Ryanair - 4

[Faire d'income]

Ryanair - 3 http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2903355#post2903355

Perhaps you're right, Brian. Have a look at what the Under Secretary of Policy at the US Department of Transportation has to say (http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/security-excuse-open-skies-delay/article-158201) in this article.
Meanwhile, IALPA's list of cringworthy underachievements sinks to a new nadir.
Yep, the very same. 8.5 million shares at €3.05. Yesterday’s market close was at €2.87, which makes for a loss of €1.53 million on the first day.
WELL DONE, LADS! Glad I don’t listen to the Dwarf for my investment advice. Gee whiz, I hope all this jiggery-pokery doesn’t drive the shares south of €2.80 again and into the sweet spot. RYR might yet not need to improve upon their offer after all. Thanks heaps, Evan. You are to investment advice what Bob Ayling was to the higher aspirations of corporate lawyers everywhere. HEMLOCK.

More lies Leo as usual. Two different pensions that even reading this complete thread would have taught you. But then I figure you know it anyway and were happy to lie to a lazy audience.

[eu01]

The Ryanair - 3 thread is actually here:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=244938

[Patuta]

Looks as if plans have been revealed for Ryanairs first self operated terminal. Images been posted in the "Airport Bremen Forum (http://70666.rapidforum.com/topic=101974009996)". The terminal provides five gates, six check in counters and an internal luggage hall. Maybe of some interest fore those who'll visit Bremen from April on.

[airhumberside]

Whats happenned tio the new DUB routes?

[cesare.caldi]

And about new Dublin routes? Today no annunce...

[caja]

I think that the reason of the creation of the Ryanair base in MAD this year relates with the future base of the Easyjet

Ryanair and easyJet with hub in Madrid

Ryanair hub in the airport of Madrid, goes to enter in operations from next day 22 to November. In this same height, the aerial company will go to invest to 167,5 million euros in the purchase of three Boeing 737-800 and 14 new routes, whose objectivo is to annually carry a million from passengers. For its turn, the company easyJet goes to initiate in the end of the chain month the creation of its “hub” which will have to be finished up to 16 of February it next year.

[Charlie Roy]

I don't believe Ryanair's decision to base aircraft at Madrid was influenced by Easyjet.

AENA approached Ryanair, Ryanair listened to what they had to offer, liked what it was proposing, saw that there was money to be made, and decided to set up a base...

[daz211]

Do you think a London route will come soon?
I would have thought RYR would have pushed harder for the slot.

[larshakan]

Seems as it is a double Stockholm ex DUB both VST and NYO appear on teh route map!

[VanBosh]

There is a Warsaw there aswell!!

[jabird]

WAW would be very interesting - thought the budget terminal had reached capacity, and that other tennants were screaming for more. MOL wants new airport on old airfield (about 35mls NE of Warsaw?), so what's he doing going to Chopin? Suppose he can't for theoretical projects any more than he can wait for the (perhaps no longer fictitious judging by their recent website updates) Don Quijote? Just another opportunity to good to miss?

Is Sweden back in favour then after recent election?

[shannon55]

Can the WAW route sustain LOT, AER lingus, Norwegian and Ryanair all operating on the same route?

[VanBosh]

I doubt it but you can bet Ryanair will fill theire plane's.

[Charlie Roy]

The new Dublin routes have disappeared again from the routemap. Looks like the announcement may have been postponed...
If Ryanair are going to fly to Warsaw, then they won't be long expanding from there. I bet Wizz and Centralwings won't be the happiest of campers :\

[phil_2405]

There is a Warsaw there aswell!!

Did it show Warsaw or the existing Ryanair destination of Wroclaw?

[Ananda]

Rumors say that Ryanair will fly to Cyprus and Greece!
Can anybody confirm this?

regards

[Charlie Roy]

phil_2405

The route map definitely showed WARSAW. Although the dot was ominously in the extreme east of Poland, so maybe it's a different airport that they're going to refer to as Warsaw East :}

No, there was only the word "Warsaw" next to the dot, so it must be Warsaw.

PS - I think Ryanair should back the "Charlie Roy" charity. All donations welcome, and I won't even charge a credit card fee :E

[eu01]

Did it show Warsaw or the existing Ryanair destination of Wroclaw?Indeed, Warsaw was shown briefly along Wroclaw and several other existing Polish destinations on Ryanair's map this afternoon. It was kind of blunder though and now again the "old" official destinations map is being shown, without WAW.
FR has in fact been interested in flying to Warsaw, but until recently it seemed to consider not Okecie but an old military base Modlin as its destination. However, the brief appearance of Warsaw on its map today suggests something different. Without any doubts Modlin will not be ready to accept FR planes in a few months, nor will be any other former military airport that could potentially be reshaped for civilian use (like Sochaczew (http://www.e-sochaczew.pl/airsochaczew/pl_main.php?pokaz=geneza&jez=en) to the West). So FR might indeed foresee using any of these intended-to-be lcc airports near Warsaw as its future base, but these not yet disclosed plans to fly to WAW can at present concern Okecie only, the main airport.

[daz211]

Ananda - AD LINK! (Mod)
this might help, You need to skip first page though.:ok:

[daz211]

I seem to remember some talk about Athens, but for some reason it would have ment giving up some slots at DUB and STN.

[Ananda]

Hmmm strange case to give up that slots for Athens!
I find it very strange that FR did not arrange any summert schedule to Greece yet. Who knows why....

[daz211]

Ryanair have started to CANX flight "poss" more to follow.

[daz211]

http://www.greenparty.ie/en/news/latest_news/ryanair_may_already_hold_key_25_stake_in_aer_lingus

[akerosid]

As undoubtedly impartial as the Irish Green party is in relation to aviation generally and Ryanair specifically, he may have a point.

Given that the govt has been weathervaning on the whole issue, looking for others (such as the competition authorities) to make decisions for them, I tend to think that it would be no bad thing for control over EI's future to pass from the govt to MO'L. The difference is vision; MO'L has it, Cullen/Ahern etc. don't. It's all been about "stop FR at any cost", rather than any long term vision for the company (EI) and how it needs to position itself for the opportunities ahead.

MO'L has already extended a hand of friendship to EI, which has been spurned; FR's relationship with Boeing could be a very healthy avenue for EI to use, to develop its fleet, but the potential growth in Irish-US air services is likely to be far larger than the 12-14 acft EI keeps talking about. With EI's experience on the t/a routes over 40+ years and FR's experience in developing new markets, is it really that much to ask that the two can get together - particularly in a week when the DUP and SF reached an accommodation! (If they can work together ....)

Here's to another interesting week in Irish aviation.

[Tooloose]

How could they be expected to know what to do when you haven't issued any guidance for nearly a week? Where have you been? Have you been too busy? Did you get a job? Anyway thank God you're back. We can all sleep easier now.

[Tooloose]

Sorry Akerosid, that was a kneejerk reaction and uncalled for. Seriously though, anyone accepting a hand of friendship from MOL would be well advised to count their fingers very carefully afterwards. One doesn't have to delve too deeply into the archives of pprune to find plenty of evidence that those who are naive enough to take his hand end up losing an arm and a leg.

[yonash]

FR has in fact been interested in flying to Warsaw, but until recently it seemed to consider not Okecie but an old military base Modlin as its destination. However, the brief appearance of Warsaw on its map today suggests something different. Without any doubts Modlin will not be ready to accept FR planes in a few months, nor will be any other former military airport that could potentially be reshaped for civilian use (like Sochaczew (http://www.e-sochaczew.pl/airsochaczew/pl_main.php?pokaz=geneza&jez=en) to the West). So FR might indeed foresee using any of these intended-to-be lcc airports near Warsaw as its future base, but these not yet disclosed plans to fly to WAW can at present concern Okecie only, the main airport.
There has been lot of rumours, that FR recalculated loss of WAW on their map. In fact, LCC terminal is almost full, but there, again, are rumours about terminal extension. What makes it more real is the map issue. And of course the fact, that FR is missing a big market opportunity at WAW - DY, EI, LO in DUB route are still not enough, even though existing DUB routes from the other cities.

Another thing is new base announcement, which is expected to be established in the eastern EU shortly. There have been voices in favour of WRO or KRK, but KRK is already reaching its capacity, while WRO has no maintenance for 737. WAW might be perfect (lot of discounts when establishing new routes), market capacity, 737 maintenance by two co's (LH and LO), and a good position to expand FR, according to latest statements, into Ukraine and Russia, as well as possibility to expand operations into baltic statas or czech rep/hungary.

[Robertkc]

http://www.greenparty.ie/en/news/latest_news/ryanair_may_already_hold_key_25_stake_in_aer_lingus

It's now a 100% certainly that Ryanair weren't the ones who bought the 8% of shares traded that day. Under Irish takeover rules, they are required to declare the Stock Exchange *any* buying or selling of shares in Aer Lingus by 12noon the following day. Plus, once you've launched an offer (which they have @ €2.80/share), any shares RYA buy above that price would force them to offer that same (higher) price to everybody else.

[antoslaw]

[quote=yonash;2910181] There have been voices in favour of WRO or KRK, but KRK is already reaching its capacity, while WRO has no maintenance for 737. quote]

So how is it possible that CO has two B737s based in WRO?

[daz211]

Ryanair waded into the market and snapped up 19.2 percent of the shares, which will be enough to give it a decisive voice in the future of the airline whatever happens. Whether it wins control remains to be seen -- certainly at the current price it seems unlikely.

[Buster the Bear]

Assuming completion of purchase, the Aer Lingus slots at Heathrow will subsidise the purchase price when sold?

[yonash]

So how is it possible that CO has two B737s based in WRO?
As far as i know, one is coming every day from WAW in the morning (reason for the only domestic route for C0), another is changed in the remote airport. In fact there's no same planes every day in WRO, they're being exchanged on a daily basis (max 2 days).

[Camels Hoof]

Leo Hairy-Camel 11th October 18:53 http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=244938

"Yep, the very same. 8.5 million shares at €3.05. Yesterday’s market close was at €2.87, which makes for a loss of €1.53 million on the first day.
WELL DONE, LADS! Glad I don’t listen to the Dwarf for my investment advice. Gee whiz, I hope all this jiggery-pokery doesn’t drive the shares south of €2.80 again and into the sweet spot. RYR might yet not need to improve upon their offer after all. Thanks heaps, Evan. You are to investment advice what Bob Ayling was to the higher aspirations of corporate lawyers everywhere. HEMLOCK."


