Shannon loses Ryanair traffic to smaller airports

Airport news for Flights,Travel on 24/12/2009.

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RyanAir, Europe’s fastest growing airline, has recently announced that it will cut some more routes in Ireland and use smaller bases like Kerry and Knock.

Michael O’Leary, the chief of RyanAir, has announced that to favour cheaper locations across Europe, the next few years will witness more removal of routes from Ireland and Britain. A shift of traffic out of Ireland and UK is also expected. The carrier had recently announced the shifting of routes from Shannon due to the exorbitant fees charged by the Shannon airport. The routes currently stand from Kerry and Knock airports to Alicante and Faro. These changes will take place from early next summer. Out of the three million passengers that passed through the Shannon airport last year, over sixty percent belonged to RyanAir.

According to Joe Gill, an airline industry analyst, it will be very difficult for larger airports to compete with the smaller airports because the cost base of these airports is much lower. Especially suited are airports like Knock and Kerry which are capable of handling large Boeing 737s.

Reports also came in, that in an effort to maximize capital by the low cost carrier, RyanAir cancelled 200 aircrafts it had ordered from Boeing.

The carrier however is currently offering dirt cheap deals to passengers who were left stranded on either sides of the Chunnel due to the Eurostar chaos. The carries is offering a one time, one way price of 99 pounds for passengers who want to return home for Christmas.

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