Yes. The number of grounded aircraft this winter is set to decrease from 80 to around 60 the last I heard.

That would suggest a different crewing level. If crews are being burnt out to 900 hrs by end January it could be handled because so many a/c were grounded and the company flight hours reduced that many crews had leave in the winter as they were not needed. (RYR's year ends March 31) I heard summer leave was nearly extinct. If the productivity is to be increased by 20% in the winter, and crews still need to take leave, then that suggests more crews. Does RYR have them? Also applies to cabin crew.

From the 'Telegraph' -

Ryanair to return £858m to investors as demand surges - Telegraph

and

Ryanair plans long-haul services - Telegraph

Does someone know if Ryanair is cancelling Gatwick-Seville and Gatwick-Kaunas flights for Winter Season 2013-14?

Currently, they are only displaying Gatwick-Ireland routes on their website and SVQ and KUN seem to be dropped. In fact, they have added an extra flight SVQ-STN on Saturdays rotation for WS'13.

Regards.

It doesn't look like it I'm afraid, still relatively early days though.

Ryanair: with or without the frills? - Telegraph

I got a laugh from reading this...

Open to correction but those routes were suspended last winter over Gatwick fees so most likely not operating

Some of the comments in that article are just ridiculous!

I absolutely love Ryanair, they offer an excellent service (in my expericnce) and generally at the cheapest price, they are one of the safest and most punctual airlines. All of the things people were moaning about were optional extras, if you follow the rules you can't go wrong. They have opened up fantastic oppurtunities across europe and a little bit further and have created/sustained (not just in Ryanair) probably millions of jobs and boosted economies by increasing tourism. I can't find a reason to moan at all.

One of the comments on there was along the lines of "I will never fly Ryanair again, I had 3 bags of hand luggage and they charged me to put 2 of them in the hold"

To be fair the complaint was how much they charged to put the bags in the hold, not the fact they had.

Ryanair article in The Telegraph
 

pwalhx is correct. I thought it was a very clever response to FR's attempt to influence free speech. The article would have been even better if they had compared the 'supplementary' costs on FR with another carrier on the same day, same route.

If Skyscanner is reading this - there's your new product idea! (Subject to my 10% commission plus 2.5% for credit card) :8

East Midlands to Palma Mallorca like I suspected is now available for the winter season. Operates Wednesday's and Saturday's. Let's hope Bournemouth follows suit.

Absolute fingers crossed for Bournemouth !

If Doncaster can manage a TFS service for the winter then hopefully BOH can do the same

I agree with MARKEYD. It seems mad that RYR, with all of their commercial prowess, can't make a go of a single based a/c in winter at BOH. Even using a minimal based crew to operate some flights a week must be better than having another B738 stored for 4 or 5 months with no revenue to cover the capital cost of the a/c?

FR at STN

Your hunch came true about Bournemouth !!

See Bournemouth post , and hopefully more to come

6th Nov: MAD-Rabat 4 weekly
7th Nov: GRO-Rabat 3 weekly
Ryanair Anuncia Dos Nuevas Rutas A Rabat Desde Madrid Y Girona

Doubt he left on bad terms as he's been put onto the board and given such a long notice period.

I'm sure working at that level for Ryanair has its pressures and you have to get out at some point after 16 years of service.

You don't announce you leaving in 8 months time if you a bad leaver.

Giving age is 58 its not really a shock that someone has decided to get off the threadmill and enjoy life.

So the Bournemouth Daily Echo is reporting a 'major announcement' about the Ryanair winter operation there tomorrow with the airline describing it as 'signigicant'.

Is this what we already know or something else in the pipeline?

BOH
 

I doubt the announcement is anything more significant than a continuation of the based aircraft through the winter. It could even be as minor as the continuation of a select few routes without the based aircraft.

A truly significant announcement would be if they based more than 1 aircraft. Perhaps they will also commit to the previously hoped for 5 aircraft that Ryanair famously mentioned they wanted to base at BOH. Although to do this in the weakest period of the year would be a bit stupid.

"Ryanair overtook LOT Polish Airlines in terms of the number of passengers served on Polish airports in 2012 and is now Poland's most popular airline", reported Warsaw Business Journal today.