Let's look at this logically Mr. Hairy-Camel. The loss of 1.53million Euro pales into insignificance when compared to the loss of 193million Euro (note absence of decimal point :eek: ) in market cap. by Ryanair over the last 10 days. Strangely enough this has happened since the Ryanair takeover bid for Aer Lingus was launched.

Check it out out :

16th October
http://www.ise.ie/app/equityDetails.asp?equity=12724

6th October http://www.ise.ie/app/equityDetails.asp?equity=12724&start_day=6&start_month=10&start_year=2006


Funny old thing that a lot of the press has concentrated on this relatively small loss by a Pension fund and not the massive lack of confidence displayed by the now ex-shareholders of Ryanair. I'd say your sweating under your stylish checked collar. Your investors are baling out in numbers!

Enjoy your retirement.

[antoslaw]

As far as i know, one is coming every day from WAW in the morning (reason for the only domestic route for C0), another is changed in the remote airport. In fact there's no same planes every day in WRO, they're being exchanged on a daily basis (max 2 days).

Look at the current schedule. The route to WAW will be cancelled in October, and 2 B737's operate from Wroclaw starting the 28-th of October.

[Leo Hairy-Camel]

Well Hello, Camels Hoof!

Comparisons are always odious aren’t they, but I think you might need to review your sources of information. Comparing Ryanair (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=anDeOpAUYKXg&refer=home) shares with the Dwarf’s latest truly spectacular foray into corporate investments does you a disservice, I fear.

As you’ll see from the Financial Times, the Ryanair (http://mwprices.ft.com/custom/ft2-com/html-quotechartnews.asp?subtab=&FTSite=FTCOM&q=RYA&searchtype=&expanded=&countrycode=UK&s2=uk&symb=RYA&sid=961701&site=&company=NEW&selected=Ryanair+Hldgs) share price is currently at 8.605 Euros, correct at the time of me writing this, with an associated Market Capitalisation (what the company is worth based upon this share price) of 6.65 Billion Euros. Rather healthy as I’m sure you’ll agree. The real story, though, is that the shares in Ryanair have risen from a low of 6.32 Euros to the current price of 8.605 in less than a year. Crunch these numbers and I think you’ll find this represents an increase in value of 36.2% in less than a year. A bit better than you’ll get from the Bank of Ireland or HSBC, don’t you think Camels Hoof? Certainly a great deal better than putting your money in Dwarf Investments, Inc.

Aer Lingus (http://mwprices.ft.com/custom/ft2-com/html-quotechartnews.asp?symb=aerl&x=0&y=0&vsc_appId=ts&ftsite=FTCOM&searchtype=equity&searchOption=equity), on the other hand, is currently trading at 2.88 Euros per share, valuing the airline at a whisker above 1.5 billion, and more interestingly for our purposes, rendering the Dwarf’s hysterical recent investment into a loss of 1.445 million Euros. I’ve heard of the kiss of death when it comes to investing, but squandering pension fund savings to such an extent takes the breath away.

Investors may, as you say, be bailing, Camels Hoof, but not from Ryanair. Lets hope for the Dwarf and the people whose retirement money he’s throwing away, that the AERL share price doesn’t slip too much more. If it dives beneath 2.80, less than 8 cents away, the feathers will fly, I can assure you.

[yonash]

Look at the current schedule. The route to WAW will be cancelled in October, and 2 B737's operate from Wroclaw starting the 28-th of October.
C0, as I told you, is either repositioning aircraft on 1-2day basis to WRO or switches the aircrafts in the different airports, e.g. WRO - CIA - KRK and another is KRK - CIA - WRO. In fact there are 2 different aircrafts & crews, but from the schedule it looks like it's being done by one.

[daz211]

There is something going on with RYR booking site,
I tried to book STN-REU, but REU is not listed as a destination from STN,
what is going on ?

[yonash]

There is something going on with RYR booking site,
I tried to book STN-REU, but REU is not listed as a destination from STN,
what is going on ?
It works fine here.

[andip]

There is something going on with RYR booking site,
I tried to book STN-REU, but REU is not listed as a destination from STN,
what is going on ?


:):):):)

Its there but dont look for Reus or Girona!
Ryanair switched it into Barcelona (Reus) and Barcelona (Girona), so no longer Girona(Barcelona) , Reus (Barcelona):=.

[daz211]

Just tried again still not there, I selected STN, then drop down bar for destination and still no REU, however I find it under find lowest fare.

This is all very strange, when the new MAD routes were on the route map, people were saying they could see them. but I couldnt after a few days I could see them, so what could MY problem be ?:ugh:

[andip]

however I find it under find lowest fare.



lowest fare is not actuel, there are the old names of GRO and REU :bored:

[Charlie Roy]

daz211

I see the STN - REU route in all the places I should. Seems like you are having technical problems again...
Why? Javascript settings of your browser maybe?? Actually, I have no idea...

Are you on an Apple Mac?

Try a new browser maybe. Mozilla Firefox or Opera.

[andip]

no technical problem!
its easy !!!
REUS (Barcelona) is Barcelona (Reus) now!
Same with GRO!!!

[yonash]

So, according to independent sources, MOL is going to visit WAW tomorrow as well as giving the speech on the press conference. I wonder, if the 'goodbye LOT" (zegnamy pll lot) aircraft will be seen :-)

Anyway, if really so, than the very first connection from MOL's infamous WAW will probably be opened...

[caja]

David Gering informed in April the newspaper Diário Economico that Ryanair was studying a linking Oporto - Oslo and other Oporto - Morocco. A base in Oporto could be in 2007.

You can see the article in Portuguese
http://www.linhadafrente.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7749

[i_need_cider]

The businessman Denis O'Brien has bought 2.1% of Aer Lingus for over €32 million.

In a statement to RTÉ News, he said he had purchased the shares in the airline because he believed in competition and because Aer Lingus was a company with a strong national and international reputation.

Mr O'Brien said he has agreed to support the pilots and the staff and the board and management of the company.


Advertisement


Aer Lingus pilots bought more shares in the airline today in an attempt to block Ryanair's hostile takeover.

They bought 300,000 shares at €2.90 per share, spending €870,000.

This latest purchase of shares brings the stake held by pilots to 2.24%.


Concerns over use of pension fund

The Pensions Board has contacted trustees in an Aer Lingus pilots' pension fund and raised concerns about the fund buying shares.

The concern is that the pilots' strategy of buying shares to block Ryanair's bid could reduce the Aer Lingus share price.

That could result in a loss on the investment for the pension fund and its pensioners.

The trustees of the pilots' fund have been told they have a duty to act in the best financial interest of members.

[michaelknight]

MOL will think twice about putting full page adverts in the papers slandering Dennis O'Brien!

Hats off to Dennis nice move Sir.

MK

[daz211]

Dont for one minute think that the fat lady has finnished singing !
as we all know MOL is at his best when he has'nt got the winning hand,
It aint over to its over, and that time is a long way off.

[caja]

The passengers numbers of the Oporto reduced substantially. So:
2005-02-24 - 1 route - 2 flights - 20 000
2005-03-27 - 1 route - 2 flights - 300 000 - 396 days
2006-05-31 - 3 routes - 4 flights - 500 000 - 65 days
2006-09-17 - 5 routes - 6 flights - 600 000 - 109 days

Source:
Ryanair press information

[VanBosh]

Ryanair will launch two new routes out of Dublin this morning. Prob the Stockholm & Warsaw one's which appeared on the route map last week.

[Charlie Roy]

So the Stockholm route seems to be Vasteras.
Vasteras also seems to be getting a Stansted connection.

[yonash]

So here we have:
FR2901/FR2902 DUBWAWDUB 1234567 1540-1930/2000-2200

I wonder who will loose the game in DUB (EI daily, LO 10x week, DY 3x week).

[Powerjet1]

Thought the reason they were dropping LTN-VST was due to costs at VST.

Simply moving it back to STN makes a mockery of that argument, but does follow a pattern of so many ryanair routes out of LTN which end up back at STN. No doubt RAK & FEZ will be next to go across to essex, in the coming months. Makes you wonder why ryan really bother with LTN at all.

[Charlie Roy]

Powerjet1

So Ryanair had a problem with the tax policies of the Swedish government. That's when they decided to cut Luton to Vasteras.

Now there's nes government that Ryanair prefer. So they probably thought, let's reintroduce Luton to Vasteras. But then seeing that the aircraft schedules in Luton are completely full now, they thought about juggling around with the Stansted schedules and trying to fit in a Vasteras servive there. And yes, then was possible, so now we have a STN - VST route.

I don't think Ryanair had a big anti-Luton scheme to drop ("move") the route on purpose.

[airhumberside]

Have FR and NYO fallen out or is NYO not offering a good deal at the moment. I would have thought the DUB route would have gone to NYO (as an FR base) and not Vasteras (although good for Vasteras that its keeping FR and getting expanded service from them)

[larshakan]

I read in AW recently that there's an old military airbase being converted to a commercial airport just north of Stockholm which is being aimed at LCC only and I think it might be more accesible to Stockholm by road then the two other airports currently served by RYR...maybe RYR will move their base to here once it opens if they're still at odds with NYO ???

You are probably thinking about Uppsala airport about 80 kms north of Sthlm. http://www.uppsalaair.se/

[MarkD]

EI are running around like headless chickens and hiring ex Eurocrats on undoubtedly serious money to try to head it off. Now all MOL has to do is dump the stock, take his profit and be on his merry way while EI figure out which way is up and the recriminations between which employee groups (or their pension funds) ponied up for more shares and who didn't begins.

[akerosid]

I didn't actually see why the last thread went off course; sure, we got into talking about long haul routes and pre-clearance, but this was not irrelevant. There are MASSIVE opportunities on long haul routes from Ireland, once we get the O/S in place, particularly now that the customs pre-clearance consent has been given. This means that any US airport with a runway long enough is theoretically accessible from DUB. Who has 40 years of t/a experience? Aer Lingus. Who has the experience of developing new markets aggressively (and more importantly, the dosh)? Ryanair.

