion that easyJet will take that route.

EasyJet First-Half Loss Could Double; Shares Tumble
20 January 2011

LONDON (Dow Jones)--EasyJet PLC (EZJ.LN) shares fell more than 10% Thursday after the budget airline cautioned its fiscal first-half pretax loss could double year-on-year due to higher fuel costs, although it said it expected a robust second half and said its full-year expectations remained "broadly unchanged."

"The economic outlook in Europe remains uncertain and the higher market price of fuel will inevitably put pressure on margins in the short term," easyJet said in a statement.

EasyJet forecast a pretax loss for the six-month period ending March 31 of between GBP140 million and GBP160 million, up from a pretax loss of GBP78.7 million in the same period a year earlier. The company typically posts losses in its fiscal first half, which covers the seasonally slower autumn and winter months.

Fuel costs in the first half were expected to be GBP1.17 a seat higher than a year earlier, easyJet said, noting that the current market price of jet fuel is $897 a metric ton compared with $681 a ton a year ago.

Ancillary revenue per seat fell 27 pence to GBP9.63 as a reduction in the take-up of checked bags meant that first bag revenue dropped 37 pence to GBP4.02. EasyJet said it was now reviewing its baggage policy to accommodate the needs of consumers in different European markets.

At 0848 GMT, easyJet's shares traded down 58 pence, or 13%, at 398 pence, making it the biggest loser in the FTSE 250 index, which traded down 0.8%. The impact hurt rival Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYA.DB), whose shares in Dublin traded down EUR0.11, or 2.9%, at EUR3.62.

Investec Securities described easyJet's trading update as a "mixed bag," and said the fall in ancillary revenue was a concern. It placed its forecasts and 592-pence target price under review.

Luton, England-based easyJet reported that passenger numbers in the three-month period to Dec. 31 rose 8.8% year-on-year to 11.9 million and revenue grew 7.5% to GBP654 million, as growth in underlying yields more than offset the weakness on ancillary revenue.

Load factor in the quarter increased 0.9 percentage points to 86.7%. The total number of seats flown in the quarter grew 7.7% to 13.8 million and total revenue per seat was flat at GBP47.48.

A greater proportion of 180-seat Airbus A320 aircraft in the fleet improved easyJet's unit costs and overall contribution per seat, more than offsetting a dilution of yields. In the quarter, it converted some orders for Airbus A319s to A320s and secured options on another 33 A320s.

The carrier said that strikes in the fiscal first quarter by air-traffic controllers, in France and Spain, in particular, cost GBP6 million and disruptions caused by severe winter weather a further GBP18 million. It said it was working to recover a significant proportion of the GBP24 million total through additional costs savings and revenue opportunities.

On a reported basis, costs per seat excluding fuel fell 2.9% before the additional cost of disruptions.

EasyJet said it handled the snow disruption far more proactively than the previous winter, resulting in less uncertainty for passengers and reducing the cost per incident by around 10%.

However, its on-time performance in the quarter fell to 65% as at least one of its airports was closed for 30 consecutive days.

EasyJet Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said disruptions caused by snow in the past two years highlighted "the need for airports to invest in the appropriate infrastructure to keep passengers moving."

Aer Lingus hires Ryanair aircraft to fly full schedule
21 January 2011
Irish Times

AER LINGUS has hired aircraft from Ryanair and other airlines in an effort to operate a full flight schedule today as its dispute with cabin crew continues.

Aer Lingus said last night that more than 100 members of cabin crew, who are represented by the trade union Impact, had been taken off the payroll by management for refusing to operate controversial new rosters.

Impact said yesterday that it had submitted 28 discrimination claims to the director of the Equality Tribunal on behalf of cabin crew who had been removed from duties and payroll.

It said it had asked the tribunal to investigate claims that the company’s action may breach equality laws that ban discrimination on the grounds of family status and gender.

The union said the discrimination arose from the imposition of rosters which had greater impact on female staff and which made it impossible for staff to manage their family responsibilities.

Separately, it is understood that the pilots’ association Ialpa is to donate €100,000 to alleviate financial distress to cabin crew as a result of the dispute.

Yesterday Aer Lingus cancelled 34 flights to British and European destinations because of the dispute. The cancellations caused disruption to more than 2,600 passengers.

However, in a statement yesterday, Aer Lingus said that it hoped to operate a full service today.

“In an effort to ensure that we can operate a full schedule from tomorrow Friday, Aer Lingus has hired in aircraft from a number of carriers, including Ryanair.

“Our intention is to operate a full schedule from tomorrow and minimise further disruption to customers caused by this unnecessary dispute.”

Aer Lingus, which had by last night hired nine aircraft for today’s flights, had been seeking assistance when Ryanair made its offer.

Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary said that his company would be providing four or five aircraft at preferential rates to Aer Lingus.

“As a minority shareholder we are always here to help,” he said.

Asked whether Ryanair was offering a discount on the aircraft as a shareholder, Mr O’Leary said: “Yes, we are doing them at lower than market rates.”

Commenting on the dispute between cabin crew and Aer Lingus, Mr O’Leary said the company needed to win and win quickly. “If we can help in that process then we will help,” he said.

“This is a good time [January] to deal with them [the workers]. Clearly, the union are backtracking on a deal, as only a union can do.

“We’d like the company to resolve this as quickly as possible and with the minimum disruption as possible.”

He said the aircraft were available “straight away”. Pilots and cabin crew would also be offered under a process known as a “wet lease”.

Mr O’Leary described the arrangement as “routine” and noted how Ryanair had entered into similar arrangements previously with Aer Lingus and last year with British Airways.

In the cheap seats
29 January 2011
The Economist

With traffic expected to slow, low-cost air carriers are getting fancy

SINCE taking off in the mid-1990s, Europe’s budget airlines have soared to account for a third of all air travel in the region. But their growth is slowing. Having introduced holidaymakers to once obscure places like Tallinn and Sharm el-Sheikh, the low-cost carriers are left with few new places to explore. National airlines such as British Airways and Lufthansa have tried to defend their business by offering stripped-down service and cheaper fares on more short-haul routes. “The low-cost carrier market used to be about fast growth and uncomplicated strategies,” says Keith McMullan, of Aviation Economics, a consultancy. “Now it is about slow growth and complicated strategies.”

The model for all the new outfits was Southwest Airlines, the original American budget carrier. Low-cost airlines held down maintenance costs by using just one kind of aircraft, bought in large numbers with bulk discounts. They charged for, or did away with, frills like meals and drinks. Aeroplanes flew back and forth along a single route, often between quiet, out-of-the-way airports, rather than using busy hubs. As a result the airlines could turn planes around in less than half an hour. Almost from the beginning, bookings took place online. Such savings were passed on to customers.

Ryanair, the market leader (see chart), exemplifies how the industry is changing. Its passenger growth is expected to slow from 14% in 2009-10 to 6% by 2013 and just 4% thereafter. Ryanair is still committed to cheap fares and secondary airports where landing charges are low or non-existent. But it plans to drop ultra-low fares on new routes and may move some flights to primary airports, which are wooing low-cost carriers to boost flagging growth. Ryanair has already moved into one in Barcelona. In future it will concentrate less on increasing traffic and more on extracting larger amounts of money from each passenger.

Its main rival is going further. EasyJet already offers greater frequency on its routes and makes more use of primary airports such as London Gatwick and Paris Charles de Gaulle. It is also targeting cost-conscious business travellers. The firm recently smartened up cabin service. Passengers can opt for priority boarding either by paying extra for their ticket (as with Ryanair) or by joining easyJet’s loyalty scheme. There is an exception: easyJet’s German operation aims at the sun-seeker market.

EasyJet certainly needs a new direction. It has struggled in recent years as cost-cutting ate into reliability (Ryanair, by contrast, has a good reputation for punctuality and keeping passengers together with their luggage). On January 20th easyJet’s shares fell by 16% after a trading statement forecast losses of £160m or so in the six months to the end of March. The listed airline has sparred with its founder and biggest shareholder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who thinks it has been buying too many aircraft and is losing too much money in winter.

Perhaps the most dramatic example of changes in the market is Air Berlin, which has swallowed several smaller carriers to emerge as Germany’s second airline and the third-biggest budget carrier in Europe. Air Berlin now arranges its timetables to encourage transfers at its Berlin Tegel, Düsseldorf and Palma hubs, like a traditional network carrier. It also has a frequent-flyer programme. Through its Niki associate in Austria, the airline even offers a direct flight from Berlin to Dubai three times a week. It is discussing a co-operation deal with Emirates, so that passengers from the Gulf carrier can connect in Vienna to fly to other European cities. Air Berlin is also joining the oneworld alliance based around British Airways and American Airlines.

