excuse my ignorance but I thought that the current base at Marco Polo was a temporary one while Treviso was being resurfaced. ie they are reopening it, not a new base.

Up to 18 Lauda Europe 9H- A320`s at STN in temporary store.

inOban

Ryanair always uses the words "new route" and "new base" regardless as to whether they've previously operated something.

inOban

FR have had a large presence at Treviso (VCE temporarily while runway works are carried out) for years but despite this it was never a ‘base’ for them. This announcement will see aircraft and crew permanently based there, rather than flying in from other bases around the network.

Spanish authorities announced on 10th December that the LAMP COVID-19 test is now being accepted for entry into mainland Spain. This is a rapid test where results are given within 90mins and is already offered by Collinson who are providing tests at various UK airports.
Ryanair's travel area on their website only states PCR or TMA tests. As usual., trying to speak with someone at Ryanair is proving difficult, disconnection on the phone due to the lines being too busy and no response from Twitter messages.

I have booked a PCR test a few weeks ago for my flight with them to Malaga on 21st December. Now I have also pre-booked a LAMP test at MAN airport on the day of travel, but my concern would now be because their website is not up-to-date, would boarding be denied even though this type of test (LAMP) has official been announced as acceptable by the Spanish authorities?

CAA response to Ryanair statement ( Re Ryanair UK)

• 21 December, 2020

Commenting on Ryanair's recent press release, Paul Smith at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “It is incorrect for the airline to state that the UK Civil Aviation Authority has changed its wet-leasing policy at short notice. It has been our long-standing position that a UK airline with a significant presence in the UK, such as Ryanair UK does, should not rely heavily on using wet-leased, foreign-registered aircraft to undertake their operations. Doing so undermines the competitiveness of the UK aviation industry and the effectiveness of the regulatory regime. This is a view shared by regulators around the world and has nothing to do with our preparations for the end of the transition period, which we have planned for extensively.

"The decision to cancel these flights was taken by Ryanair alone. We will continue to engage with the airline on these matter as we seek to act in the best interest of consumers.”

Notes to editors:

• Ryanair has chosen to create a UK subsidiary to benefit from UK air traffic rights, including flying between domestic destinations in the UK.
• Ryanair UK currently has only one aircraft listed on the UK's register. Ryanair has a fleet of over 470 aircraft.

This isn’t adding up for me, although they haven’t said what the rule changes are. I presume RYR U.K. plan to wet lease several EI-reg RYR DAC aircraft (or from other airlines in the group) to the U.K. subsidiary to get around the break from EASA protocols in 10 days time.

Whilst it’s true that no U.K. airline wet leases a substantial portion of their aircraft from a third party, what is the difference between having say 2 aircraft v 20 aircraft? Each are being managed and maintained by the same regulations. Even the CAA say it’s all about competitiveness rather than safety or regulations.

It is one of my big bug bears in aviation - that the rules totally change on the same aircraft as soon as the letters at the back end change.

Yes, it is about the spirit of the arrangements. It has been clear that post end of transition, in order to operate under any Air Service Agreements entered into by the UK, an airline will to have a UK entity and has to have a UK AOC. To obtain a UK AOC, the aircraft has to be on the UK register. Although there has been much confusion over Brexity arrangements generally, the CAA has been consulting with airlines and it has been clear for a while that the UK - EU Air Service agreement would probably only cover third and fourth freedoms. This would mean Ryanair would need a UK business (which it has with one aircraft on the G reg). Other airlines have worked this out so no doubt Ryanair are just playing and generally stirring for time whilst there isn't much flying going on. It has been obvious all along that wet leasing in and just continuing as before wasn't part of the CAA's plan as this would just be taking the p*** of the point of having a regulator.

So not set in legislation then?

How is the Stobbart EI from BHD to GB affected? They use EI reg aircraft

Looking to set up Stobart UK

biddedout

but surely the CAA have also had plenty of time to release this news item

CAA rules have long prescribed that the number of wet-leased aircraft in an AOC holder's fleet cannot exceed 50% of your core aircraft fleet. If you have one aircraft on the UK register and try to secure permission to wet-lease 15 others - even on a part-time basis - then you can expect to fall foul of this provision, which has been in place for longer than I can remember with the objective of making sure that UK AOCs cannot effectively become flags of convenience. I would be very surprised if the CAA had not outlined that to Ryanair. Unlike Wizz (for example) which has a meaningful and growing number of G- aircraft on its UK AOC, Ryanair look to have gained the approvals and promptly done very little with them.

Wizz U.K. had no problems understanding CAA requirements but Ryanair like to sail near the wind. Now they have been caught out but they claim it is all the fault of the CAA, which has made a robust response.

AH - Exactly!
It may not be in law yet but from 01 Jan there will either be no agreement (nothing flies) an agreement or an emergency temporary agreement. The CAA make it clear in their podcasts (and no doubt in conversations with airlines) that the Air Service Agreement between the UK and EU will only be third and fourth freedoms ("97%Written up, just awaiting political sign off"). Airlines wishing to operate under this agreement will need to have a UK AOC. I am not a Brexit fan but this is the point of taking back control, leaving EASA and bolstering our own regulator. It needs something to regulate and the rest of the UK airlines would not be happy if there wasn't a level playing field. Apart form the cost, Ryanair are probably just miffed because they will no longer be able to pool their airframes across Europe / UK. The UK airframes on the G-Reg will have to be ring fenced for UK based ops only. They set up Ryanair UK so they must have been aware of what was coming and would have had a lot of conversations with the CAA as they did this.

Worth reading this from 2016 when they threatened to cut investment in the U.K in retaliation for the U.K voting to leave the EU. Well that never happened did it.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/...vote-1.2702603

Perhaps they didn't expect that the UK would still be following all EU rules, regulations and still be paying into it's budget by the end of 2020. The only difference now being that the UK has no vote or veto over those EU rules or regs.

This list always includes paying into the budget and always forgets the receiving payments bit. Funny that. Anyway, back on topic.

If the establishment hadn't set about converting a very good commercial/business arrangement into a political project, we wouldn't be where we are now I believe. The difficulty now being experience shows how much of our authority had been signed away, mostly without our knowledge or agreement. Did nobody at the stop ever stop to ask this question "what happens if a population changes its mind?" as they signed agreement after agreement.