Ryanair confirmed today the significant drop in its operations at four Canarian airports, cancelling 21 routes and reducing frequencies on 32 routes from the end of October.
The reductions are:
- Tenerife: 4 routes cancelled (Doncaster, Knock, Porto and Zaragoza), 10 routes with fewer frequencies and a total of 36 flights a week lost.
- Gran Canaria: 7 routes canceled (Bratislava, Baden Baden, Liverpool, Pisa, Santander, Zaragoza and Shannon), 8 routes with fewer frequencies and a total of 38 flights a week lost.
- Lanzarote: 6 routes terminated (Eindhoven, Baden Baden, Santander, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza), 6 routes with fewer frequencies and a total of 38 flights a week lost.
- Fuerteventura: 4 routes ending (Edinburgh, Frankfurt Hahn, London Luton and Cork), 8 with fewer frequencies and a total of 30 flights a week lost.
The vice president of the low cost airline, Michael Cawley, said in Tenerife "Ryanair regrets the decision by the Canarian Government of reneging on the agreement to implement a fund to encourage traffic growth at airports in the Islands ". "Unfortunately, he continued, 1.1 million passengers and 1,100 jobs will be lost in the islands for the benefit of other European airports with lower operating costs where Ryanair will continue to grow." Finally, Cawley said, "These cuts could be reversed, but only if the Canary Islands Government reintroduced the system of incentives agreed."