Like Air Berlin, Norwegian, the fourth-largest budget carrier, is spreading its wings by offering longer flights to the Middle East and north Africa—encroaching further into traditional airlines’ territory. They will have to get used to such incursions. The European sky used to offer a stark choice between full-service and budget airlines. It is increasingly crowded with options of all shapes, sizes and costs. Take your pick, and hope your luggage arrives.

Prestwick airline has carried 20m passengers
26 January 2011
Evening Times

AN Ayrshire nurse has become the 20 millionth passenger to fly with Ryanair from Prestwick Airport.

Patricia McPhillimy was met at the airport by Transport Minister Keith Brown, who presented her with flowers and a bottle of champagne.

She was also given a free return flight on any of the airline’s routes.

The 49-year-old, from Barassie, near Troon, had just stepped off a flight from Dublin, where she had spent the weekend celebrating her sister’s birthday.

She said she would use her prize to help celebrate her wedding anniversary later this week, joking that her husband John would not now have to buy her flowers.

She said: “I’m in shock, I can’t believe it. It’s been a lovely experience.”

Mrs McPhillimy is originally from Tipperary in Ireland, and said she often used the airline to fly back to see her family.

She said: “As long as Ryanair has been here I’ve been using it, it means I can go home more often.

“It’s my anniversary in a couple of days, so we’ll be drinking the champagne then.”

Ryanair began operating passenger flights from Prestwick in 1994.

Airport boss Iain Cochrane said Ryanair’s 20 millionth passenger was a “milestone” that demonstrated the “great success” of its partnership with Prestwick.

Mr Brown added: “Prestwick and Ryanair make a substantial contribution to Scotland’s connectivity and I look forward to their already well established relationship going from strength to strength.”

The Transport Minister also said he had written to the UK Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond in a bid to prevent BMI cancelling its Glasgow to Heathrow route.

Last week, it was reported BMI was considering scrapping the route to save money.

Mr Brown said he had also spoken to BMI and airport operator BAA over the issue.

He said: It’s vitally important that we have competition on the main routes between Glasgow and London. We need to make sure BMI retain those flights.”

By VRHNA from HKADB :

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Aer Lingus booking seats on Ryanair
27 January 2011
Irish Times

AER LINGUS has begun booking seats on Ryanair flights for passengers affected by its dispute over rosters with cabin crew.

The former State airline is also to lease a sixth aircraft from Ryanair as it continues to plug gaps in its schedule created by the dispute, which has resulted to date in the removal of 215 Aer Lingus staff from its payroll.

Aer Lingus expects that about 14 scheduled flights could be cancelled today as the dispute, which is now in its second week, continues to escalate.

As well as the leasing of aircraft from its rival, Aer Lingus has been booking flights, at a discount, on Ryanair’s scheduled services for passengers travelling to cities where both airlines operate.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said yesterday the airline was also prepared to accommodate “walk-up” Aer Lingus passengers at airports who have had their flights cancelled at short notice.

“We’ll take as many of their passengers as we can fit on our flights,” he said.

Aer Lingus said the flights likely to be affected by disruption today would be on some UK and European routes.

The airline has said that it is seeking to confine any disruption to routes where it operates a number of services daily. It has said that most intending passengers would be able to reach their destination on the same day.

Mr O’Leary called on Aer Lingus to sack members of its cabin crew staff who are refusing to operate controversial new rosters that it introduced unilaterally last week.

He said Ryanair would continue to support Aer Lingus in its dispute with cabin crew and their trade union Impact.

He also disputed claims from the union that Aer Lingus was spending €40,000 per round trip to lease aircraft from Ryanair to fly routes to the UK.

“I wish,” Mr O’Leary said. “[We’re going] out and back to the UK and Europe for less than €10,000, although obviously it varies, depending on the length of the flight.”

Mr O’Leary said Ryanair, which owns just under 30 per cent of Aer Lingus, could make more aircraft available to its Irish rival.

“We could provide more once we get into the middle of next week. If they need more aircraft, we will provide them with more aircraft.”

Mr O’Leary said Aer Lingus should withdraw travel privileges from its cabin crew and sack those who refused to work the new roster arrangements, which Aer Lingus maintains are required to facilitate an increase in cabin crew flying hours to 850 per year.

The union has argued that the rosters are excessively onerous and not family-friendly.

“It’s the only way you’re going to face [down] these trade union disruptions,” he said.

“If they don’t want to comply with an agreement that 93 per cent per cent of them voted in favour of, then they should leave.”

Ryanair has also ceased, for now, running newspaper advertisements mocking Aer Lingus’s 75 years of high fares, flight cancellations and strikes.

“We haven’t run any since [last] Sunday. Defeating Impact’s determination to disrupt Aer Lingus is a more important issue to us at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Impact last night said it stood over its estimated cost of the Aer Lingus contingency arrangements.

“If Aer Lingus or its suppliers came clean about what’s actually being spent, we wouldn’t have to work off estimates. But €40,000 per round trip is a conservative estimate of the cost of hiring aircraft and crew at short notice and we stand over it.”

Ryanair upbeat as fares, passenger traffic climb

DUBLIN, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Europe's biggest low-cost airline Ryanair sees its full-year profit at the upper end of expectations as rising passenger numbers and average fares help offset disruption from strikes and bad weather.

The Irish airline said it was on track to make net profit in the year to March towards the top of a 380 million euro ($517 million) to 400 million euro target range.

Ryanair, which operates more than 1,500 flights a day, said it made a net loss of 10 million euros in the third quarter to the end of December. This compared with an 11 million euro loss a year earlier and a forecast for a net loss of 13.4 million euros by in-house broker Davy.

"This small Q3 loss is disappointing, as we were on track to break even, but earnings were hit by a series of air traffic controllers (ATC) strikes compounded by a spate of bad weather airport closures in December," said CEO Michael O'Leary.

Ryanair did not quantify the cost of the disruption.

Rivals easyJet and Air Berlin said last week they would take hits of 31 million pounds and 30 million euros respectively from strikes and winter weather across Europe.

Shares in Ryanair, which had lost around 10 percent of their value over the last three weeks on fears over the impact from the disruption, were up 1.6 percent to 3.68 euros at 0930 GMT.

NCB analyst Murray McCarter said Ryanair's update was reassuring following easyJet's recent profit warning.

"In particular the strong increase in fares and ancillary revenues is impressive despite the challenging conditions through the winter," he said.

Ryanair cancelled over 3,000 flights in the third quarter compared with over 1,400 cancellations in the previous year.

Airlines traditionally lose money in the third quarter which is the quietest period of the year for the industry.

BETTER MIX

The company said last month it would take legal action against Spanish unions over an ATC strike which forced it to cancel 500 flights.

O'Leary said he expected passenger numbers and average fares to continue to benefit in the fourth quarter from a better mix of new routes. The airline has offset weakness in the domestic economy by growing in lower cost markets like Spain and Italy. O'Leary also said Ryanair had been protected from significant rises in oil prices in recent months by its fuel hedging strategy. The airline is 90 percent hedged for the fourth quarter at a price of $750 per tonne compared with the current spot price of $890 per tonne, it said. Ryanair said it was benefiting from flag carriers being weakened by raising their prices through putting fuel surcharges on many short haul flights.

In an interview with Reuters, finance director Howard Millar said he expected that trend to continue in 2011.

"I think you'll see fuel prices move upwards for the industry. As part of that we expect flag carriers to put up fuel surcharges. That widens the gap between their fares and our fares," he said.

Davy analyst Stephen Furlong said Ryanair would be a beneficiary of current fuel prices.

"We still believe that Ryanair will be one of the key winners in this higher fuel environment, the key being that demand for its business model remains strong," he said.

Millar said Ryanair was picking up market share and anticipated continuing to do so in the coming year.

"Ourselves and easyJet are the only two carriers of any size and shape growing this year and next year. The flag carriers have stopped growing and are continuing to retreat," he said.

Millar said Ryanair would be interested in buying Ireland's 25 percent stake in rival Aer Lingus should it be put up for sale by a new government looking to raise money through the sale of state assets after the forthcoming election.

"Everything's up for grabs now. We're going to have a new government soon. At some stage they'll have to think about it."

Ryanair said it grew total revenue by 22 percent to 746 million euros during the quarter benefiting from a 6 percent increase in passenger numbers to 17 million and a 15 percent rise in average fares. ($1=.7344 Euro)

Ryanair says to reopen routes from Marseille
1 February 2011
AFP

Low-cost European airline Ryanair said Tuesday it would reopen most of the routes from the French city Marseille which it shut in protest at being prosecuted over its employment practices.

"We can never get all the traffic back," chief executive Michael O'Leary told reporters in the Mediterranean city. But he said he hoped to pick up 75 percent of the traffic from the routes that Ryanair cut last month.

