Ryanair return to Manchester
Just thought Leeds/Bradford followers should read this!!!
Ryanair announce Manchester Airport base / expansion
13.07.11
Ryanair has announced it will launch a base and add a number of new routes from Manchester Airport, nearly two years after it axed nine routes blaming airport charges. It will fly to 13 destinations by October, rising to 26 next summer. The airport said it had made some sacrifices to win back the airline.
The airline will initially base two aircraft at the airport from October operating 17 routes. Next summer Ryanair plans to grow to four aircraft and will fly from Manchester to: Alicante; Barcelona (Girona); Bezier; Biarritz; Bremen; Brussels, Dublin; Faro; Frankfurt; Ibiza; Katowice; Madrid; Malaga; Memmingen; Milan; Murcia; Oslo; Palma; Paris; Reus; Rome; Rzeszow; Tallinn; Tours; Tenerife and Valencia.
Ryanair fell out with the airport in August 2009 when a deal to run an additional 28 weekly flights if the airport charges were reduced could not be reached. At the time the airport said its charges were reasonable.
Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, said a compromise had been agreed. He said: ‘The market has changed and the tour operators have declined, which formed a large part of the airport's business. I think they have been keen to get us back and we have learned from our mistakes last time.’ He said the new base will deliver up to two million passengers a year.
Penny Coates, chief operating officer of Manchester Airport, said: ‘We have seen a decline in passenger numbers over the last two or three years particularly since the recession kicked in.’ She said the airport had lost Ryanair passengers to Liverpool and to Leeds, adding: ‘We want those passengers back to fly here from Manchester.’