OK, that's simplistic and I know there's a lot of obstacles, but that is still what it comes down to. When the ratio of flights changes next year (between DUB and SNN), US carriers will also be able to expand on Irish routes and effectively treble services to DUB. Is EI in a position to cope with this? Is 12-14 acft going to be enough to exploit and develop all the opportunities ahead? If the answer is "no", then hobbling on is NOT the answer; the answer is to find a partner that can help and that's FR. EI may not like them, but if the alternative is being snowed under by the big US carriers, then it's worth going for. It would be an appalling oversight to just fritter away the opportunities ahead. Change is painful, but obsolescence more so. We've done it so often in the past - and so casually; let's not let it happen again.

With all of the parties lined up against FR seemingly focused on that one goal - being anti-FR, I feel the real danger is that these parties aren't seeing the long term goal; that's why I would like to see the govt, as a minority shareholder convene a meeting of all interested parties, starting with one simple goal: what is your vision for EI. Once common ground has been identified, then it should be less difficult to agree on some of the means to achieve this? Is that too much to ask, particularly for a govt that has managed to bring SF and the DUP together?

[Charlie Roy]

shannon55

What dispute with NYO? As far as I know there is no such dispute....

[Charlie Roy]

The 2 airports will be over 170km apart, I'm confident Ryanair could operate out of both of them...

[shannon55]

shannon55

What dispute with NYO? As far as I know there is no such dispute....

ok, I stand corrected ,I made a mistake. What I was referring to was RYR'S opposition to the increase in taxes a couple of months ago...it actually had nothing to do with NYO so I'll just go delete that post if possible...
Thanks Charlie Roy!

[caja]

I can’t find out the airplane that makes the shunting line between Riga and Tampere.
Flights plan
Base Flight Start Arrival Stop Flight Start Arrival
Tampere
BRE Bremen....................FR3606 - 10:00 - 13:10 - 00:25 - FR3607 - 13:35 - 14:50
DUB Dublin......................FR852 --- 07:30 - 12:45 - 00:25 - FR853 --- 13:35 - 14:50
HHN Frankfurth (Hahn)......FR1921 - 12:55 - 16:30 - 00:25 - FR1922 - 16:55 - 18:25
LPL Liverpool....................FR9612 - 13:20 - 18:15 - 00:25 - FR9613 - 18:40 - 19:40
STN Londres (Stansted)....FR2192 - 06:10 - 10:55 - 00:25 - FR2193 - 11:20 - 12:15
STN Londres (Stansted)....FR2194 - 17:50 - 22:30 - 00:25 - FR2195 - 22:55 - 23:45
RIX Riga..........................FR2734 - 19:45 - 20:50 - 00:25 - FR2735 - 21:15 - 22:20


Riga
BRE Bremen....................FR3602 - 10:00 - 13:00 - 00:45 - FR3603 - 13:45 - 14:50
DUB Dublin......................FR1976 - 16:05 - 21:05 - 00:25 - FR1977 - 21:30 - 21:35
HHN Frankfurth (Hahn) .....FR4372 - 10:00 - 13:20 - 00:25 - FR4373 - 13:45 - 15:00
LPL Liverpool...................FR9606 - 06:05 - 10:50 - 00:25 - FR9607 - 11:15 - 12:05
PIK Glasgow (Prestwick)..FR7646 - 17:20 - 22:15 - 00:25 - FR7647 - 22:40 - 23:30
STN Londres (Stansted)...FR2644 - 06:05 - 10:40 - 00:25 - FR2645 - 11:05 - 11:40
STN Londres (Stansted)...FR2642 - 14:45 - 19:20 - 00:25 - FR2643 - 19:45 - 20:20
NYO Stockholm..............FR1962 - 15:45 - 17:50 - 00:25 - FR1963 - 18:15 - 18:20
TMP Tampere.................FR2734 - 19:45 - 20:50 - 00:25 - FR2735 - 21:15 - 22:20

The possible routes had been announced in July of 2004 to start in November.
This study is concerned with a solution that would serve both parts Galiza and the north of Portugal.
The route that I sugest would be MAD-OPO-SCQ-OPO-MAD as Tampere. A lot off Gallegos come to embark at the AFSC airport. TAP launched a free bus transport from Vigo to the Airport Francisco Sá Carneiro, for eight destinations. Sometimes with two buses a day and even a daily public express bus. Can see map on http://www.agentestapbrasil.com.br/images/varios/MapaGalicia.jpg
A lot of people from Galiza come to AFSC airport embark to Ibéria flights OPO-MAD, which are cheaper than SCQ-MAD.

[caja]

LOW-COST AIRLINES PLAN FLIGHTS TO BULGARIA
13:00 Wed 11 Oct 2006

A number of low-cost air companies would start operating on Bulgaria’s market in a few months, Dnevnik daily reported.
Four low-cost companies had already declared their intention to start flying to Bulgaria after January 1 2007 when the country joins the EU and the aviation market will be liberalised.
Italian Myair announced on October 10 that it would fly from Sofia to Bologne, Italian news agency ANSA said, as quoted by Dnevnik. Ireland’s Ryanair, the UK’s Easy Jet and Germany’s German Wings already presented a flight schedule to Sofia airport, Dnevnik said. A number of air companies have applied to fly to Bulgaria’s Bourgas airport.
Low-cost companies’ access to Bulgaria was stopped in the past few years in a bid to strengthen Bulgaria’s national flag carrier Bulgaria Air.
Currently only two low-cost companies fly to Bulgaria, Dnevnik said. Their shortcomings were that they landed at remote airports and the flight times were inconvenient, according to Dnevnik.
Bulgaria’s aviation market was becoming more attractive to air companies, Dnevnik said. Its earnings were 400 to 500 million euro a year.


Font: Sofiaecho.com

[andip]

I can’t find out the airplane that makes the shunting line between Riga and Tampere.


Its operated by a plane from stansted!
stn-rix-tmp-rix-stn
14.45-19.20 (stn-rix)
19.45-20.50 (rix-tmp)
21.15-22.20 (tmp-rix)
22.45-23.20 (rix-stn)

[eidah]

From the ryanair website as of 1st November you can be pre boarded at a cost of 3 euros per pax. Families with chidren have to wait in line with the rest of the pax unless you have paid the money.

[Hollymead]

So now you willl have to pay to sit with your own children . :ok:

[en2r]

Charging for online check-in makes no sense. If everyone checked in online, they wouldn't have to open a check-in desk, and would save a lot of money (as far as I know it costs around €60,000 just to open one check-in desk for one flight at Dublin Airport). It is far too expensive, €6 for a return trip. As has been said in a previous post, if there is a family with three children they will be landed with an extra bill of €30. People will simply not pay this and will just use check-in desks.

[Cyrano]

en2r

"€60,000 for one check-in desk for one flight"? Let's do a quick sanity check, shall we? If this were true, a flight with 180 passengers paying €200 each (total revenue €36,000) can't even cover the costs for check-in, not to mention the actual aircraft operating costs? I don't think so. := Try "€60,000 for a dedicated check-in desk for a year" and you might be closer, though I don't know the precise rent figures for DUB.

And secondly, unless I'm mistaken, Ryanair is not charging for online check-in. They are giving people who check in online the option of paying for pre-boarding. So this isn't going to automatically drive people to check in in person.

[840]

€60,000 sounds a bit much, it works out at over €300 per passenger...

You'll never do away with check-in desks entirely. Aside from the fact that they'll be needed to take the luggage of internet passengers, you'll also find that when people are away from home that they won't always have internet access.

Eventually, you may be able to move to mobile phone based check in and a virtual boarding card that arrives as a text message, but that will be a long time off yet.

[XSBaggage]

€60,000 per check in per flight?!?!?! I remember years ago at PIK there was the famous figure of 1p per pax which seemed to be a pretty accurate figure. Thats the airport charging Ryanair £0.01 per passenger for check in, security, baggage screening, special assistance if required. This figure may be even less at certain airports, given the unbending nature of Ryanair's negotiating style.

The debate about charging for pre-boarding is raging in the Pax and SLF forum at the moment.

XSB

[akerosid]

Here it is:

www.ise.ie/app/announceme...ID=1322544

The phrase "comes out swinging" jumps to mind. It doesn't pull any punches; it doesn't come across as "stock exchange" language, if there is such a thing; it's very much fluent Ryanairese ... EI is a minnow, we're big, we can make things happen for EI; they can benefit from being on board, in terms of developing long haul and reducing their cost base.

There is the statement that FR will continue to grow at DUB, with or without the plan to sell EI being successful and it does state that EI's fare is nearly twice FR's. I'm thinking, "if this doesn't go through, we'll tighten the vice, bit by bit ..."

Since this is aimed at the 32% or so of shareowners who haven't yet made a decision, it will make particularly interesting reading for them.

I think there is another issue which needs to be considered and that is that, unlike EI, FR is not afraid to be controversial (yes, very often to a fault and often gratuitously and unnecessarily), BUT very often necessarily and in situations where EI is STILL, despite its privatised, rather hidebound and timid. DM, with all due respect to him, comes across as being a bit too nice, an ideal choice as the CEO of EI, when WW left - since he wasn't likely to rock the boat. Quite apart from being "weathervaned" by the unions, I wonder how much the govt fears getting a regular, public bollocking from FR; the DAA is clearly getting it (and deservedly so), but it will be interesting to see how the govt puts up with it; they can gag EI quite effectively and have always done so, but they won't do it to FR.

In that sense, I think this will be an extremely good thing, not just for Irish airlines, but for the economy generally, because if there is one area of Irish govt policy that needs a good 200,000 volts passed through at regular occasions, it's aviation. If they won't take an interest in aviation policy of their own volition, the combined FR/EI can "incentivise" them on a regular basis ...

[caja]

Ryanair was posted two Ryanair notices in your site.
1ª - Stansted Paralysed - Baa Cannot Cope - About caos today in Stansted airport. 34 Ryanair flights had been delayed

2ª - Aer Lingus offer doc to be published next Monday (23 Oct. 06) - Important it's about the Ryanair take over (18 pages)

[ryan2000]

Ryanair get most of the stick over additional charges. EI are presently advertising JFK for 100 euro. Inc taxes charges and surcharges it works out at 350euro return. Some difference. 3 euro online charge pointless unless you're on a very tight schedule.