Ryanair last month abandoned its base at Marseille airport in protest over French prosecutors; refusal to drop charges against it for hiring workers on Irish contracts which they said breached labour laws.

The company cut 13 routes from Marseille to destinations in Europe and Morocco, served by four aircraft based in the French city. But it continued to run 10 routes to and from the airport by planes based elsewhere.

Now, O'Leary said Tuesday, the airline will reopen routes and get around the court ruling by not basing its planes in Marseille on a permanent basis and by regularly changing the pilots and air crew working on the reopened routes.

"They will generally be Irish pilots and cabin crew moving temporarily to Marseilles through the summer," he said.

This way, Ryanair is "avoiding the obligation to pay taxes and social insurance in France, but I emphasise all these people will continue to pay taxes and social insurance in Ireland," he added.

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Ryanair eyes Chinese or Russian jets
1 February 2011
The Daily Telegraph

RYANAIR raised the prospect of buying new aircraft from China or Russia as it fell to a €10.3m (￡8.8m) net loss in its third-quarter, hit by air traffic control strikes in Europe and the pre-Christmas snow.

Michael Cawley, deputy chief executive, said that having failed to agree a deal for 200 new planes from either Boeing or Airbus, the low-fare carrier's growth would slow dramatically over the next two years.

Ryanair expects passenger volumes to rise 11pc to 73.5m in the year to March 31, 2011, on top of a 14pc increase the previous year. For the next two financial years, however, growth slows to 7pc and 6pc as the carrier takes delivery of far fewer aircraft.

"If we can't get aircraft at the prices that make sense for us, given fuel prices and the fares we can earn from passengers, we will not expand beyond the level we are projecting of 300 aircraft and 83.5m passengers by March 2013," Mr Cawley said.

He said there was "no progress to report" in talks with Boeing and Airbus but added: "We're talking to everyone, the Russians and the Chinese as well." Asked if Ryanair would seriously place a major order with an untried supplier from China or Russia, Mr Cawley said: "We would do anything seriously that would save us money."

Failure to agree a new aircraft deal would see Ryanair, with €2.3bn of gross cash, pay another special dividend following last year's €500m payment to investors.

Total revenues in the third quarter rose 22pc to €746m, with passengers up by 1m to 17m and average fares rising 15pc to €34. Pre-tax losses rose €200,000 to €12.7m.

Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, said the loss was "disappointing as we were on track to break even" before the €13m costs from the air traffic control strikes and snow chaos. Even so, the airline now expects full-year net profits at the "upper end" of a forecast €380m to €400m.

Ryanair has also hedged 80pc of next year's fuel needs at about $80 a barrel.

Andrew Fitchie, an Investec analyst, said there was "scope for continued growth and yield improvement by the low cost carriers". Ryanair shares rose 1 cent to €3.64.

Not that I think it'll happen, but if it actually does it'd be the biggest coup for the Russian jet. If they can get a high profile Western customer, it'll pave the way for many more Western customers.

Ryanair Holdings Jan Traffic Grows 5%
3 February 2011

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Ryanair PLC (RYAAY), the budget airline, said Thursday it carried 4.66 million passengers in January compared with 4.44 million in January 2010 a rise of 5%.

MAIN FACTS:

-For the 12 months ended Jan. 31, the airline carried 72.9 million passengers.

-Jan load factor, the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available for passengers, was 71% compared with 70%, and 82% for the rolling 12 months.

-Year to date traffic figure includes up to 1.45 million passengers booked on flights which were cancelled due to the unnecessary closures of E.U. airspace during the Icelandic volcanic eruptions in April/May 2010.

-Shares in London at 1300 GMT up 2 cents, or 0.5%, at 367 cents valuing the company at EUR5.47 billion.

Ryanair paid airport body €3.5m to settle action.
7 February 2011
The Irish Times

RYANAIR PAID €3.5 million last month to the Dublin Airport Authority to settle a legal action relating to the breach of a five-year contract with Shannon airport on passenger charges, The Irish Times has learned.

It is understood that the airport authority had sought about €5 million in damages from Ryanair, but accepted the lower amount in an out of court settlement.

Ryanair has also agreed to pay the airport authority’s legal costs, which are thought to amount to several hundred thousand euro.

At a hearing in the Commercial Court last Tuesday, Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan struck out the case and an order was made on consent for costs against Ryanair.

The action related to a five-year discount deal on passenger charges between Ryanair and Shannon that was agreed in November 2004.

The deal ran from May 2005 until April 2010.

It involved Ryanair being offered a substantial discount on airport charges – it paid between €1 and €2 per person – in return for carrying an agreed number of passengers.

Shannon’s standard charge at the time was €4 per departing passenger.

Ryanair agreed to increase the number of passengers it carried each year of the deal up to a target of two million by April 2010.

Ryanair based a number of aircraft at Shannon and met its targets for the first three years.

But it failed to hits its target in year four and announced in February 2009 that it was scaling back its operations at Shannon.

Under the terms of the agreement with Shannon, Ryanair was required to pay compensation to the airport manager if it did not meet its targets.

This involved Ryanair paying the full airport charge on any shortfall in passengers as per the deal.

A force majeur clause was included in the contract and Ryanair sought to invoke this by claiming that the introduction of a €10 air travel tax by the Government in March 2009 made it impossible for it to reach the agreed targets and rendered the deal null and void.

The airport authority, which has responsibility for Shannon Airport, rejected this claim and initiated legal proceedings with Ryanair to recover the sum owed under the terms of the contract.

The airport authority also took action in relation to the late payment by Ryanair of fees due in relation to its activities at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.

This was settled in January, too, with Ryanair paying compensation to the airport authority.

When contacted a spokesman for the airport authority said: “The case had been settled and the company is satisfied with the outcome.”

He declined to comment on the details of the case or the settlement. Ryanair declined to comment on the case yesterday.

Shannon’s deal with Ryanair was announced shortly after the airport was given greater autonomy from the former Aer Rianta, a predecessor of the airport authority, by the Government.

Under a plan devised by former minister for transport Séamus Brennan, Shannon and Cork airports were to have been given full autonomy from the airport authority.

However, this move was shelved by former minister for transport Noel Dempsey some time ago in light of the economic crash and a sharp reduction in visitor numbers to Ireland.

Ryanair operates flights to just 10 destinations from Shannon airport.

Stelios hits out at former easyJet CEO pay deal

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - EasyJet's largest shareholder and founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou on Thursday said he would vote against a resolution to approve directors' remuneration for 2009/10 at the budget airline's annual general meeting. Haji-Ioannou, who is still easyJet's largest shareholder with a 26 percent stake, wrote to the carrier's Chairman Michael Rake on Thursday to complain that he was not consulted on Andrew Harrison's (the former easyJet Chief Executive) payment deal covering the period April 1 to Sep. 30, 2010 by the then interim Chairman, David Michels.

Harrison left the airline at the end of June, 2010 but agreed to be available on a consultative basis.

Accounts show that Harrison received 750,000 pounds for the period from April 1 to Sept. 30 and a 250,000 pounds bonus. He also received a 1.2 million pounds retention bonus to stay with easyJet after he resigned.

"The main criticism against David (Michels) is that by insulating the pay of Harrison from the actual results in the 2009 deal, he gave the CEO the right to destroy shareholder value in the summer of 2010 with impunity," Stelios said in the letter.

Stelois said he would also abstain from voting on a resolution to re-elect Michels as a director of the company.

EasyJet's AGM is due to take place next Thursday.

Shares in easyJet were 2.4 percent down at 379.50 pence by 1055 GMT, valuing the company at around 1.6 billion pounds ($2.57 billion).

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Ryanair drops plans to launch Plovdiv-Barcelona flight

SOFIA, February 17 (Dnevnik BFNS) - Irish low-cost airline Ryanair scrapped plans to launch flights between the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv and Barcelona's Girona airport a month before it was scheduled to start servicing the destination.

The company, which had announced it would launch the route on March 27, started offering tickets for the destination in late 2010. According to information published on the Plovdiv airport website, Ryanair is expected to make proposals for an alternative destination. "The airline will contact all customers who have already purchased tickets," the statement said.

The cancellation has been prompted by the Spanish airport's decision to terminate a five-year contract with the airline, as the new government of Catalonia "has refused to honour its agreement with Ryanair," the company said on its website. The carrier will cancel further 17 flights from the Spanish airport.

Ryanair to target ads on boarding passes
21 February 2011
The Wall Street Journal Europe

In a move to boost revenue from sources other than ticket sales, Irish budget airline Ryanair Holdings PLC is teaming up with a travel-media company to sell targeted advertising aimed at passengers booking and checking in online.

London-based Ink, the world's largest producer of in-flight magazines, is working with Ryanair to offer ads that can be customized according to a traveler's route and demographic data. The ads will appear online and on home-printed boarding passes.

