Oh dear!
MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT IGNORES RYANAIR'S COMMITMENT TO GROW TRAFFIC
Ryanair’s proposal to reverse Finnish passenger collapse ignored by Minister for Transport
Ryanair plan to deliver 2m pax p.a. and 2,000 jobs at Helsinki
Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, called for Ms Anu Vehvilainen, Minister for Transport, to explain why she has failed to even acknowledge a proposal from Ryanair which would reverse Finland’s collapsing passenger traffic by delivering 2m passengers p.a. at Helsinki – growing the airport’s traffic by 15% and creating 2,000 new jobs.
Ryanair confirmed that it has requested a meeting with the Minister on three separate occasions over the past four months to discuss its growth plan but has failed to receive any acknowledgment from the Minister.
Ryanair currently offers seven routes to/from Tampere which deliver 500,000 passengers pa, sustaining 500 local jobs. Ryanair said that Finland’s high passenger charges have discouraged airlines from developing Finnish routes. Ryanair guaranteed growth in Helsinki if the government incentivised all airlines to develop new routes in return for a reduction in its high passenger taxes and airport charges.
Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said,
“Ryanair is the only major European airline growing this year and we will be the only airline to grow in 2010. Ryanair can reverse the collapse in traffic at Helsinki Airport if the government incentivises airlines to grow but our proposal to the Minister for Transport has so far been completely ignored.
Ryanair is eager to work with Ms Vehvilainen to develop and promote Finnish tourism and we call on the Minister to explain to the Finnish taxpayer why she has refused to meet with Europe’s largest airline to deliver growth and new jobs. With Finnish passenger traffic collapsing Ms Vehvilainen must take action to protect jobs in the tourism and hospitality industries by meeting with Ryanair – the only airline that can guarantee growth at Finnish airports in 2010.”
Know what?
Generally, I do sympathize to some extent with Ryanair. I do agree that HEL is too expensive and I can foresee the need to have a low-cost terminal or airport in the region of the capital city. I do not like Ms. Vehviläinen either, she is... well, never mind. But for God's sake, what Mr. McNamara wants to achieve by such kind of statement? We have here the formalist-bureaucratic-egalitarian kind of mass-democracy and (after reading some comments) such a call will probably have precisely reverse effect.
Is it just FR, or are the mentality differences really so vast between the nations?