[cesare.caldi]

When will be go on sale new frequencies from DUB to SXF, CIA, AGP and FAO?

From Ryanair press relase (04/09/2006):

INCREASED FREQUENCIES FROM SUMMER 2007
DUBLIN - BERLIN Daily to double daily
DUBLIN - ROME Daily to double daily
DUBLIN - MALAGA 5 per week to 8 per week
DUBLIN - FARO 3 per week to 7 per week

[akerosid]

Interestingly, all current EI routes ...

Have a look at this attachment from Finfacts, basically it looks like an ultimatum. "Either we do it the easy way (we proceed with plan to buy EI) or we do it the hard way (we expand significantly at DUB next year and bury EI). Either way, we'll win".

http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_10007745.shtml

[True Blue]

This must be a nightmare situation developing in Dublin. The possibility of Ryanair a near monopoly operator for the whole of Southern Ireland.

True Blue

[jds_portugal]

Hello. Im new over here :)

Just a Question, does anyone knows where ryanair will open new bases, and when?

Thanks

[Charlie Roy]

jds

According to various rumours in the press, the current potential candidate Ryanair bases are:

Riga
Oporto
Alghero
Murcia
Lyon
Bournemouth
Malta
Wroclaw / Krakow / Warsaw

[Charlie Roy]

jds

According to what Ryanair have said earlier this year, then it is possible that they might announce one more base before the end of 2006.

[Ametyst]

Eindhoven has also been rumoured as a new Ryanair base too! Not heard about Lyon though thought that was easyJet.


Originally Posted by Charlie Roy
jds

According to various rumours in the press, the current potential candidate Ryanair bases are:
Riga
Oporto
Alghero
Murcia
Lyon
Bournemouth
Malta
Wroclaw / Krakow / Warsaw

[Charlie Roy]

Ametyst

Ya, Eindhoven is certainly on Ryanair's base wish list, but legal restrictions on (weekend) operational hours have not been overcome yet...

Indeed, before choosing Madrid as their latest base, Easyjet were also in negotiations with Lyon.

Ryanair are also in negotiations with Lyon airport at the moment. Whether a base will come of it or not is another question. Lyon's new Marseille-style-super-low-cost terminal is nearing completion...

[cesare.caldi]

jds

According to various rumours in the press, the current potential candidate Ryanair bases are:

Riga
Oporto
Alghero
Murcia
Lyon
Bournemouth
Malta
Wroclaw / Krakow / WarsawAt this list add Treviso.

[caja]

Originally Posted by Charlie Roy
jds

According to various rumours in the press, the current potential candidate Ryanair bases are:
Riga
Oporto
Alghero
Murcia
Lyon
Bournemouth
Malta
Wroclaw / Krakow / Warsaw

At this moment are plus this:
Ametyst add Eindhoven
cesari.caldi add Treviso
and mine additios are:
Marrakech, Paris Beauvais, Bratislava e Tampere

Ryanair already notice that the Morocco base will be in Marrakech, based in the agreement with Morocco Governement (twenty routes in five years), 2006-05-25.

[caja]

Notice: cheapflights

Ryanair has signed an accord with the Moroccan government that could see the airline operate up to 20 new routes to the country. The five-year agreement comes after six months of talks between the airline and the government that commits Ryanair to carrying one million passengers per annum by the end of the agreed period.
Earlier this month Ryanair announced it would begin flights from the French airport of Marseilles to three cities in Morocco - Fez, Marrakesh and Oujda.
Michael Cawley, Ryanair’s deputy chief executive, said: “Ryanair’s commitment to establish up to 20 routes and carry close to one million passengers per annum on flights to Morocco is a vote of confidence by the airline in the excellence and attractiveness of Morocco as a destination both for weekend breaks, mid-week trips and longer holidays.
“Ryanair will be making many more new route announcements in Morocco over the coming months and years as we build on the solid basis which this long term agreement provides.”

In March Ryanair’s low-cost rival easyJet announced it would begin flights from Gatwick to Marrakech with one-way fares starting at £30.99.

[caja]

Fax news

You can see a important notice about this subject.
See in http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2006-10/artikel-7176415.asp

[caja]

Beja on south of Portugal can be a airport for low cost company.
Ryanair already had revealed interest in flying for this destination.
Beja was one old militar airport of the German Air Force. To see map of Portugal where you can find Bejaamd the location beteween Faro e Lisboa.
http://images.google.pt/imgres?imgurl=http://www.home.zonnet.nl/aslavradeiras/portugal-mapa.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.home.zonnet.nl/aslavradeiras/mapa.htm&h=1003&w=560&sz=108&tbnid=mqOyTd_kJKHQqM:&tbnh=149&tbnw=83&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmapa%2Bde%2Bportugal&start=3&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=3

Font: Jornal de Negócios

[cesare.caldi]

caja

Ryanair can sell this new airport as Lisbon south (Beja)?

[Ametyst]

How long does it take to travel from Beja to either Lisbon or Faro? I notice Badajoz in Spain is nor too far away.

[akerosid]

The Taoiseach, speaking in Bodenstown, said today, that as far as he is concerned, the bid to take over Aer Lingus will not succeed.

He added ...

"What is vitally important for us is that the Dublin Airport Authority, that it's strategic plans for the future are delivered on, and we have made it absolutely clear that the Government will not sell our share,” he said.

(Did he mean "Aer Lingus" in place of "the DAA"?)

Also today, EI employees will be increasing their share of the airline, buying shares off the govt (at €2.20!) ...

[mccloud]

Hi Akerosid,

A couple of questions; Why would the ESOP buy the shares from the government....do they not trust them not to sell out? Also If MOL has invested 200M in EI does it make sense for him to compete with EI and thereby reduce his investment to C.100M by driving the share price down? Would this loss be supported by his shareholders, even if the potential gain was well in excess of this? All of his comments to date suggest he will remain a holder.

[caja]

For railway:
Beja is the 175,20 km of Lisbon, but it has the advantage of already having a a railway for the Base. Today the trains are of low speed with only not 97,10 Km electric line, but in 2008 36,6 km goes to be electrified and to be endowed with modern railroad signalling. The speed is of 120/160 km/hour. If the lowcost airline go to Beja 63,5 and remains 52,4 that they lack to close the ring, quickly will be electrified. In three or four years we have a new railway to Badajoz.
The distance to Badajoz is 208,50 and to Faro is 236,10 by train.


For road:
Beja for road is at 185 km of Lisbon a great part in motorway and the remain for highway.
Badajoz is a 167,69 Km of Beja Airport. Near the airport is highway route and the remain is in motorway.
Faro is a 167,42 Km of Beja Airport. Near the airport is highway route and the remain is in motorway.

You can see the airport Beja site in http://www.edab.pt/ whre can see an airport perspective.

[foxile]

From the ryanair website as of 1st November you can be pre boarded at a cost of 3 euros per pax. Families with chidren have to wait in line with the rest of the pax unless you have paid the money.

He, He... I'd be quite happy for our four year old to have to sit with someone else. At least will give me and the Mrs a couple of hours peace :E

[akerosid]

Hi McCloud,

It looks as if the ESOT decision to buy shares from the govt was a pre-arranged tactic, in that they had an option to do so and the purchase was at a fixed price, so it was done outside the stock exchange.

As to MO'L, I get the impression that he is now acting out of pique; the mask has slipped quite seriously, in that the message - while being implied until recently (when Michael Cawley hinted at what would happen if the bid failed), is now quite open: "blood on the carpet out of Dublin next year" if the bid fails. In other words, it's an open ultimatum: do it our way now, or we'll strangle EI next year. It's not a particularly nice way (to put it very mildly) of doing business, but the problem is that he could do that, if he so wished ... but he still has that shareholding and if he were to do that, he'd effectively be destroying his own investment, so arguably he's painted himself into a corner?

If he reneges and does sell out, could he make any money? Highly unlikely, because the very fact of his pulling out would send the message that "now we're going to make life very difficult" would send the price south very quickly, especially as he'll be trying to sell nearly a fifth of the airline. So, he is stuck and also, let's not forget that, having said he would remain as a minority shareholding, he'd be seeing as having gone back on his word - lots of ammunition for those who say he can't be trusted.

In effect, having FR on board as a shareholder is EI's best insurance policy; it goes beyond that, because - apart from forcing down costs and sacking so many of the workforce - much of what FR has promised for EI can actually be done with FR as a minority shareholder, for example, the much needed dusting off and expansion of the long haul product.

[Hollymead]

" its not snobbery but ......."


http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23371724-details/French+seaside+town+says+Non%21+to+the+%27Ryanair+riff-raff%27/article.do

[caja]

Ryanair notice at 17/10 and 19/10 that have problems with Spanish Unions CCOO.
Notices at Ryanair site lang=ES

[caja]

About the Ryanair interest in fly to Beja airport I’m receive as reply to an mine email the following:

Beja Airport, when opened to the operation, will receive any aerial operator, since whom authorized by Aeronautical Authority. Another restriction does not have any, resctriction how much the company said "low cost".
Compliments
Jose Queiroz

[caja]

Today problems at Girona Airport.
The stike was convoked by CCOO (Comissones Obreras)
A lot of notices in Google, but in Spanish Language.
The stike encloses Ryanair workers and Lesma, the catering entreprise.

[Patuta]

Here's Beja (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=de&q=Portugal&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=38.079987,-7.928438&spn=0.048712,0.107117&t=h&om=1) disenchanted by Google Earth. Quite deserted scenery. But this is where the FR passengers are growing.

[jds_portugal]

Here's Beja (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=de&q=Portugal&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=38.079987,-7.928438&spn=0.048712,0.107117&t=h&om=1) disenchanted by Google Earth. Quite deserted scenery. But this is where the FR passengers are growing.

Well, o worked in Beja as an ATC a few years ago, and there are no big transports to get there. The train station is in the town, 10 min drive, but 10kms. I know there are diesel trains, but not for long...

I use to took 2 hours on a normal cruise in my car (120km/h) and the first 50 km to get to the highway that brings you to lisbon is a little road, with some towns in the side and some traffic lights to control the speed.

to reach algarve, most precisely albufeira, you will take 1h30 min, and the first 50km is also in poor condition.

