In todays Daily Mail (28/01/04) on page 17 there is a large article about the EU fine Ryanair are due to receive which has already been discussed in this forum.
The Daily Mail have reported that this could spell gloom for other low cost operators and regional airports. The EU’s next target is going to be easyJet’s new 20 year deal at Berlin Schoenfeld.
Aviation experts last night predicted the ruling could cripple Ryanair and send the cost if flights to small European airports soaring. Daivd Learmont from Flight International Magazine said
“If the EU carries on, we’re going to end up with no low cost carriers. Customers are going to have to get used to paying expensive fares again. They are killing the goose that laid the golden egg – the cheap flights are want the customers want.”
A European Union offical close to the probe signalled the likely outcome, saying:
“Ryanair cannot use subsidies for its development. It will have to learn to live with real market rules.”
Ryanair fears its business could also be in jeopardy if the ruling goes against it. Routes under threat are:
Bergerac
Perpignan
Montpellier
Carcassonne
La Rochelle
Biarritz
Paris Beauvais
Dinard
Limoges
Poitiers
Nimes
Trieste
Venice Treviso
Pescara
Bari
Palermo
Servies to Malaga, Jerez, Murcia and Valladolid could also be affected.
A Ryanair spokesman said:
“This decision is much wider than Charleroi. Other airports could be encouraged to stop subsidy deals and we might have to pull out of more airports”.
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Those are the most important bits from the article. The whole article can be found in the Daily Mail page 17.
Doesnt look too good for Ryanair at the moment. I didnt realise this problem affected a lot of their European network. I regularly use the Stansted to Murcia service so my family and I wouldnt be too pleased if the airline decided to stop the route.
With the EU saying that easyJet at SXF is the next target – does this really mark the end of low cost airlines?:(
Regards
dan777
By: EGNM - 3rd February 2004 at 15:36
Originally posted by Duesseldwarf
I hope to be able to fly them regularly for many years to come.So, I won’t be seeing any of you onboard then? :rolleyes:
You’ll certainly keep seeing me onboard them! Can’t argue on ditto with their fares!!! I’m managing to get a lot of day trips and short breaks with LCCs around europe and i have not yet had a problem (touch wood!), with any of them!
By: tenthije - 3rd February 2004 at 11:32
EC Rules against Ryanair!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3453285.stm
Budget airline Ryanair has been told incentives it received to use a small Belgian airport were illegal. The Irish airline was given discounts on landing fees and other perks to use Charleroi airport, south of Brussels.
The EC did not say how much Ryanair would repay, but that it was “reasonable” and meant they could still use the airport. Now the firm, the Walloon authorities, and the European Parliament are examining closely any possible knock-on effects.
The cut-price Irish carrier and the European Parliament had warned the ruling could force up prices, and that the Charleroi area, which has benefited from Ryanair’s presence, could lose out if Ryanair now decides to cut operations from the region.
By: robc - 1st February 2004 at 21:45
I see where you are coming from, a deal is a deal, but it isnt ok to use tax payers money. However if Ryanair is going to help the local economy so much, then i suppose it would be alright, but my feelings are that this isnt the case.
By: martin_EGTK - 1st February 2004 at 19:36
I don’t see how they can be wrong if the airport is willing to pay for them.
By: robc - 1st February 2004 at 18:39
Its one thing to strike deals for cheaper landing slots, and such but plain subsidies are wrong.
By: HURRICANE 477 - 1st February 2004 at 18:34
I hope that this isn’t the end of low cost airlines as everytning else in this country is so damned expensive:mad:
Though Ryan-air do deserve to be punished with all this disabled malarky stuff which is in the media.
By: MSR777 - 1st February 2004 at 18:30
NOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By: martin_EGTK - 1st February 2004 at 00:01
Dusseldwarf, I’m with you on this one mate. They provide an excellent service and afterall if the airports agree to pay Ryanair to fly to their facilities that’s the airports decision. I don’t agree with some of their operating practices and despite the fact we have recently been approached by Ryanair I’m not too keen on sitting in the right hand seat for them. But they provide a service and that’s fair enough, and thanks to them I’ve travelled all over Europe, 42 times last year, something I’d never have been able to do before hand.
By: Duesseldwarf - 31st January 2004 at 19:49
Well, I for one am glad that Ryanair are around and that I am lucky enough to live within 35 miles of their biggest UK base. I hope to be able to fly them regularly for many years to come.So, I won’t be seeing any of you onboard then? :rolleyes:
By: kev35 - 31st January 2004 at 19:28
Don’t forget the extra ten million they’re going to rake in because of their wheelchair levy. Pathetic.
Regards,
kev35
By: Duesseldwarf - 31st January 2004 at 19:25
Do you not think that Ryanair would just drop the routes if they became unprofitable if the subsidies stopped and prices on those routes increased, but passenger numbers decreased?
There are plenty routes that they sell at very low fares, without subsidies, that earn them part of their £165m annual profit too.
Even if Ryanair had to increase the prices on the routes mentioned, I still doubt if any of the competition would be as cheap to these same airports, never mind the fact that a connection would more than likely be necessary and therefore, I see demand still being there for lower cost (lower than traditional airlines), direct services.
I do not understand why some of you guys seem to want Ryanair to fall on their arse? Have they not allowed many of us to travel at times when we otherwise would have been at home doing something a lot less exciting? :confused:
By: Airline owner - 31st January 2004 at 05:15
Probably not all low-cost carriers but maybe Ryanair.:(
By: MSR777 - 30th January 2004 at 18:00
I’m with the EU official on this one….RYR have to play in the real world, face and cope with the same obstacles as the full sevice boys and not keep falling back on discounts and subsidies to keep the enterprise going.
By: Hand87_5 - 28th January 2004 at 15:11
It’s an touchy debate.
Ryanair get a bunch of money from those airports in this country.
The airlines forces to airport to pay expensive ads , and many other fees.
More or less the airports (ie the tax payers) are paying for a service.
This money allows FR (and the other) to keep their fare very low (sometimes :D).
What about the other airlines? Why won’ t they claim the same system? Isn’t it some kind of unfair competition?
Don’t get me wrong, I would be ****@d if FR would drop the STN-BIQ route, but I think there is something wrong here.
However , don’t you think that FR is playing a bit hardball here?
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January 28, 2004 at 3:03 pm