Originally Posted by Noxegon
I don't believe that the big batch of routes operated by FR from SNN were ever profitable; rather, that the travel tax was a convenient excuse to cover the potential embarrassment of a failed experiment.
Well both of us are drawing assumptions here on whether or not the routes from Shannon were profitable. But Ryanair aren't in the business of operating unprofitable routes, unless of course its to get rid of competition
. I'm not saying there weren't any unprofitable routes, but to say they never made a profit out of their SNN operation is a bit far-fetched, especially considering the duration of their contract with the SAA. I think its safe to say that most of the routes they operated from SNN were low yielding routes operating on thin margins, and the lack of a better deal with SAA management coupled with a new €10 travel tax turned barely profitable routes into loss-making ones, and the fact that they pulled so many routes before their contract with the SAA ended shows they weren't willing to operate loss-making routes for the sake of contractual obligations.