The airbase itself is good, long runway (3450mts) with one ils cat1, ndb, and a vor/dme out of service :)

They want to make a civil apron, like someone already post the link, but in 2003, when i started, they told me that the works would begin the next week. Until today, nothing on the empty field....

Thats all folks :P (sorry for the long post)

[PAXboy]

French say 'non' to Ryanair route
Tuesday, 24 October 2006, 07:50 GMT 08:50 UK
BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/6079656.stm)
A new Ryanair service between Stansted Airport in Essex and the French town of Deauville may be grounded before it even takes off in March next year.

Some residents across the Channel have set up a No Budget Flights Association to block the route and stop tourists flooding in to their "chic" resort. They claim an influx of people would cheapen the image of the town.

Ryanair said business and tourism in the area would "reap enormous benefits" from the three times a week flights.

[Leo Hairy-Camel]

Ireland is a small country in many ways, but a magnificent one too. So often in our tragic history, though, we the people in this land of poets and dreamers need to be protected from ourselves. The current hysteria surrounding Ryanair’s proposed takeover of Aer Lingus reminds us again that this smallness too often manifests itself in hubris and mendacity when the focus, in truth, should be on the vision and opportunity represented by the take over offer document.

Imagine a future where Dublin, Shannon and Cork are major centres of European aviation, rather than Paris, Frankfurt and London, as is currently the case. Aer Lingus has been abused for years, minimised, trivialised and kept in chains by governments lacking the backbone and vision the set the company free from the twin diseases of political interference and union empire building, but since the privatisation we have a golden opportunity to change all that. An opportunity that could benefit the Irish nation in previously unimagined ways, raise Aer Lingus to the highly profitable long-haul behemoth it always should have been, and despite the ill-informed shrieks to the contrary, create wealth and security of employment for thousands.

As those of you who’ve read my posts previously will know, I’m a Ryanair captain. I work for Michael O’Leary. I’m also an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to nuances and intricacies of the airline business. There have been many words used to describe my boss, words like ‘colourful’, ‘abrasive’, even downright ‘rude’, and they’re just the publishable ones. Unfortunately, though, the usual suspects delight in focusing on style over substance. IALPA, an organisation who’ve raised fecklessness to an art form, continue to persuade a few that the perception of insult is worthy of an eclipse of common sense. The same IALPA who’ve risked millions in pension fund money in trying to prevent the liberation of Aer Lingus. Its bleakly pleasing to reflect that such a gesture of feather-headed bravado is characteristic of an empire in the evening of its existence.

I would like to suggest that MOL be viewed through the prism of his achievements to date and future potential, rather than his personal style. I, like thousands, owe my job to his vision and genius, and for that he has my loyalty. Loyalty doesn’t obscure the harsh realities of commercial success, though, and I would further suggest that you all consider the following, as objectively as you’re able.

Michael O’Leary has created an airline worth 7 billion Euros, the most profitable on earth by a very large margin, from the loss making basket case it was a decade ago. Ryanair is the European market gorilla and is the principal driver of airline boardroom behaviour not only in Europe but, increasingly, around the world too. When the history of European aviation is written there will be few giants that loom as large or whose influence will be felt as long. Ryanair and the imitators who seek to emulate our success have done more to unite the European Union and stimulate local economies than the wildest dreams of Brussels can ever have hoped for.

Open Skies is coming. The only reason its not here already is that BA seeks to retain its vice like grip on slots at LGW and especially LHR, to much American annoyance. The Americans, for their part, resist changes to foreign ownership of their airlines, but these are details. Everyone knows within five degrees what Open Skies will look like, the question is how much more money needs to be lost, how much more fuel will be wasted in propping up dinosaur legacy carriers who continue to invest billions in pursing subsidies instead of markets.

Enter stage left, a renewed Aer Lingus with visionary management. Not with a fleet of a few, ancient and brutally thirsty Airbus 330’s, but with 50, 100, even 200 brand new, state of the art, environmentally friendly 777’s or 787’s. Fanciful? Naïve? No, eminently possible. Why not stage an Irish coup and have Ryanair ferry all those AF, BA and LH passengers to DUB, SNN and ORK before their US pre-clearance and Aer Lingus flights to one of scores of American cities? Why not?

There are obstacles to such a vision for the future, but none are insurmountable. The Dublin Airport Authority is a sick joke whose problems extent far beyond the CAR. The only feasible way forward is to privatise it. If the government lack the balls for that at this point in time, it will be the subject of a fire sale within 5 years anyway, and the Irish people will be short-changed…again. They say a week is a long time in politics, but airports require long term planning and visionary leadership, and they deserve more than political pork-barrelling and union hypocrisy. Irish airports need at least 2 billion €uros spent yesterday to give Ireland the airports we deserve. This, too, is possible.

Certainly there are a few who would stand in the way of a properly run Aer Lingus, but between their desire and the fulfilment of it falls the shadow: the shadow of incompetence and self-interest. Nowhere is this more on show than with SIPTU and IALPA. Lets hope the people of Ireland and the workforce of Aer Lingus have the vision to embrace the future with enthusiasm, and to see the Celtic Tiger roar across the skies above the Atlantic. Ryanair will do it, in the words of another Irish success story, with or without you.

[potkettleblack]

Why would a BA passenger want to fly from LHR to DUB or SNN or ORK and then onto the US when they can go direct? Same goes for the French and German pax?

I am sure MOL has everyones best interests at heart and will keep the prices nice and low if he was ever lucky enough to get a monopoly and buy out Aer Lingus- not.

[Andy_S]

Thanks for that. It's been a long hard day, but you've given me the biggest laugh I've had for ages!! :ok: :ok:

[caja]

Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares airline, today (18 October) announced a new route from London Stansted to Stockholm Vasteras.

This new route is a direct result of the incoming Swedish Government's decision to abolish the environmental flight tax proposed by its predecessors, which would have done nothing whatsoever for the environment and severely damaged the country's tourism industry.

Font: Luchtzak Aviation

[Mercenary Pilot]

"An Irish Vision" indeed! ;)

[corsair]

Imagine a future where Dublin, Shannon and Cork are major centres of European aviation, rather than Paris, Frankfurt and London,

Now that's funny:D Much as I love our dear damp little island. I don't think so:D On the Uisce Beatha very early, Leo:= :=

Mind you, you can't go anywhere nowdays without seeing the golden harp cluttering up the ramp............................

[TwinAisle]

Why would a BA passenger want to fly from LHR to DUB or SNN or ORK and then onto the US when they can go direct? Same goes for the French and German pax?

I do, and I know many others who do. I can fly on a cheap flight from my local airport (rarely with FR, more often with EI) and then I clear US formalities in the dead time when I would normally be wandering around duty free or sat in the lounge. At the other end, my record at ORD is chocks under to into a cab in 15 minutes.

Race you.


LH-C, I tend to agree with a lot of what you say (so they can flame me as well), but I think that the new CEO of EI deserves a chance. If anyone can make EI into something good, particularly as regards long haul, DM gets my vote. I don't think your boss would do well in that market somehow.

[LonBA]

Michael O’Leary has created an airline worth 7 billion Euros, the most profitable on earth by a very large margin, from the loss making basket case it was a decade ago. Ryanair is the European market gorilla and is the principal driver of airline boardroom behaviour not only in Europe but, increasingly, around the world too.Any proof?

[Mr Angry from Purley]

LHC
Its a fantastic idea, given that the prices would be hopefully very low, you would get hordes of passengers from BA and other Long haul airlines, avoid driving to LHR or going UK regional - AMS/CDG/BRU to get cheaper fares.
(a colleague going to Seattle and back paid £3000 less by going BA BRU-LHR-SEA-LHR-BRU rather than LHR-SEA-LHR)
Pilots replys will be tainted by their views on Ryanair and not the idea :\

[Lunar]

Best reasons to fly from Ireland;

1/ Most often cheaper to fly to Dub with a low cost carrier and then to the US with Aer Lingus, that is if you don't live in London.

2/ Complete immigration in Ireland, no long queues in JFK or wherever else.

3/ And best of all you don't have to deal with the UK security problems, Dublin is a pain as an Airport but anything is better than Heathrow and Gatwick in my experience.

Lunar

[tu154]

I think the mandatory drug test might be due. Either that or a visit to a deprogrammer. Never heard such rubbish. Some of us paying punters choose to avoid FR. Examples of the right way to do LOCO these days: VirginBlue in Oz, Southwest, and...Aer Lingus. FR do not enter into it.
If I want rudeness, delays, fighting to get what I paid for, I'll go to the local garage and try to get my car serviced.

[Bearcat]

nice try Leo....come back after you've had the 2nd bottle of plonk and write more fairy tales......

why has FR share price risen in the last few days....cause the big guns know you've lost the battle and know you'll revert to going back to what your good at.....running FR.

The game is up Leo....

[captplaystation]

Leo, please don't forget to take your medication before you go flying again, that chronic tunnel vision could make your next landing a bit of an event.

[chipsbrand]

Leo Hairy-Camel. You are so right. Yours is an excellent post. The fact of the matter is that if Ryanair fail in their takeover of Aer Lingus they will start long haul services anyway and those will surely crush Aer Lingus. The board of Aer Lingus have a clear choice: Release shareholder value now by accepting this bid or see that shareholder value disappear within five years as the dinosaur is destroyed by an aggreesive raptor. RYR have all the cash and vision to do all of this. Aer Lingus have neither cash or vision. Whether RYR win the fight now or later is almost irrelevant. Anytime any company receives a bid it is because a different management thinks it can do better. In business terms it is equivalent to putting up the "For Sale" sign outside the front door. RYR have proved that they can do better. The bisd itself has mortally wounded Aer Lingus. In ant takeover battle it is always the defendents that have to do the main fighting. One thing they will have to prove to sahreholders is that they can generate better margins than RYR. Ha! Ha! No one can.

Another respondent has doubted that Ireland can be used as a transAtlantic hub. Of course it can. RYR are established at local airports throughout Europe. There are no transatlantic services from almost all of them. All RYR have to do to make a success of such transAtlantic services is to provide connections to provincial Poland and all the myriad cities and provinces that they serve. Flying from all of them via Shannon to, say, 15 or 20 American and Canadian cities will provide untold new travelling opportunities for millions.

