I'll continue with the "Ryanair bases" subject, some new facts have just emerged.
After FR created two new bases in Spain to the South of Barcelona (Alicante and Valencia) it seemed rather obvious that a long-time favourite Reus would lose its chances to become one. Somewhat unexpectedly, the local government in Catalonia has finally reached an agreement with FR today, and yes, one of the new bases WILL be created in Reus soon.
Mr. Manel Nadal, the Secretary General for Transport of the Catalan region announced that Reus (Tarragona) would become in 2008 the second base of operations of Ryanair in Catalonia, with two or three aircraft to be based in Reus in winter and five or six (?!) in the summer.
Thus, the city will get about 17 daily flights from Ryanair and thereafter the number of weekly operations could rise to 130, depending on the success.
In addition, the airline will boost domestic routes, with destinations like Grenada, Seville, Santiago de Compostela, Balearic Islands, and possibly the Canary Islands. Mayor of Reus, Lluis Miquel Perez explained that Ryanair envisaged the airport as an "optimal" and "better than others" to conduct the domestic flights.
The government, local government and businesses have reached a preliminary agreement that will involve promoting new flights from Reus, financed by the territory and the Generalitat.
According to the City of Reus, this agreement will be officially signed before Christmas and will be made public in the first half of January. Mayor of Reus has expressed satisfaction with the preliminary agreement which, according to him, means that "Ryanair has Reus." The officials stressed that the airport operator Aena has "done its homework well" by improving the facilities in Reus and providing them with a new terminal and other equipment required. They also wanted to ensure that the expansion in Reus "shall not influence the growth of Girona, which will continue its expansion as in the past."