Ryanair today confirmed that it is reducing its operations at Birmingham Airport with effect from April 28th by 70%. These operations will relocate to Nottingham East Midlands International Airport, effective from April 29th.
Services to be relocated include 3 daily Dublin flights and daily flights to Barcelona Girona and Murcia. Birmingham will for the moment retain 2 daily flights to Dublin.
The Dublin route, in operation at Birmingham since 1993, has carried over 2.9 million passengers. Last year alone over 260,000 passengers availed of Ryanair’s outstanding fares to fly between Birmingham and Dublin. The 2 Spanish routes were launched last October and have been a huge success with record bookings.
Ryanair confirmed that this 70% reduction in daily flights at Birmingham was the direct response to the Airport’s decision to raise runway charges to Ryanair by 100 %.
Announcing the move at Nottingham East Midlands International Airport today, Ryanair’s Deputy Chief Executive, Michael Cawley said:
“This reduction in operations is bad news for Birmingham but great news for Nottingham East Midlands International Airport. Ryanair offers the lowest fares in the UK – considerably lower than Easyjet, My Travel, BA or any other carrier in the market.
By increasing its cost by 100% Birmingham is denying its passengers the opportunity to take advantage of Ryanair’s low fares.
These flights will now operate from the lower cost airport of Nottingham East Midlands International Airport, an airport that has embraced the Ryanair model and has the vision to see the growth and development potential that Ryanair will bring to their airport.
We are celebrating our move to Nottingham East Midlands with some fantastic new fare offers starting from £17.99, One-Way inclusive of taxes and airport charges. These offers are available on Ryanair.com for immediate booking, but don’t delay as demand for these popular routes is very high.”
Timetable
Dublin – Nottingham East Midlands
FR 534 – 07.30 – 08.30 – 1,2,3,4,5,6
FR 536 – 14.25 – 15.25 – 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
FR 538 – 17.45 – 18.45 – 1,2,3,4,5,7
Nottingham East Midlands – Dublin
FR 535 – 08.55 – 09.55 – 1,2,3,4,5,6
FR 537 – 19.10 – 20.10 – 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
FR 2205 – 22.05 – 23.00 – 1,2,3,4,5,7
Nottingham East Midlands – Barcelona Girona
FR 9388 – 14.05 – 17.15 – 1,2,3,4,5,6
FR 9388 – 09.10 – 12.20 – 7
Barcelona Girona – Nottingham East Midlands
FR 9387 – 12.25 – 13.40 – 1,2,3,4,5,6
FR 9387 – 07.30 – 08.45 – 7
Nottingham East Midlands – Murcia
FR 1924 – 15.50 – 19.35 – 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Murcia – Nottingham East Midlands
FR 1925 – 20.00 – 21.40 – 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
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I must say it was a surprise – it wasnt long ago when Ryanair increased the Dublin – Birmingham route from 3 times daily to 5 times daily but that was mainly to compete with MyTravel Lite.
What will bmibaby and easyJet do now? bmibaby serve Dublin, Barcelona, Alicante and Murcia from NEMA and easyJet also serve Barcelona and Alicante from NEMA. Is there enough demand for 6 daily EMA – DUB flights, 3 daily flights to the Barcelona region and 3 daily flights to the Alicante/Murcia region??
At least it gives MyTravel Lite less competition at Birmingham!
By: dan777 - 17th March 2004 at 00:20
Ryanair today also announced a new route from Dublin to Murcia. Flights will commence on the 30th April 2004, with fares staring at EUR99.99 including taxes and charges.
Dublin – Murcia
FR 7094 – 13.55 – 17.55 – 1,5,7
Murcia – Dublin
FR 7095 – 18.30 – 20.30 – 1,5,7
Only a 3 times weekly service! But Malaga, Faro and Barcelona Girona are also only served on low frequencies from Dublin aswell. Maybe one day Ryanair will be able to fly to more destinations frequently from Dublin (thats if Aer Rianta ever break up!).
By: Jeanske_SN - 16th March 2004 at 20:39
It propably effects every airline that flies into Birmingham. Maybe normal airlines don’t find this too bad, but these prices are really important for loco’s.
By: LBARULES - 16th March 2004 at 15:17
Great news for NEMA, I agree cant see the bmi baby DUB route lasting much longer from NEMA now RYR have moved in there and I dont think they will be able to compete on price.
You have to feel its BHXs fault for losing RYR if they put up the runway charges by 100% but maybe they had to do it. Did this affect any other airlines?
By: bmi-star - 16th March 2004 at 13:15
Better idea i think. BHX isn’t really a low-cost airport anymore and it EMA is. Make’s sense
By: G-OJET - 16th March 2004 at 12:54
I can see bmibaby scrapping the Dublin before long. They won’t be able to compete on Ryanair’s fares, and bmibaby is virtually empty on most of the weekday services to and from Dublin from what I’ve heard!
As for the MJV, I think baby will continue with it anyway. Apparently, its always pretty much full.
By: SkyHIGH - 16th March 2004 at 12:10
Well its good news for EI at BHX and for VZ who also operate the Murcia route. Not so good news for passengers (in my opinion) its always nice to have a choice of airlines and EMA isn’t close enough for none drivers to consider flying from!
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March 16, 2004 at 11:41 am