It will happen becausse RYR will make it happen. It is going to be far more revolutionary than anything yiu have seen so far. Will MOL step back? No way. This is far greater than any of his achievemnets so far.

Boeing are probably studying an order from RYR for 50 787's right now.

[caja]

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (24th Oct) announced the purchase of 10 flight simulators from CAE, the world’s leading provider of flight simulators for pilot training.
The CAE full-flight simulators replicate in every detail the cockpit of Ryanair’s Boeing 737-800 series fleet, reproducing with great accuracy real flight conditions for the recurrent training of Ryanair pilots.

[Nick NOTOC]

My dear Leo,

Once again you have failed to confront the real issues in your post. I'm sure that most people working at Aer Lingus would welcome the commercial succces of FR, but under no circumstance will thay want the human recources, safety attitude of FR anywhere close.
You have stated several times that FR is a safe airline because it confirms with all regulations. Yes so does a Citroën 2CV, but I would still feel much safer in a Volvo with all the airbags it can have.
You're leader MOL has indeed made a big success of FR, for that I'm sure many uf us will take our hat off, but surely most of us would do so just so we can put a helmet on.
Beware the FR influence on safety throughout the EU region.

I call upon all pilots in the EU to join in the efforts of Aer Lingus crew and buy stock, so we may prevent the MOL virus from growing beyond it's own.

Nick

[brian_dromey]

Beware the FR influence on safety throughout the EU region.
I call upon all pilots in the EU to join in the efforts of Aer Lingus crew and buy stock, so we may prevent the MOL virus from growing beyond it's own.

FR are cheap and nasty, and I always try to fly with another airline if it is roughly the same price. Yes the service is really, really poor, and there is no back up, but if you are anyway savvy you will have a plan B. But EI can learn some lessons from FR, and visce-versa. I dont buy the notion that the two brands cant live on doing what they do now, EI is very, very good at what it does(premium traffic) and FR is exceptional at what it does(not so premium traffic!). There are bound to be synergies which could be called into play if the two companies were to merge, Call Centres, Ground Services, Cleaning, Catering, etc.
Now whatever about their service I dont see how you can call FRs safety into question, I personally fell quite sadisified that I am safe on a FR aircraft, which is more than can be said for some rivals. FR have a fleet of over 100 738s flying around Europe, and while some of them may be a bit tatty, I know that the one area where MOL will never cut corners is safety. On short european flights price and safety are my primary concern, as is the case with most travellers.

There has been a lot of hysteria about the EI takeover, and most of it is typical SIPTU rubbish. At least MOL has a vision for EI , and is buying the shares with a long term plan in mind. If the employees manage to accumilate enough shares to block the FR takeover who do they think will win? As much as it would kill me to see it, I fear there would be a line of green A320s parked at DUB. If the pilots have a long term plan lets see it. A virus MOL may be, but like all good viruses he can adapt to changing condtions, and thrive. I thought the oppertunity for DUB to be a world leading hub had passed, but with a heritage like EIs and the vision of MOL DUB can still be a winner.


Not with a fleet of a few, ancient and brutally thirsty Airbus 330’s, but with 50, 100, even 200 brand new, state of the art, environmentally friendly 777’s or 787’s.
Certainly there are a few who would stand in the way of a properly run Aer Lingus, but between their desire and the fulfilment of it falls the shadow: the shadow of incompetence and self-interest. Nowhere is this more on show than with SIPTU and IALPA.

Brutally thirsty A330? Leo please I know you are a Boeing driver, but let us not forget that the A330 PULVERISED the 764ER in the sales stakes, and I believe that the 333 has a very attractive CASM. That is until the 787 comes along! And the EI 330s are hardly, as you put it "ancient" either. If I remember correctly FR really did have some ancient airframes for many a year....the 732? Or have we forgotten those? :ok:

Apart from some very MOL/FR type language I have to agree with Leo on most points he makes. Short haul has been changed byond all recognition, and those of you who think long haul wont change similarly should think again. Travel is no longer a luxury for the rich and famous. Its a commodiy. The times are a changing, lets embrace change and not let ourselves get taken over by blind emotion and resistance for the sake of resistance. For far too long Ireland, DUB/SNN/ORK and other regional airports have been ruined by the rot that is Government interference and neglect, and the unions are more than happy to play along with this. Lets not let it happen yet again, just like FR has 'stuck it to them" in Europe, EI now has the oppertunity to do the same on a worldwide scale.

[akerosid]

I think the key question as far as long haul is, not EI -v- FR, but EI -v- CO, DL, AA, US etc etc. Don't forget that once O/S comes along (even a change in the regulations, to change the ratio of DUB:SNN flights), EI will suddenly find itself faced by significantly increased competition from all of these considerably larger US carriers. Will it be able to stand up to this and grow, or will it be snowed under? I know EI has carved out a niche for itself and that it was once a very good t/a airline; now, the sheen has faded somehow and it's not a leader in the quality field, in the way CO, VS, BA or others are. I don't want to be mean or unfair to DM, but he's been in the job a year; still, only one aircraft has modern IFE; the DXB route's success was undermined by poor scheduling (although this is being changed with the winter season, but could have been done from the outset).

I'm not trying to be mean to EI; after all, for sixteen years, since my college days, I've fought for an end to the stopover, I've done everything I possibly could to encourage a more responsible policy on aviation (particularly on the stopover), much of it with this aim in mind and I would hate to see EI being buried by these US carriers; that's why, given the choice, I'd rather see EI team up with FR than be snowed under.

My question is this: how much of what FR wants to do is impossible without full ownership. Whether EI likes it or not, MO'L and FR are there, as shareholders; why not turn this to EI's advantage? Would the fact that FR is not a majority s/h stop EI from working with FR to get a good deal on long haul aircraft? The other main reason for working with FR is that with the huge increase in opportunities brought about by Open Skies and in particular the Customs/Immigration pre-clearance in DUB, can EI - on its own - take full advantage of this? If it cannot, it's not just a case of "oh, too bad"; the status quo WON'T be maintained; other carriers will come in and take that. 12-14 aircraft is not going to do the job and that's why the wider, larger vision needs to be taken. It's not a case of just ploughing its own furrow, on its own; to make the best of the opportunities ahead, EI needs to change the way it does things. It needs to be a leader, an innovator - not just following the pack, as it always seems to do; in the new, liberated Open Aviation Area, with over 750m people (where Ireland will be slap, bang in the middle), the opportunities and advantage will belong to those willing to take the risk and if any possibility of that exists, I want EI and Ireland to be first in the queue.

That there is immense mistrust and dislike of MO'L is clear, but perhaps this could be used as a test of his bona fides; if he refuses to allow EI to benefit from its purchasing power with Boeing, or indeed, to work with EI to develop an effective, rapidly growing t/a network, then we can draw conclusions, but at least, for EI's sake, allow that 19% shareholding work for it. There's not a large time window to make this happen.

[TwinAisle]

Before some people work themselves up to barking point in a tirade of anti-MOL/FR rhetoric, and whilst there are still a few axes left unground....

... did everyone read what Chipsbrand posted?

The sound of a nail being hit squarely on the head.

Only wish I had posted it!

EI are in the poo. The only variable is how long they will tread the stuff about.

[en2r]

Imagine a future where Dublin, Shannon and Cork are major centres of European aviation, rather than Paris, Frankfurt and London, as is currently the case.

I very much doubt that Cork features in Michael O'Leary's master plan. He has made it perfectly honest that he doesn't care about Cork. Their basing of one solitary aircraft at Cork was more to do with scaring off any other potential lcc's than showing any real commitment. If you don't believe me ask anyone what happened to Easyjet at Cork in particular. Aer Lingus is one of only two airlines who have shown Cork any real commitment (the other being Aer Arann). A Ryanair takeover would be disastrous for Cork. Ryanair would just move most of the routes to Shannon (their chosen one) and do all that was in their power to ruin Cork, if Cork do not provide them with a financially crippling deal charging virtually nothing to Ryanair. I as a Cork person am completely opposed to the deal

[late developer]

Michael O’Leary has created an airline worth 7 billion Euros.Yeah and someone else created an airport apparently worth 1bn Euros over the same kinda timescale. It cost peanuts and they are a common currency. Monopoly money. Hype. Sure there's power in it but Lord Acton reminded us what to expect. The Greeks knew it long ago. How well does MOL get on with his wife? Democracy anyone?

[chikenscanfly]

Well, back from the dead some may say...

Leo, I have to say I feel a slight bit flatulant after that much hot air blown up my rear end...:yuk:

And the replies have been interesting... To give credit to some assumptions made by others there is an interesting point regarding open skies agreements and the use of Aer Lingus, but these points have far wider implications than mere cheaper air fares...

The biggest issue with a 'single irish airline' is a question of competition. Monopolies never work for the consumer... You want a good example? Take the government run example of SITPU at Dublin Airport... And I agree, theyre not perfect, but please compared to some others theyre not THAT BAD...

You talk about Aer Lingus funnelling the pax on to the states after stopover in ORK, SNN, and DUB... Ok, Sorry, but how do you plan to get a 330 or even 777 or 787 on the gnd in ORK?!?!
And to be blatantly honest, isnt aer fungus already feeding off our pax being brought into these airports already? Really they realise the positive aspects of competition... Whilst ryr might be taking pax off their Paris-Dublin route (poor bastards have to sit in a bus for 2 hours to get to Beauvais!), Aer Fungus more than realises many of these pax will then jump aboard an Aer Lingus flight to the states...

The honest realisation being missed here is that IF Ryr was to merge with fungus and create a super carrier to jump people through Ireland, they will be forced into a price corner that will still leave the Irish consumer higher and drier than they are today! Airfares for bookings from within Ireland will be artificially higher than abroad as a result of less competition and therefore less demand elasticity against the super carrier, and prices for those making the jump from HAHN (lets be realistic here too please) to NEWARK will be little different from where they are today...

ITS ECONOMIC FACT!

I agree open skies should be abolished, and in many ways its already happening slowly but surely... look at Zoom or Globespan...
The reality is the Americans are the ones holding the cards here... hence few other carriers except business class only suiters are making the bold leap into a heavily controlled market from the state side...

And the reality behind OLeary and Ryanair... welllllllll.......