Many airlines do similar things, but the Ink's approach aims to tailor pitches much more precisely to an individual traveler to generate higher ad rates. Ink Chief Executive Jeffrey O'Rourke said initial contracts with advertisers are being priced at several times the rates for similar Web ads.

A Ryanair spokesman said the ad revenue will help it keep airfares low. "Passengers must reference their boarding card on a number of occasions during a trip, providing repeat exposure for advertisers," the spokesman said. Dublin-based Ryanair requires passengers to print their own boarding passes before arriving at the airport or potentially pay a fee of <euro>40, or about $55.

Ryanair's business model is based on offering inexpensive tickets to generate traffic and then selling other products and services, known as ancillary revenue. Ryanair also strikes deals with airports to pay the airline fees based on the volume of passenger traffic.

Ink's deal with Ryanair comes as carriers world-wide are working to boost ancillary revenue from sources such as access to airport lounges or hotel rooms booked through an airline's website.

Airlines generated more than $22 billion in ancillary revenue last year, according to a study published by travel-technology group Amadeus and IdeaWorks, a consulting firm specializing in ancillary revenue. That figure represents less than 5% of airlines' operating revenue, the report said, although the figure is much higher for some carriers.

Ryanair, a pioneer in generating ancillary sales, derives more than 20% of its revenue from such sources.

So far, most ancillary revenue has come from airlines charging for services once included in a ticket, such as baggage and seat reservations. A recent report from Forrester Consulting predicted that airlines' ancillary revenue from other sources, such as hotel bookings, will rise 30% over the next five years. "This is significant when compared with overall travel industry growth of 3% per year," the report said.

The Ryanair-Ink venture will focus in part on advertising tied to departure airports, where travelers are a captive market and data about them is valuable to retailers, Mr. O'Rourke said. Much current advertising on boarding passes is tied to destinations. But passengers rarely shop after landing, and airlines rarely know where customers go once they leave the arrival airport, so it is difficult to target advertising.

"This is a way to stimulate demand and encourage people to shop," Mr. O'Rourke said. "Departure is much more targeted than arrival."

Airport retailing today generates more than $20 billion in revenue world-wide and is set to rise to $44 billion in 2015, according to consulting firm Datamonitor.

Retailing represents a significant and growing portion of airport revenue, but most airports have little data about their customers. Airlines typically haven't cooperated much with airports.

Ink is developing targeted advertising offerings with airlines beyond Ryanair. Ink aims to profit by linking airline data with airport retailers.

But while airlines collect extensive information about their passengers, many carriers are unable to capitalize on it.

"Using passenger data sounds like low-hanging fruit, but for many airlines it means an expensive overhaul" of computer systems, said Dermot Davitt, deputy publisher of the Moodie Report, a travel-retail newsletter.

La Junta de accionistas de easyJet, a favor del pago de dividendos en años de rentabilidad:

LONDRES. (EUROPA PRESS) -La junta de accionistas de la aerolínea británica de bajo coste ‘easyJet’ se ha posicionado a favor de realizar pago de dividendos al accionista a cargo de los ejercicios en la que la compañía aérea sea rentable, tal y como había adelantado la consejero delegado del grupo, Carolyn McCall, cuando presentó los resultados anuales de la ‘low cost’.

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Ryanair iniciará en abril una nueva ruta que unirá Lanzarote con Milán:

LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA, (EUROPA PRESS) – La aerolínea Ryanair iniciará el próximo 13 de abril una nueva ruta que unirá Lanzarote con Milán Bérgamo, conexión que tendrá una frecuencia de dos vuelos semanales, informó la compañía en un comunicado.

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Ryanair diverts Sicily flights due to Libya

PARIS, March 20 (Reuters) - Irish budget carrier Ryanair is being forced to divert flights from Trapani airport in Sicily from Monday because of military operations over Libya, the airline said on Sunday.

The airport, on the western tip of Sicily at the foot of the Italian peninsular, doubles as a military base.It is located about 350 miles (560 km) from the westernmost point of Libya.

Ryanair said Trapani would be closed to civilian traffic indefinitely from Monday and that it would divert its flights to Palermo. It said 28 flights would be affected on Monday.

The move marked the first reported direct impact from the Libyan conflict on airline operations outside the country.

Eurocontrol, the European air traffic control centre, said last week it was no longer accepting requests to fly through Libyan airspace after the United Nations Security Council backed a no-fly zone over the North African country.

Western warplanes and missiles began strikes on Saturday.

Ryanair faces drop in earnings as 2013 fuel left unhedged
26 March 2011
Irish Independent

CREDIT Suisse has slashed its target price for Ryanair shares by 18pc and predicted a "significant risk" to the airline's earnings in 2013 due to an unhedged fuel position for the period.

Analysts led by Neil Glynn at the investment bank said in a research note released yesterday that investors are likely to increasingly focus on Ryanair's 2013 financial year in coming months, zeroing in on the fact that the airline hasn't any forward contracts to cover its fuel requirements for the period.

Credit Suisse pointed out that while Ryanair has 90pc of its fuel requirements hedged for the period to the end of December this year, it only has 50pc in place for its 2012 financial year and none hedged for the subsequent period.

"In our view, this hedging position has limited share-price declines in the year to date, but we expect the market to increasingly look forwards to full-year 2013 in coming months and to recognise a subdued earnings growth outlook," noted the Credit Suisse report.

The institution cut its forecast earnings for the current financial year by just €2m to €408m, but has pencilled in a 4pc fall in the following year to €507m.

However, for the 2013 financial year, Credit Suisse has cut its predicted earnings at Ryanair by 17pc to €489m from €588m.

Credit Suisse said that consensus earnings forecasts for Ryanair's 2013 financial year has only slipped 2pc so far despite a 28pc rise in jet fuel pricing.

It reckons Ryanair's fuel costs in its 2013 financial year will jump to just over €1.99bn, up 15pc from the institution's previous estimate of €1.73bn.

It also envisages that Ryanair will probably pressurise "substantially weaker" players in Ireland, the UK, Spain and Italy in 2012 and 2013 due to its lower planned-growth rates.

Credit Suisse said the airline would likely exert its "industry-low unit costs and strong balance sheet to gain market share".

"This strategy is attractive for the long-term investor but may prove unattractive in the short term, particularly as the carrier most exposed to discretionary travel spend in the sector," added the investment bank.

Shares in Ryanair closed up 5 cent at €3.27, a gain of 1.4pc

Ads on boarding passes? Sooner or later Ryanair is going to start charging people for using the toilet on board, on grounds of "lowering the carbon footprint of the world's most eco-friendly airline, building a better future for our next generation", so on and so forth...

Ads on boarding passes? Sooner or later Ryanair is going to start charging people for using the toilet on board, on grounds of "lowering the carbon footprint of the world's most eco-friendly airline, building a better future for our next generation", so on and so forth...

For a short-haul flight it's OK. But then will they give the proceeds to green causes?

For a short-haul flight it's OK. But then will they give the proceeds to green causes?

Undoubtedly they won't. They're just going to say it's a green step lol

I'll soon be commuting weekly with Ryanair... :o

I'll soon be commuting weekly with Ryanair... :o

Good luck! :lol:

You flying from Scotland to London?

EasyJet inaugurates Jordan route despite recent deadly violence amid protests
28 March 2011

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Britain's EasyJet says it has no qualms about its new low-cost service to the Jordanian capital despite protests that have recently turned deadly in this Mideast country.

EasyJet flights to Amman started on Sunday.

The budget carrier's spokesman James Fearnley said on Monday that EasyJet still considers Jordan "stable" even though there have been three months of anti-government protests inspired by the uprisings across the Arab world. One protester died on Friday.

EasyJet is the first low-cost airline link from Europe to Jordan with a return ticket priced at $166, or 106 British Pounds, including tax -- a quarter of rates by other airlines.

Jordan's Tourism Board has predicted tourist numbers will drop by 25 percent over regional unrest.

Low-cost airline reveals new Manchester route
29 March 2011
Belfast Telegraph

BUDGET airline easyJet has announced a new Belfast to Manchester route -- and has also shifted a London route away from the City Airport.

The airline yesterday announced it was returning its Luton route from the City Airport to Belfast International after a year's trial.

A new Manchester flight, with fares starting at £23.99 plus taxes, will start from Belfast International on October 31, though flights go on sale this week from easyJet.com.

Rival low-cost airlines bmibaby and Flybe already operate Manchester routes from Belfast City.

EasyJet commercial manager Ali Gayward said: "We believe it is a very good time to introduce the Manchester route.

"The city is increasingly becoming an important business centre, and with weekday flights from 7.20pm, people will be able to complete a full day's work on arrival in Manchester.

"We will also be providing business people in the North West of England with cost-effective and flexible access to Belfast.

