Some priceless "if we say it they will believe it"-isms in today's Ryanair's state aid press release rant, claiming the reduced level of Irish travel tax which applies to destinations within 300km of Dublin amounts to state aid to Aer Lingus, Aer Arran, Dublin Airport and anyone else they can mention.
The tax is simply based on distance from Dublin, as is the UK tax (different bands depending on the distance from London). Anywhere under 300km is 2 euros, over 300 km is 10 euros. Ryanair themselves avail of the reduced 2 euros tax on both its domestic routes (including their Irish Government-subsidised Dublin to Kerry PSO route) and on all routes between Ireland and anywhere less than 300km from Dublin. So that's Dublin to Cork, Dublin to Kerry, Dublin to Liverpool, Dublin to Manchester, Dublin to Glasgow, Shannon to Manchester, Shannon to Glasgow, Shannon to Liverpool, Cork to Liverpool, Cork to Dublin, Kerry to Dublin and Knock to Liverpool.
So now that we've established that Ryanair think they are in receipt of state aid due to the lower taxes they pay on these routes (plus the direct PSO subsidy they get too), let's see what further words of wisdom Ryanair has on the subject:
“Ryanair believes the tax should be scrapped as it has resulted in the collapse of Irish tourism and unfairly protects domestic travel, but if this misguided Government is going to stick by its failed policy of taxing tourist it should at least ensure that it is applied fairly”.
Stop the lights - is this Ryanair asking for an increase in taxes? Ok then, if the Government are not going to scrap it, then increase it to 10 euros on all the above routes. Cue rant from MOL and more route reductions.
Embarassing.
Last edited by JDB1052; 29th Jul 2009 at 18:32.