He has made a highly profitable airline through illegal activities, tax evasion tricks, and lack of moral ethics in employee policies and practices... He is a bean counter who to date is getting away with breaking every rule in the book whilst squeezing people like one would blood from a stone... And when repurcussions finally come round to meet his actions, he throws a tantrum worse than my 4 year old Daughter!...

he has been lucky in the past, and smart in burying his misfortunes... history, it seems, is not so forgiven so as to forget...
Didnt our 'esteemed' leader recently hedge fuel at 74 dollars a barrel, only to see the price dip back to the 50s level 2 days later?
Didnt our 'foresightful' emporer wind our company in court both in Brussels with the big kids of the EU commission and the labour court in Ireland, one time almost ending up in Prison before he paid out a settlement to John Goss?
Didnt our 'generous' imperialist bring thousands of passengers difficulties in their journeys when his constant harassment and breach of contracts with handlers in Spain and now cabin crew in Italy finally led to Striking actions, with more such actions to come and the company having to concede defeat and give back what they promised plus more now?...

OLeary may have done wonders in the early years, no doubt... But he lost the plot and became arrogant...

its this arrogance which is driving our company into the pits, were getting a bad name, nobody likes us, and people even go out of their way financially to block our plans and operations!...

I dont need this... We dont need this... Ryanair could be great if it wasnt for this bloody fool!...

IF he was such a great leader, we would have seen this, realised this, and handled it with more tact and intelligence than his childish demeanors now allow him to display...

And before I get another rant of hot air up my blowhole, Leo, remember; It isnt lack of money that leads a company to become bankrupt...

[Strepsils]

Ryanair and the imitators who seek to emulate our success

Small typo there I think Leo. I'll correct it for you :

Air Southwest and the imitators such as Ryanair who seek to emulate Air Southwest's success;)

[Iron Duke]

There is much in the origional post that rings true .... Aer Lingus has made profits recently but has in no way realised it's full potential i.e. older aircraft and uninspiring I.F.E. I am sure that it also suffers like many national airlines from a political input that stiffles enterprise and dynamism.
Ryanair on the otherhand have had a period of inventive expansion that appears to know no bounds ... I use FR regularly and despite its detracters, I think that it is an excellant service in that it does exactly what it advertises ... It gets you from A to B safely, on time and cheaply with not much else.
The question of monopoly is a valid one but only if we look at Ireland independantly and not as a country within the European Union. The same goes for all the other member states. Ryanair may be Irish registerred but it has over 30 bases around Europe and would be very well positioned to act as an economical feeder to a long haul operation ex. Dublin. Particularly if MOL's flair and vision are allowed to bear influence.
I have heard all of the stories concerning his man management approach, his lack of people skills and his confrontational stance ... all of which I am sure are true but no-one can deny his business acumen in this industry. A lot of people now have jobs that didn't and a lot of people fly around Europe that never used to.
The one major obstruction to this plan (assuming some political accomodation can be found ... big assumption I know !!) is the complete lack of a suitable airport to house this idea, now or in any realistic near future .... shame really.

I. Duke

[asleep at the wheel]

its this arrogance which is driving our company into the pits, were getting a bad name, nobody likes us, and people even go out of their way financially to block our plans and operations!...


Chickenscanfly, you're dead right. 17 million euro out of their way in fact. If you wonder why, here's what Mr Justice Smyth has to say about the tyranny that they seek to avoid...


Something rotten in Ryanair

There has been an analogy made in some quarters that Ryanair's bid to take over Aer Lingus represents a battle between the old and the new Ireland, writes Mary Raftery

Aer Lingus is predictably cast as the "old" - backward, union-ridden, inefficient, monolithic. Ryanair is the people's champion, the breaker of monopolies, forward-looking, flexible, focused on profit and proud of it.

However, to those who are happy to identify with Ryanair as typifying the new Ireland, the comments of Mr Justice Thomas Smyth in the High Court during the summer might come as a sharp shock.

"There are occasions," he said, "of which this is regretfully I think the second in my career as a judge I have had to do so, to say things that I found extremely difficult but which could not be left unsaid."

Ryanair had gone to the High Court alleging that pilots were being bullied and intimidated by their pro-trade union colleagues. The case was taken against the trade unions Impact, IALPA and BALPA (the Irish and British airline pilots associations). The bullying pilots were hiding behind aliases on a chat website, Ryanair claimed, and the court should order their true identities be revealed.

Instead, in an unusually perfect example of being hoist by one's own petard, it was Ryanair itself which was found to be the bully.

The background is as follows: in 2004, Ryanair was in the process of switching its aircraft from Boeing 737-200s to the more up-to-date 737-800s, and pilots needed to be retrained on the newer planes.

Ryanair wrote to all its pilots on November 12th, 2004, informing them that the company would refund them the training costs (€15,000) only if certain conditions were met. One of these was that should "Ryanair be compelled to engage in collective bargaining with any pilot association or trade union within five years of commencement of your conversion training, then you will be liable to repay the full training costs".

The letter's next sentence is an example of the famous Ryanair cheekiness which we all, for some unfathomable reason, appear to find so endearing. The pilots were told that "naturally this does not and will not affect your right to freely join any trade union or association of your choice."

Mr Justice Smyth was scathing about this. Describing it as "a Hobson's choice", he said it was "both irrational and unjust" that a pilot "through no act or default on his part could suffer the loss of €15,000". He added: "In my judgment this is a most onerous condition and bears all the hallmarks of oppression."

Pilots were understandably aggrieved by this condition. Ryanair management tried to discover what they were saying to each other on their website. Apparently supplied with a password by someone described by Mr Justice Smyth variously as a traitor, informer, Iscariot or Iago, the company infiltrated the website, and then took its court action to discover the identities of pilots who signed themselves "cantfly-wontfly" and "ihateryanair".

The judge found that there was no evidence of any bullying or intimidation of pilots by their colleagues on the website. He found wholly against Ryanair, and ordered the company to pay the costs of the seven-day action, estimated to be about €1 million.

He specifically found that the evidence of two senior members of Ryanair staff was "baseless and false". He judged that the real purpose of the company in investigating the pilots' website "was to break whatever resolve there might have been amongst the captains to seek better terms." He further stated that the decision to involve the Garda Síochána was unwarranted and had "all the hallmarks of action in terrorem" (ie designed to terrify).

Mr Justice Smyth took two hours to deliver his 65-page judgment last July. His further characterisations of the actions of Ryanair include the following: "despotic indifference", "sneering disregard", "facade of concern", "unburdened by integrity".

Justice Smyth concluded that "without hesitation, I find as a fact that ... 'fairness' did not seem to come into the reckoning of the plaintiff [ Ryanair] in its dealings with the defendants on the issues raised in and by this case. In summary, in the words of Isabella in Measure for Measure Act II.2: 'Oh, it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant'."

It is important to remember that these are not the views of disgruntled Ryanair employees, or of passengers fed up by all the hidden charges on top of the airline's flight costs. It is, rather, an insight into the culture of Ryanair from an impeccably authoritative source, a judge of the land dispassionately and impartially considering the facts as laid before him.

It begs an important question. Do we really wish to equate the kind of values defined by Mr Justice Smyth with the "new" Ireland? Are we happy that a company which engages in activities so roundly condemned by the judge should stand for us as an emblem of what we wish and hope our society to become?

© The Irish Times

[Sunfish]

This vision makes no sense - it is a 1980's vision, complete with catch phrases.

For a start, the future of air transport is the Dreamliner, passengers, including me, are sick and tired of going through hubs. I want direct flights with as little as possible sitting around/weather delays/ technical delays/ security screens/ check ins and general airport bastardry as possible.

The thought of a hub, managed by the great and good MOL, as an an extremly fine mesh money strainer, has about as much appeal as waterboarding. To put it another way, when I see the words "connecting flight", I want to throw up.

I suspect that this bid has everything to do with smoke and mirrors, and not with "releasing shareholder value"

[Andy_S]

Has anyone else noticed that 'Leo Hairy Camel' is an anagram??

[TwinAisle]

Only about 5 million of us. :E

[Cyrano]

Small typo there I think Leo. I'll correct it for you :
Air Southwest and the imitators such as Ryanair who seek to emulate Air Southwest's success;)
Small typo there I think, Strepsils. You probably mean Southwest Airlines rather than Air Southwest, a rather smaller carrier who would likely be delighted to be 1/10 the size of Ryanair! ;)

[RogerIrrelevant69]

Jesus you've got me all misty eyed there now LHC. All you needed was a few bodhrans to accompany you, a mention of the "cry of the curlew" and "the way Sally O'Brien might look at you" and some of us might be tempted to go along with you.

The cynics however might disagree and mention asset stripping, monopoly and just good old corporate rape. I however could not possibly comment...

[Strepsils]

Bu:\ er! You know what I meant!:} :p :O

[Tom the Tenor]

Right, Leo, how about this. Just like in the Taoiseach's speech the other day you have also chosen to briefly mention Cork as a by the way to my mind. If you are having a laugh at us that is your choice but for once let us give Ryanair a chance to undo the cynical negativity towards Cork and I am including in that regard the Bye, bye easyJet logojet.

To get your credentials up and running in the long haul game why not test the water so to speak by committing a brand new 737 to Cork next sumer for a first transatlantic service to Hartford, Connecticut, (BDL) at a twice or even once weekly frequency as Irish registered airlines are not bound by stopover regulations for opeations from Cork and Knock but American airlines are still so bound. Hartford is about 2 hours from both New York and Boston by road so there is no problem there to make a few more bucks in the bus ride!? Even for onward connections Southwest, Delta, Northwest have a fair range of destinations so that angle could also be covered too for folk wanting to travel futher west in the States. Okay, maybe at 189 pax the 737 might be at the very limit of range but what if Cork subsidized ten or fifteen seats on top of new route incentives it might be just possible and legal to do from Cork. Of course, you'd have to get a few aeroplanes with the higher trust ratings for the engines and a few fixes like the GOL airframes have for take offs from shorter runways like at Cork.

You'd have the Cork crowd grovelling at your feet and yer Jazz man from Ballinlough Road would have pages and pages to himself in De Paper and D'Echo for days & days on end.