"More people are now going to Manchester on short breaks and, of course, many football fans will be heading there for big matches, particularly at weekends."

Meanwhile, the Luton route will start afresh from Belfast International Airport on May 6th -- the reverse of a bmibaby decision last year to leave the International Airport to join sister airline British Midland International (bmi) at Belfast City.

Ms Gayward said: "Moving to Belfast City Airport was always a trial, but in over a year we have seen no tangible benefits.

"Our 20 other routes operate from Belfast International and we will now consolidate our overall operation by re-establishing our Luton flights from there as well.

"Luton is a popular route for both business and leisure travellers, and dovetails well with our other London area services from Belfast International to Stansted and Gatwick.

"Our same high standards of service will continue to be a priority and will ensure that easyJet retains its position as Northern Ireland's favourite airline."

Uel Hoey, business development director at Belfast International, welcomed easyJet's announcement:

"Together with the return of the easyJet Luton service and ongoing evaluations in respect of other key domestic and international routes, these are truly exciting times for the airport."

Ryanair defends £2 levy to pay for impact of last year's travel chaos
1 April 2011
Guardian Unlimited

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has denied the airline is "punishing" millions of passengers by imposing a £2 levy (€2 in Europe) on fares to pay for customers stranded during last year's snow, volcano and air traffic control chaos.

The chief executive of Europe's largest short-haul carrier said the airline had no choice but to introduce a new add-on charge from next week after the European Union failed to reform its EU261 compensation law. O'Leary said the £110m raised by the fee over the next 12 months will cover the cost of providing hotels and compensation to passengers stranded by last year's severe weather, the Icelandic volcano eruption and air traffic control strikes in Belgium, France and Spain.

"If you are not allowed, as EU261 regulation states, to recover these costs then the passenger must pay," said O'Leary, repeating calls for a "force majeure" clause that would waive compensation for delays and cancellations outside an airline's control. O'Leary denied he was punishing passengers this year in order to pay for customers stranded last year who, for instance, had to spend an extra fortnight in hotels in Tenerife due to the Icelandic volcano that shut down European airspace in April.

"Nobody has argued that Ryanair punishes people given that we offer the lowest fares and are the most punctual airline," O'Leary said. He also predicted that other airlines will soon follow suit if there is no EU261 reform. "If the EU says airlines should become the insurer of last resort then we have to be allowed to recover the costs from passengers."

The Ryanair boss pledged to reduce the levy to zero next year if the airline incurs no "unfair" EU261 costs over the next 12 months. The levy represents a 6% increase on last year's average fare of £30. The consumer group Which? said Ryanair should use the proceeds from the levy to ensure that all EU261 payments are dealt with swiftly in the future.

Rochelle Turner, head of research for Which? Travel, said: "Since this charge is going to be passed on to all Ryanair passengers from now on, we will be watching closely to see how it deals with claims made under EU261. With more money to put towards resources for processing claims, Ryanair will have no excuse for delays in dealing with them."

Ryanair cuts at Alicante after row
6 April 2011
The Daily Telegraph

RYANAIR is pulling nine of its 11 aircraft from Alicante, cutting the number of passengers it flies there by 2.5m a year, after a row with the Spanish airport over how passengers board the planes.

The airline announced the cutbacks to the winter schedule after Alicante–owner Aena forced it to use airbridges rather than allow passengers simply to walk to and from the aircraft – and pay €2m (£1.75m) extra a year in landing charges.

Michael O'Leary, Ryanair chief executive, said: "We are not going to be bullied by an abusive airport monopoly, or forced to pay €2m extra for inefficient airbridges which neither we nor our passengers want."

The issue arose when Alicante moved Ryanair to its new terminal, which Mr O'Leary maintained "was not needed". Ryanair said it would axe 31 routes to Alicante from October, including Bournemouth, Doncaster and Cork, and cut frequencies to a further 27 destinations. That would reduce its annual passengers at the airport from more more than 4m to below 1.5m.

"This abusive behaviour by Aena Alicante will now mean that the airport loses over €30m in revenues per year, more than 2.5m passengers and over 2,000 jobs," Mr O'Leary claimed, citing the impact on local tourism.

Ryanair has submitted a complaint to the Spanish Government and the European Commission.

Ryanair said it had been talking to Alicante airport for about six months, arguing that using airbridges would wreck the 25–minute turnaround times on which its schedule depends. Planes would have to wait for the airbridge to be put in place, while passengers could board or disembark at only one point rather than the current practice of using steps at the front and back of the aircraft.

"This is really not an issue about costs," said Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara. "With 60 flights a day, we can't have the knock–on effect of planes being delayed 20 to 30 minutes."

The airport owner hit back, saying: "The use of airbridges is essential to ensure not only quality service, but safety." It said "Ryanair, as well as other companies" had been offered the possibility of not using airbridges but "remote positions and transferring passengers by bus". It said the extra costs per passenger were just 32 cents.

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/472/4726044.html

http://pic.feeyo.com/pic/20091218/200912180317208018.jpg

http://pic.feeyo.com/pic/20091218/200912180323058464.jpg

Ryanair in talks with Chinese, Russians on planes

DUBLIN, May 6 (Reuters) - Europe's largest low-cost airline Ryanair has met with officials from the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) recently about future potential plane orders, its finance director said on Friday.

"We have met with the Chinese aviation company. We are also meeting with other aircraft manufacturers," Howard Millar told reporters.

"We have no plans for any future aircraft orders, but beyond the horizon, 2014 and 2015, we need to look at some fleet replacement and some growth, and we are meeting with all manufacturers to discuss what they have to offer."

Millar, who was attending the annual general meeting of domestic rival Aer Lingus , said Ryanair had also met Russian manufacturer United Aircraft.

"We have met both of them," he said. "These are new entrants into the market.

"Given the size and the scale of the Chinese, you ignore them at your peril."

Ryanair currently flies only Boeing jets.

Ryanair has a near 30 percent stake in Aer Lingus, and Millar attended the AGM to air Ryanair's complaints about the absence of a dividend and the re-election of Ireland's top trade union leader to the Aer Lingus board.

Ryanair has tried twice to take over Aer Lingus but has been thwarted by regulators' concerns that competition would suffer. Millar said the company had not made a fresh bid, despite a recent government-sponsored report saying that the state should sell its 25 percent stake in the airline.

^^ russians or chinese would have to sell their planes under very big discounts (even under their costs even if that would put them at risk of being fined by the WTO) in order for Ryanair to choose those planes, and not just because mechanics and pilots would have to be retrained, but also because it's a risky bet and because public opinion might not see with good eyes flying such planes. Therefore I think it's more a way of putting preassure on boeing to develop a new more efficient 737 soon and to reduce its prices than anything real.

^^ russians or chinese would have to sell their planes under very big discounts (even under their costs even if that would put them at risk of being fined by the WTO) in order for Ryanair to choose those planes, and not just because mechanics and pilots would have to be retrained, but also because it's a risky bet and because public opinion might not see with good eyes flying such planes. Therefore I think it's more a way of putting preassure on boeing to develop a new more efficient 737 soon and to reduce its prices than anything real.

Well, Boeing and Airbus offer substantial discounts off listing prices for its big customers as well. It'll probably take many years for the Chinese-designed plane to be certified and put in the skies over Europe.

There's no way Ryanair is going to fly Russian or Chinese metal.

Why not? If it should be cheaper and fulfil safety regulations they will do so. You can bet your arse on that.

Why not? If it should be cheaper and fulfil safety regulations they will do so. You can bet your arse on that.
Imagine a crash a year into operating Russian/Chinese crafts.

Imagine a crash a year into operating Russian/Chinese crafts.

We get more than that for American / European-built aircrafts among operators worldwide.

We get more than that for American / European-built aircrafts among operators worldwide.
I know. I'm just talking about the perception. If a non-Western plane crashes people would be afraid of flying them. Would Ryanair like to take that chance? Even Western turboprops have a bad reputation (people think they're unsafe) and I know so many (incl. my wife) who simply refuse to fly them. I even explained to my wife the whole process of certification etc. but to no avail. Russian jets already have a bad reputation and IMO a crash would cost Ryanair dearly considering they buy planes by the hundreds.

I think it's more a "provocation" to make Airbus and Boeing bring their prices down.
If it's not, I'm not sure people will even notice that ryanair owns russian or chinese aircrafts, as long as there is no problem with them.
But only one problem and the siamu maharaj's scenario would happen.
But anyway, I would be very surprised if they bought them!!

I used Ryanair from Paris to Tangier ..... and was shocked to find its too basic service. Far far below Low-cost carriers in Southeast Asia & Middle Rast :eek:

But the price is lower too. You get what you pay for.

The "low-cost" carriers in Asia aren't truly low-cost like the ones in Europe.

But the price is lower too. You get what you pay for.

