Originally Posted by
confused atco
Airports in general have very little say when an airline chooses to offer a service on a route currently served from that airport by another airline.
Words of wisdom. They should appear on the top of every thread in Airlines, Airports and Routes - this would also cut down the number of ill-informed posts.
If an airline is willing to pay full tariff and if an airport is not slot-constrained, there is in reality very little that an airport management can do to stop a determined airline (Ryanair being a prime example, whether chasing Stobart out of Shannon, chasing Wizz out of Cork, or further afield going head-to-head with Vueling in Brussels and Rome).
A question to those excitable armchair generals berating airports for "letting Airline X in" and thus upsetting the applecart: do you genuinely believe that the airports sought out this unsustainable competition, that Brussels Airport said "right, we've just won a Vueling base, now let's persuade Ryanair to come in and compete on half their routes", or even that Shannon said, "Ok, we have a twice daily Manchester service with transatlantic connectivity, let's invite Ryanair in to fly the route too"? Do you
really understand so little about airline/airport decisions (and Ryanair in particular)?