Ryanair at Luton
Low cost airline Ryanair is to create 3,000 jobs in a £6 billion deal to buy 100 new planes. The airline says "a substantial number` of the jobs will be for local people at Luton Airport. The arrival of the first batch of Boeing 737 800s coincides with the closure of Vauxhall next month. It offers new employment prospects to the 2,000 workers being axed.
Ryanair, which flies to Glasgow, Dublin Brussels, Gothenburg, Frankfurt and Stockholm from Luton, has been discussing the timetable of its purchases with both Boeing and Airbus and says the 3,000 positions will be filled within the next eight years.
The move comes after Luton based low budget competitor easyJet announced it was to buy another 75 planes as cheap short haul flights continue in popularity since September 11. Ryanair, which has a fleet of 31 jets, carried 801.000 passengers in December. Compared to 609,000 a year earlier. It is now carrying more than 10 million passengers a year.. .Although some of the Ryanair vacancies for pilots and cabin crew will be advertised nationally, more than 1,000 jobs will be based at Luton Airport and recruited locally. These will include check in and ground staff, ticket collectors, sales staff, engineers and security guards.
A spokesman for Ryanair said: "Internationally the number of passengers wanting to fly long distances has fallen. That has seen a dramatic increase in the amount of people wanting to go on short, no frills flights.. ."The rise in passengers on our flights has meant that we have to expand.. ."This is good news for Luton on the whole because now there will be a substantial number of jobs created in the town. "The expansion will obviously take time but should he complete by 2010." The 100 plane order is (The largest ever in Europe.) Ryanair can afford the deal because it has built up considerable cash reserves and borrowed the rest from the City.. .Chief executive Michael O Leary said: "Ryanair is going to be a monster in Europe in the next 10 years and Luton is part of that."
. .Taken from a local free newspaper, some of the reporting is incorrect. Ryanair only currently fly to Dublin.