Hmm depends on route bro. I remember u traveled BKK-SIN which is 1 of the most Lucrative lines for AirAsia. Had you traveled on less lucrative ( like KL-Colombo ) or with Super-high frequency lines ( like KL- Singapore / KL-Kota Kinabalu ) u can get something on par with Ryanair.

Imagine a crash a year into operating Russian/Chinese crafts.
But that's not a problem only for Ryanair but for all potential operators in Europe and everywhere else. In fact, as long as they fulfill the regulations (and they have to, otherwise it wouldn't be allowed to operate them) I don't see any problem from the airline's point of view. Then it doesn't matter whether your Boeing or your Sukhoi crashed.

And I don't see why the Russians shouldn't be able to build proper jets, they have a long experience in that.

What would really be interesting is to see whether a no-frills carrier could operate with turboprops. They aren't that much slower but a lot more economical in terms of fuel consumption.

Ryanair to focus on yields and costs

DUBLIN, May 23 (Reuters) - Irish budget airline Ryanair is not planning on growing quickly in the next couple of years but will instead focus on improving yields and keeping costs down.

"I see a lot of upside in us not growing for the next year or two, at least not growing in the top line," Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told an analyst conference call.

Ryanair does not expect the Irish government to sell its 25 percent stake in Aer Lingus to it, O'Leary also said.

"Our strategy with Aer Lingus is wait and see. I think the government will sell the stake, but not to us," he said.

He said he had no plans to sell Ryanair's near 30 percent stake, but would consider it if the price was right.

Ryanair plans to pay out dividends towards the end of 2013 unless it makes a major plane order before that he said. Ryanair plans to build its cash stockpile to 4 billion euros for a major plane order, he said.

Ryanair set to ground more planes as fuel costs take off
24 May 2011
The Independent

Ryanair is set to ground up to 80 planes this winter, double last year's figure, as high oil prices drive up the cost of running aircraft, and the budget airline warned yesterday that it remained concerned about the impact of the weak economic outlook.

"Higher oil prices next winter, and the refusal of some airports to offer lower charges, make it more profitable to ground up to 80 aircraft rather than suffer losses operating them to high-cost airports at low winter yields," the chief executive, Michael O'Leary, said.

Ryanair reported that unit costs had climbed 11 per cent over the year to the end of March - mostly because of higher oil prices. Excluding fuel, Ryanair said costs were up by just 3 per cent.

The airline, whose fuel requirements for the current financial year are 90 per cent hedged at $820 (£509) per tonne, or about $82 per barrel, said the rising costs meant its fuel bill for the new financial year was on track to swell by around €350m (£304m).

That is expected to push the airline's operating cost per passenger up by 13 per cent in the year to March 2012. Ryanair also expects to raise fares despite worries about the economic backdrop. "Since we have limited visibility on bookings we remain concerned at the impact of the recession, austerity measures and falling consumer confidence on fares," Mr O'Leary said. "Despite these concerns we cautiously expect that our average fares will rise by up to 12 per cent this year due to a better mix of new routes and bases, slower traffic growth, and higher competitor fuel surcharges."

But that is not expected to boost the bottom line. Mr O'Leary said the rises would offset higher fuel and other costs, meaning that post-tax profits for next year are likely to be similar to the €400m seen in the year gone by.

The figures excluded an exceptional pre-tax charge of €29.7m for the disruptions caused by last year's Icelandic volcano eruption. Ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano caused widespread cancellations to European flights last April, and, as Ryanair published its results yesterday, another ash cloud was spreading following the eruption of another Icelandic volcano.

But the airline said it did not expect a repeat of last year. "I think the regulators are a bit more sensible than they were last year," Mr O'Leary said. "I hope there will be no airspace closures - there shouldn't be, certainly not over any countries where we are flying."

The market was concerned, however, with Ryanair's shares falling by 6 per cent, while rival easyJet was 5 per cent behind on the prospect of another bout of disruptions.

Looking ahead, Ryanair expected traffic to grow by 10 per cent over the first half of the current financial year, but then fall by 4 per cent over the second half as it grounded more flights for the winter. As a result, annual traffic is expected to grow at a slower rate of 4 per cent to 75 million passengers.

Ryanair flies plane through Scottish ash 'red zone'
24 May 2011

DUBLIN, May 24 (Reuters) - Irish airline Ryanair on Tuesday flew a plane through Scottish airspace regulators say has "high ash concentration" in a bid to show there was no danger from a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Ryanair operated a one-hour verification flight at 41,000 feet on Tuesday morning from Glasgow to Inverness to Aberdeen and on to Edinburgh through areas it said the Civil Aviation Authority had designated a "red zone" of high ash concentration.

"There was no visible volcanic ash cloud or any other presence of volcanic ash and the post flight inspection revealed no evidence of volcanic ash on the airframe, wings or engines," the statement said.

"Ryanair's verification flight this morning also confirms that the 'red zone' over Scotland is non-existent," it said.

About 250 flights to northern Britain were cancelled on Tuesday over concerns about the ash cloud spewing from an Icelandic volcano, but British and Irish officials dismissed fears of a mass shutdown of airspace.

Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline, is a vocal critic of regulators' decision to close skies over Europe during an eruption last year after it was forced to cancel almost 10,000 flights in April and May at a cost of 30 million euros.

Ryanair said it had received written confirmation from both its airframe and engine manufacturers that it is safe to operate in areas designated "red zones".

"You have to ask why a combination of bureaucratic incompetence in the CAA and the Met Office last night shut the skies over Scotland when this morning we have now confirmed there is no volcanic ash material in the atmosphere over Scotland," CEO Michael O'Leary told BBC television.

"The Met Office produce these nonsensical forecasts of where this mythical ash cloud was going to go," he said. "Two thousand kilometres south of Iceland there is almost no presence of volcanic ash in the atmosphere because it is dissipating."

EasyJet Denied Slots at Cairo Airport
To Gain Approval, Budget Airline Was Asked to Offer Two Classes of Service and Halt the Sale of Food on Board
31 May 2011
The Wall Street Journal Europe

Egyptian authorities are refusing to award low-cost carrier easyJet PLC takeoff and landing slots at Cairo airport unless it overhauls its no-frills approach and offers other services, according to people familiar with the matter.

"Technically, we can fly" to Cairo, EasyJet Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said. But she added the airline still hasn't been given clearance by Egypt's aviation authorities. "We're still talking to authorities on how that will work," Ms. McCall said.

After the U.K. and Egypt in June last year extended a bilateral agreement, the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority awarded easyJet three weekly landing slots from Oct. 31, 2010. The agreement between the two nations raised the number of weekly slots on the London to Cairo or Alexandria routes to 14 slots from 11, but also capped seating at 4,500 per week in each direction.

The bilateral agreement permits only scheduled U.K. airlines to land at Cairo or Alexandria and were previously split between British Airways -- since January a unit of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA -- which has seven weekly slots, and Deutsche Lufthansa AG's British Midland International, which has four. Bmi also borrows three weekly slots from Star Alliance partner EgyptAir.

EasyJet originally had hoped to start flights to Cairo in November but its application for certain time slots was rejected because of its low-cost model, said people familiar with the matter.

In order to gain approval, they said easyJet has been asked to change its no-frills strategy, including having two classes of service instead of one at present, halting the sale of food on board and introducing a member of staff to collect taxes. The Egyptian civil aviation authority couldn't be reached for comment.

A spokesman for the U.K. Department for Transport said discussions were still open but those talks had "hit a hiatus" when civil unrest erupted at the start of the year. He said "talks will resume shortly," adding that the current situation hasn't meant EgyptAir has been prevented from using its full allocation of slots in the U.K.

At the moment, the foot-dragging doesn't pose a problem to the easyJet because of the subdued demand for travel to Egypt since unrest broke out across the North African and Middle Eastern earlier this year. Still, there is hope the government will take a different approach and agreement can be reached soon.

EasyJet already flies to Sharm el Sheikh, Luxor and Hurghada in Egypt, but those airports come under the open-skies agreement and need no approval from the civil aviation body. About 15 million tourists visited Egypt in 2010, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism.

Egypt has started offering airlines incentives to fly to the tourism-dependent North African country as it seeks to stimulate demand and stop carriers from slashing capacity.

The incentives come in the form of a reduction in levy charged to airlines that is worth about $5 per passenger, or as payments to carriers for unfilled seats to discourage them from cutting numbers of flights to Egypt or deploying smaller aircraft that carry fewer passengers. The offer started at the beginning of March and is open-ended, meaning the Egyptian government could pay incentives that run to more than $100 million over the course of the year.

Ryanair rejects UK ruling over card charges
29 June 2011
The Irish Times

RYANAIR HAS rejected a ruling by the UK’s consumer and competition authority that it should stop imposing a £6 charge on flight bookings that appears only after customers log their credit and debit card details, even though the regulator has warned that it could take legal action.

