Bad news for Kerry from Ryanair this morning, from the Ryanair website;
Ryanair to Cut Kerry-Dublin Flights From 3 to 1 Daily
AS MINISTER REFUSES TO PAY FOR GOVT IMPOSED COST INCREASES
RYANAIR WILL NO LONGER APPLY FOR ANY PSO SUBSIDY ON ROUTE
Ryanair, Ireland’s largest airline, today (23rd Sept) announced that it will cut its daily Kerry – Dublin schedule from three to one return flight, from 31st Oct 2010, after the Minister for Transport refused to honour his obligations under the Kerry PSO contract to increase payments to reflect the huge Govt imposed cost increases including the €4 tourist tax, the 40% rise in DAA airport fees and higher ATC charges which have added an additional cost of €19 per passenger on this domestic route.
Ryanair, which already pays ‘out of hours costs’ of €76 per passenger to Kerry Airport (for the early morning departure and the late evening arrival) will now operate the Kerry-Dublin route on a commercial basis without any PSO subsidy whatsoever from 31st Oct thereby saving the taxpayer almost €2m annually.
Under the Kerry PSO contract the Minister for Transport is required to increase payments for any cost increases which “were not, or could not have been, anticipated by Ryanair or are due to factors outside of Ryanair’s control.” Since the Minister for Transport has refused to honour this contract, Ryanair will now operate the Dublin-Kerry route on a daily basis, but with no subsides whatsoever, and by cancelling the early morning and late evening flights Kerry Airport can save these excessive ‘out of hours’ costs which currently exceed €8,000 per day.
Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said,
“The Minister for Transport has refused to honour the PSO contract which requires him to increase payments to reflect the Govt tourist tax and the Govt imposed increase in DAA and ATC charges which have added an extra €19 per passenger on the Kerry-Dublin route. Ryanair will now operate this route on a commercial basis without any PSO subsidy thereby saving the taxpayer almost €2 million p.a. Ryanair again calls for an ending to these PSO subsidies under which tiny passenger numbers receive enormous taxpayer subsidies to fund vastly inflated charges at Irish regional airports.
Ryanair will, from 31st October, switch its Kerry based aircraft to another EU base where Govts are reducing airport fees and welcoming tourists instead of taxing them. Ryanair will, from 31st October, continue to operate four routes from Kerry to Dublin, Frankfurt Hahn, London Luton and London Stansted.”