Following a three-month investigation, the Office of Fair Trading described the fees as “hidden rip- off surcharges”, pointing out that British customers paid out £300 million in such charges to airlines, including Ryanair and other travel companies, every year.

Such fees should be included in the price from the beginning of the transaction, the authority said, although it urged the British government to pass legislation quickly to block the imposition of any charges on debit card payments.

Credit card surcharges, properly flagged, should be allowed because they were more expensive to handle, said the authority.

Ryanair imposes a £6 charge for each flight. It said yesterday it would not yield to the authority’s threat because the existence of the charge was made clear on its web page.

The charge was not a fee for using debit or credit cards, a spokesman told The Irish Times, but rather was an “administration fee” required “to defray the substantial costs associated with our booking system”. In addition, the fee could be avoided entirely by using a Ryanair-approved debit card, he said.

Cavendish Elithorn, senior director of the authority’s goods and consumer group, warned that legal action would be taken against any company that failed to comply, adding that internet retailing had brought massive benefits, “but people are frustrated about being asked to pay for paying.

“Consumers find it harder to shop around and find the best deal if they have to invest time and effort in discovering surcharges,” he added. “This also weakens competition between retailers which is bad news for the UK economy.”

Monarch Airlines has already scrapped its debit card fee following the Office of Fair Trading inquiry, which was prompted by a complaint from consumer magazine Which? Its chief executive, Peter Vicary Smith, urged companies “to be upfront and fair” and not “drag their feet” before complying.

Responding to demands for speedy action, British consumer minister Edward Davey said it would work with the authority and the European Union to ensure that customers were not faced with “excessive surcharges”.

EasyJet founder wants investor vote on Airbus deal
Reuters
Wed, Jul 13, 2011

LONDON - EasyJet's largest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, wants to force a shareholder vote over the airline's plans to by new aircraft from Airbus, resuming a long-running dispute with the company he founded.

In January, easyJet confirmed an order with EADS unit Airbus for 15 A320 aircraft with options on further 33.

Haji-Ioannou on Wednesday said the terms of the Airbus order, initially agreed in 2006, had changed sufficiently to push the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) to force easyJet to obtain shareholder consent to press ahead with the deal.

"My lawyers are in touch with the UKLA -- it will be good to see if the regulators have got any teeth in this country," Haji-Ioannou told Reuters.

"The price of Airbus planes is rising by around 5 percent a year at present and an A320 now costs at least $85 million at list prices, which is far greater than the price of $51 million which was given in an easyJet circular in 2006."

In an 11-page letter sent to Chairman Michael Rake this week, Haji-Ioannou, who with his family has a 38 percent stake and wants easyJet to cut its fleet, said the board should have sought shareholder approval for the order and investors should vote on the deal before any further payments are made to Airbus.

Asked to comment on the situation, an Airbus spokeswoman would only say: "This is an internal easyJet matter."

If the board does not seek shareholder consent, Haji-Ioannou said he would call a general meeting and seek the removal of a randomly selected non-executive director from the board in a show of shareholder power.

The carrier has a fleet of about 200 aircraft -- all but two made by Airbus -- and has orders for a further 43 Airbus planes, including the A320s. Earlier this year, easyJet Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said the new orders would help deliver its growth strategy.

"I'm not micro-managing or criticising management but I do feel that the company is seriously underperforming," said Haji-Ioannou. "It's a tough environment -- that's why you shouldn't be buying planes."

EasyJet shares, which have fallen a quarter in value in 2011, were down 1.3 percent at 319.75 pence by 1135 GMT, valuing the business at around 1.4 billion pounds ($2.2 billion).

Haji-Ioannou also urged easyJet to consider other plane manufacturers, including Boeing and Bombardier , which he claims offer better value than Airbus.

"This incestuous relationship with Airbus developed by the directors has to come to an end and proper and transparent tenders have to be issued giving the opportunity to other aircraft manufacturers to compete for the company's business," he said in the letter sent to Rake.

The tycoon's relationship with easyJet's board has deteriorated in recent years and he voted against a resolution to approve directors' pay earlier this year.

EasyJet said on Wednesday in response to the letter: "The commercial value of the deal reflected substantially less than the current Airbus list prices for the aircraft."

The Luton, southern England-based carrier said it intended to hold the size of its fleet at a maximum of 204 aircraft until at least the end of next year.

The Irish Times
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Ryanair reaches 8m passenger milestone

RYANAIR LAST month became the first airline in Europe to carry eight million passengers in a single month.

Figures published yesterday show that Ryanair carried 8.08 million passengers in July, which it predicted would be more than Aer Lingus will handle on its short-haul network in the whole of this year.

The figure represented a 6 per cent year on year increase for Ryanair. Its load factor was one percentage point up at 89 per cent.

“It’s a milestone for Ryanair and for low cost airlines,” chief executive Michael O’Leary said at a press conference in Dublin yesterday.

Mr O’Leary criticised the Government for its recent decision not to scrap the €3 air travel tax and not to accept its offer to bring an additional five million passengers to Ireland over five years on the condition that airport charges for these people are set at zero.

“Ireland is losing out on the enormous growth that Ryanair continues to deliver to other airports in Europe,” he said. “Why are Irish airports and Irish tourism losing out on this growth?”

Mr O’Leary said Ryanair would not grow its services from Dublin, Cork or Shannon until the air tax was abolished and a “40 per cent increase in passenger charges” was reversed.

Earlier this week, Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said the €3 travel tax would remain until next spring at least as airlines had not indicated to him their willingness to restore capacity or launch new routes from Irish airports.

An abolition of the tax had been offered by the Government as part of its jobs initiative if airlines were prepared to grow their traffic.

Mr O’Leary said he was prepared to continue to work on the issue with Mr Varadkar “at least . . . for another year”.

Mr O’Leary claimed that traffic at Dublin, Cork and Shannon would contract this year by one million passengers to 21.6 million, while Ryanair would grow its numbers to 75 million across Europe.

“While Ryanair grows, sadly Irish air traffic and tourism continues to decline because of the government’s travel tax and the DAA’s high airport fees. Every other country is seeing growth at its airports,” he said.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) disputed Mr O’Leary’s claim yesterday that its passenger traffic would decline this year.

Ryanair said yesterday that it was cutting its schedule at Dublin Airport by 15 per cent this coming winter.

Mr O’Leary once again called for the DAA to be broken up, calling for Shannon and Cork airports to be sold off and the two terminals in the capital offloaded to competing operators.

The Ryanair boss cited the decision of competition bodies in the UK to force a breakup of the British Airport Authority.

Mr O’Leary said the DAA could continue to run the runway, shops and car parks.

“Even they can’t get that wrong,” he added.

He also restated his opposition to Dublin Metro being built and urged the Government to scrap this plan, which had been pursued by the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party administration.

“A country that’s broke cannot waste €5 billion that it doesn’t have building a Noddy train set to Dublin Airport,” he said.

“There are no people stranded at Dublin Airport,” he added.

FACT OR FICTION? A CLOSER LOOK AT O'LEARY'S STATEMENTS

MICHAEL O’LEARY let loose at the usual suspects at a press conference in Dublin yesterday in his war of attrition over travel taxes and airport charges. And, as usual, he played fast and loose with the facts.

He said the Dublin Airport Authority had stopped publishing its monthly traffic figures.

That’s not quite right. Figures for Dublin airport – by far the biggest run by the DAA – are published on its website each month.

He said traffic at Dublin airport would decline this year.

Actually, it increased by 6 per cent in the first six months to nine million passengers.

O’Leary said the DAA’s current route incentive scheme at Dublin airport offered rebates on passenger charges relative to an airline’s market share. So, if Ryanair added one million passengers in Dublin this year it would only get a 40 per cent rebate to reflect its share of traffic there. The balance would be shared with other airlines.

In fact, at the behest of the new Government, the DAA changed these terms. Airlines are getting full rebates for all of their new traffic, albeit subject to some conditions.

O’Leary also launched a broadside against the Central Statistics Office, saying its first quarter visitor statistics were “horseshit”.

On May 26th, the CSO said visitor numbers to Ireland rose by 8.6 per cent in the period. O’Leary argued that this did not tally with figures for reductions in air capacity and reductions in passenger numbers at Irish airports during the period. Ferry numbers were also down so, unless “they’re swimming here”, the figures are rubbish, he argued.

Actually, the CSO figures also show that outbound traffic by Irish residents fell by 11.7 per cent. The CSO said that when aggregated, the number of trips was down 3 per cent in the quarter.

O’Leary had a cut at the CSO’s data-gathering, claiming only 20,000 passengers are polled.

Page four of the CSO’s Q1 release states that the sample size of the Q1 survey was 88,000.

O’Leary claimed he had received “no response” from the Government to his offer to bring an extra five million passengers to Ireland within five years.

“No written response was sent to Ryanair about their proposals, but the Minister spoke to Michael O’Leary last week about the matter,” the department told The Irish Times yesterday.

Ryanair aims to double passenger numbers
October 25, 2011
By Geoff Percival
Tuesday, October 25, 2011

RYANAIR is aiming to double its annual passenger numbers over the next 10 years by boosting its fleet by around 200 aircraft.

The company said shareholders could benefit from two more special dividend payments before any fleet order deal is done.

The airline hopes to boost the number of passengers it carries every year from 70 million to 130 million over the course of the next decade. This will be facilitated by a significant growth in fleet capacity over the same timeframe.

Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary told the Financial Times the airline could take a large delivery of planes over a six-year window between 2015 and 2021. This would expand Ryanair’s fleet numbers from 300 to 500 aircraft. Mr O’Leary also said management would consider owning planes made by different manufacturers, despite such a move increasing the airline’s operating costs.

Currently, Ryanair only owns Boeing-made aircraft. However, the airline is in talks with Boeing (despite previous agreements falling flat), Comac of China and Russian firm, Irkut. Ryanair paid a special dividend — its first — worth €500 million last year, after its last fleet expansion talks were scrapped. It is not planning to pay shareholders an annual dividend any time soon.

Mr O’Leary also said the next growth phase would include expansion into Scandinavia and further into eastern Europe.

"Staying as is for the next 10 to 20 years sounds a bit too much like just lethargy; we’re not going to stop there," he said.

Nearly doubling passenger numbers in the next 10 years would maintain Ryanair’s status as one of the largest carriers in the world. Europe’s largest airline, Lufthansa carried 91 million people last year.

Mr O’Leary said continued demand for low-cost air travel will help boost Ryanair’s market share in coming years in the short haul European market.

A spokesperson for the airline said long-haul jets wouldn’t be under consideration in any fleet expansion programme. Such plans mooted by Mr O’Leary, in recent years, seem to remain grounded for now, but would still likely be launched under a different brand name or a sister company to Ryanair.

Meanwhile, Ryanair also published monthly customer service data for September, yesterday. It showed 92% of its flights during the month arrived on time — marking a 9% improvement on the same month last year. It added that it received less than one complaint per thousand passengers in the month.

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/kfqlkfqlidgb/rss2/#ixzz1cSuDwmbr

This weekend Ryanair flew its last ever flight out of Aberdeen airport, a 1400 service to Dublin.

Ryanair Half Year Profits Rise 20% to €544m
Press Release

http://www.globalphotos.org/porto/20110607/IMG_3982.jpg

Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline today (Nov 7) announced a 20% increase in half year profits to €544m. Revenues rose 24% to €2.7bn, traffic grew 12% and ave. fares increased 13%. Unit costs rose 13% due mainly to longer sectors and a 37% increase in fuel costs. Excluding fuel, sector length adjusted unit costs did not increase at all.

Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, said:

“We are pleased to report a 20% increase in the half year net profits to €544m. This is a testament to the strength of Ryanair’s lowest fare/lowest cost model which delivered robust traffic and profit growth despite, significantly higher oil prices, and an economic downturn in Europe. The 13% rise in ave. fares (which includes optional baggage fees) is due to slower growth, a better mix of new routes and bases, as well as rising competitor fares/fuel surcharges.

Ancillary sales rose 15% to €487m, slightly faster than traffic growth. We extended our reserved seating trial from 40 to 80 routes, and if successful we will extend it to more routes in our network. We also launched the Ryanair “Cash Passport” Mastercard prepaid card in the UK and Italy, and we intend to roll it out across the network over the coming months, to provide passengers with a no cost prepaid card for use on Ryanair.com (to avoid our optional admin. fees) and many other retailers.

New routes and bases continue to perform well. Our 45th base in Manchester opened last week. Our 46th (Wroclaw - Poland) and 47th (Baden Baden - Germany) bases will start in March 2012. We also plan to open our 48th base at Warsaw (Modlin) as soon as our current negotiations with the airport have been concluded. The recession and higher oil prices continues to force competitors to consolidate, and cut capacity and routes, which creates further growth opportunities for Ryanair as European airports compete aggressively to win our route and traffic growth.

Unit costs increased 13% primarily due to longer sectors and a 37% rise in fuel costs. Excluding fuel, sector length adjusted unit costs were flat, as we continued to rigorously control costs despite a 2% pay increase, higher Eurocontrol fees, and substantially higher charges at Dublin Airport which were recently described as “insane” by Aer Lingus and “too excessive” by Etihad. We are 90% hedged for FY12 at $820 per tonne (approx. $82 pbl), up 12% on last year but significantly below current prices. We have recently extended our FY13 fuel cover and are 90% hedged for H1 at $990 per tonne ($99pbl) and 50% for H2 at $980 per tonne ($98pbl).

Ryanair’s balance sheet remains one of the strongest in the industry with €3.1bn in cash despite returning €931m to shareholders over the past three years. We have significantly reduced net debt during H1 from €709m to €372m despite another €85m share buyback. We have taken advantage of lower interest rates to fix almost 60% of our existing debt for the next 7 years at “all in” rates of just over 3.7%. Our long term dollar hedging programme will ensure that all our 35 Boeing deliveries in calendar 2011 & 2012 are funded at €/$ exchange rates of 1.43, significantly better than current rates.

We regret the decision of the Ferrovial/BAA monopoly to further delay the sale of Stansted (and instead bring forward the sale of Edinburgh), to comply with the UK Competition Commission’s 2009 breakup recommendation. While the Competition Appeals Tribunal considers this pointless judicial review, these delays allow BAA Stansted to continue to charge excessive fees and generate monopoly profits, even as Stansted’s traffic declines from 24m passengers in 2007 to less than 18m in 2011. Since 2007 Stansted airport charges have doubled to pay for a 2nd runway project which has now been abandoned. The UK Competition Commission must end these interminable delays and judicial reviews and expedite the early sale of Stansted to allow competition to deliver lower costs, and improved customer service, where Ferrovial’s high prices at Stansted and the CAA’s “inadequate” regulatory/regime has failed.

A recent 2010 Airport Survey showed that Dublin Airport fell 14 places from No. 61 to No. 75 of the world’s top 100 airports, and suffered the biggest traffic decline in 2010, with a fall of over 10%. While most other UK and European airports grew in 2010 by reducing charges, Dublin Airport increased charges by over 40% and suffered a 4th consecutive year of decline. The DAA monopoly is not fit for purpose and is damaging Irish traffic and tourism. Ireland cannot afford an uncompetitive state owned and protected airport monopoly which delivers 40% cost increases and traffic declines at the expense of Irish tourism, jobs, and the economy. We regret the failure to date by the new Government to deliver any change or reform in its airports or tourism policy. Like their predecessors the new Government has yet to deliver any change at the Department of Transport, and sadly seem to believe that protecting the high cost DAA monopoly and commissioning consultant’s reports can somehow substitute for change or transformation.

Last weeks provisional agreement to allow IAG/BA to buy BMI from Lufthansa was an expected development in the continuing consolidation process among Europe’s high fare airlines. The fact that IAG/BA will control over 60% of the shorthaul slots at Heathrow will mirror Lufthansa’s 60% share of Frankfurt slots and Air France’s 60% share of Charles de Gaulle slots. We believe this takeover will be rubber stamped in due course by both the EU and UK Competition Authorities. This will highlight, yet again, the EU’s blatantly discriminatory prohibition on Ryanair’s failed 2006 offer for Aer Lingus and the UK OFT’s more recent unjustified, and in our view out of time, investigation into a 5 year old failed merger between two Irish companies. This OFT wild goose chase and waste of public funds continues despite the fact that Aer Lingus has repeatedly ignored Ryanair’s 29% shareholding including denying our lawful EGM requests over the last 5 years. The reality is that all the evidence over the past 5 years points to the fact that (as the EU previously found) Ryanair has no control or influence over Aer Lingus.

Ryanair’s capacity cuts will mean that traffic in H2 will fall by 4%. In November, for example, we expect to report a traffic decline of 10% or almost 500k passengers as we ground up to 80 aircraft due to higher oil prices. While H1 yields were slightly better than forecast, our outlook remains cautious. Based on current Q3 bookings and very limited visibility into Q4 we now expect H2 yields will rise by up to 14%, slightly better than the 12% previously guided. Accordingly we are raising our full year net profit guidance by 10% from €400m to €440m, subject of course to the final outturn of Q4 yields”.

Detailed figures : http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-half-year-profits-rise-20-percent-to-544m-euro

Ryanair proposes Silvio Berlusconi to escape Italy with 9,99€ tickets promotion in home page :

http://www.ryanair.com/it