The thing is Ryanair could make it happen but it'd be almost certainly be from Shannon and regretably not from Cork.

[Bearcat]

Is Leo the only bi-polar CX going around? .....Walter Mitty doesnt even come near.

[eu01]

"Ryanair is (still) considering Rzeszów in Poland as the site of its new technical base", said Polish press yesterday (Riga is being rumoured as an alternative location). According to an unofficial information cited by 'Puls Biznesu', FR is using the possible investment as a bargaining chip in a bid to open the Modlin airport near Warsaw for budget flights.
"The Irish proposed an exchange transaction," "In return for the selection of Jasionka for the construction of their base they want the guarantee that the airport in Modlin, where they could build an operational base for several aircraft, will be opened soon", writes Puls Biznesu. However, Tomasz Kułakowski who is responsible for Ryanair's sales and marketing in central Europe denies everything. "Since we entered into Poland we have been talking about the necessity to build an airport for budget airlines near Warsaw," said Kułakowski. "But we did not put forward an ultimatum in negotiations nor did we link those two decisions."
Regardless of that, experts say that such kind of Ryanair's ultimatum would be beneficial for the market. "It would be good blackmail and the president of Ryanair would be acting in our best interest," said Tomasz Dziedzic from the Polish Institute of Tourism, "If neither domestic policymakers nor local authorities are able to influence the construction of the airport, maybe a tough negotiator will succeed."

[Consol]

Poor old Leo,
Sounds like you had a hard day. There was me thinking you were just an arrogant, egotistical so and so and you come all over all visionary. So you're doing all this for the auld sod and not just your pockets. In reallity you belong alongside Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the Dalai Lama, thinking only of others...Worrying for your shareholders if you really have lost the plot this much.
I can just see the FR mega hub in SNN, arriving of my "connecting" flight but as its only a point to point airline I have to reclaim my bags and check in again, after I get to the top of the queue lovely Natasha tells me I've missed my flight, it'll be 1000 euros for a seat in three days now "f**k off!". At last I board my my shinning 787 (weren't they supposed to bypass hubs?), elbowing grannies to get a seat (its them or me) and watch those ancient wrecks of 330s lumber past (strange why so many successful airlines bought them). It seems the 787 will have devices to help keep the pilots eyes prised open and an FMS that can make duty hours go in reverse, can't wait.
You've made quite a pile Leo, why doen't you just retire to Mullingar and concentrate on the prize cows, you could even tatoo adverts on their arses and sell that. The planespotters might get all steamed up about schedules and the chance to photograph a 737 but the rest of us know what you are up to.

[Leo Hairy-Camel]

If you are having a laugh at us that is your choice but for once let us give Ryanair a chance to undo the cynical negativity towards Cork and I am including in that regard the Bye, bye easyJet logojet.
Tom, nothing could be further from the truth. The future vision I speak of has Cork as an indispensable part of the Irish trident. Imagine the consumer choice. Central London to LHR, followed by horrendous, functionally incompetent BAA security and their clenched-teeth war on toothpaste, aftershave and contact lens solution. Shoved into a 28 inch pitch tube and ferried like a high speed battery chicken to JFK, ORD, IAD, MIA or LAX to join a 3 hour long queue to confront the tender mercies of Homeland Security, and then another queue for your domestic flight to your intended destination. Now imagine a RYR flight from STN to ORK with interline bags. Then imagine getting off and going through the US customs and immigration pre-clearance (all Irish, by the way) at the new ORK terminal, and then boarding your brand new Aer Lingus B787 (one of hundreds) for your non-stop flight from ORK to Albuquerque, Cheyenne or Memphis. A brand new wide body Boeing (http://www.boeing.com/commercial/787family/background.html) with a choice of traditional RYR low fares AND the best of Upper Class treatment, beds, fine dining and the rest. Which would you choose?
I think that it is an excellent service in that it does exactly what it advertises ... It gets you from A to B safely, on time and cheaply with not much else.
The Iron Duke is right. Ryanair does exactly what it says on the tin. Anyone who seeks to criticise our safety, however, either in terms of record, commitment or intent, advertises themselves as either ignorant of our operation, or beating the TomTom (sorry) of another slippery agenda. Our CEO highlighted as recently as 28 hours ago his complete commitment to RYR flight safety as the fundamental tenet that underwrites our business. One smoking hole, and its all over. The myopic, unblinking focus of our business is on safety. Ask any of the thousands who fail our sim assessments, or better still, any of the 1500 Ryanair pilots themselves. The Ryanair safety standard is REAL, and it is ruthlessly applied, I can assure you. You might not be aware of it as some Polish or Latvian 20 year old is trying to flog you a hotdog and a scratch card, but that doesn't mean it isn't at the cutting edge of everything we do.
The Duke goes on.....
is the complete lack of a suitable airport to house this idea, now or in any realistic near future .... shame really.
Correct again, Your Grace, but that too can be fixed once the Dublin Airport Authority is liberated from the Château D'If of State ownership. Make no mistake, this CAN be done, and done well.
The reality is the Americans are the ones holding the cards here...
No they're not Chooks. Tall Dutch/Aussie boys have always been the most susceptible to the sort of REPA doggerel you've unsuccessfully regurgitated here, but the loss making legacy carriers are bracing themselves for the inevitable attack on the cosy arrangement they've enjoyed for far, far too long. Subsidies instead of markets, remember. A cartel instead of free competition. Having just recently recovered from the focused horrors of 911, though, they've little spare capacity to wonder about the next "spectacular". I put it to you, Chooks, that it will be Ireland...or at least it could be. Its only the Irish people and workers of Aer Lingus who stand in the way of the next step in the evolution of Aer Lingus. Imagine the Ryanair of 10 years ago and what it is now. Now imagine Aer Lingus today and what it could be 10 years from now. These are exciting times.

[akerosid]

They are indeed exciting times; what I would like to do is to leave the FR/EI aside and focus on the potential that exists for a very considerable advantage on t/a routes for Irish carriers. Just to set the stage again:

- Open Skies; slap bang in the middle of the largest single aviation market, with 700+m people.
- The ability to reach virtually any US airport from DUB, SNN (or even ORK);
- Question: who is going to be able to take advantage of this opportunity?
- NB: Just because Aer Lingus doesn't (or can't), it doesn't mean that someone else won't either. The market is there. Potential exists; someone will discover it.
- Look at our record in the past - the Shannon stopover, the short runway at DUB, the poor or backward planning - all examples of a litany, not just of wasted opportunities, but also of a casual attitude and wilful blindness to such opportunities.

So, please, please, let's leave acrimony aside for a moment; let's focus on what's out there and how we make it work. What I've said above isn't opinion; it's fact. We've screwed up so often in the past, but we have this HUGE opportunity dropped in our laps; if EI doesn't take advantage of it, the large US carriers may not either, BUT they have the capacity to throw at Ireland and come in and swamp EI, so it's not just a case of EI -v- FR, but a case of EI -v- CO, DL, AA, NW, etc, etc (and no doubt, UAL, when full O/S comes about).

It's not just a case of waiting around; we know DL is converting 757s with winglets for t/a routes and over the past 2 years, US carriers like DL and CO have been throwing capacity at European routes. Ireland being closest (and very accessible for 757s), it has to be assumed that once the Shannon nonsense is swept aside, they will throw capacity at Ireland; will EI be able to stand its ground? Again, I ask, given the opportunities out there, will 12-14 widebodies be enough. These are the questions we need to ask.

Do I have misgivings about FR being allowed to take over EI? Yes, BUT I have a hell of a lot more misgivings and concerns about EI being swept aside by the large US carriers AND about the huge opportunities ahead being missed AGAIN. FR intends to remain as a shareholder in EI, even as a minority (which I see as a rather good insurance policy for the airline), BUT ... let's make that relationship work; a combination of EI's name and FR's ability to develop new markets. Let's see how it can be made to work, because frankly, much as I love EI, vision is not exactly its strong point; DM says there's no way EI mgmt could work with EI, but when you have the combination of the threats AND opportunities which exist, that needs to change now.

US carriers know that FR is looking at long haul low cost and they know EI is key to this (whether EI recognises it or not), so once O/S comes along, they won't let EI breathe for a moment; however inefficient they've been in the past, don't expect them to be anything less than ruthless and if EI is unprepared, whether its working with FR or not, it will be attacked pretty severely. The best preparation EI can make, to ensure it's in a position to take on the competition and make the opportunities work is to make that 19% (or whatever it ends up being) work for it.

Whatever about the relationship NOW between the two companies, it would be a MONUMENTAL tragedy for Ireland, for Irish aviation and everyone involved in it, for these opportunities to be thrown away. For once in the history of Irish aviation, when we're presented with a major opportunity, let's not arse it up.

[silverelise]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6087016.stm

Despite its growing business and role in revolutionising the way Europe's air industry has operated, Ryanair has often also proved a controversial company.

Founder and chief executive Michael Ryan has been an outspoken critic of rivals and the industry, while his staff have previously complained about low wages, overwork and having to pay for their own training and uniforms.

who??? :hmm:

[A4]

Didn't Michael Ryan start RYANAIR with some Bandits (the aircraft type... :) ) a long time ago. Mr O'leary was one of his underlings before becoming top dog.

Not sure, but I think Mr. Ryan still lives near Stansted.

A4

[flyguykorea]

and yet people still send in their applications, and passengers still buy tickets in the millions.....funny that isn't it. :bored:

[MorningGlory]

:O :E Big Deal.. So why do 42m people a year still fly with them? Because no matter how much people love to moan, they think with their pockets!

I'm sure if they hate it that much they'll stop booking the 2p return flights and go pay a Proper price with a Proper airline and spend more of their hard earned cash.

:D

[dartagnan]

hell no, i am not buying my ticket with ryanair(i did 1 flight with them and i have not been impressed at all due to having to pay for the bus to go to their airport),at the end, they are not cheaper....

and too many unhappy customers, I prefer to pay a little more and be able to get another flight or a refund with a serious orange Lcc. the only thing I agree with ryanair, its the war againt tax. we don't need nice chairs and a costly terminal, to take a plane for a 1 or 2 hours flight, an it is nice to have a little walk to or from the plane.

and I don't pay to send my cv, if I do, I send it but i keep the money...:p
only idiots send money with a CV.

[TheSailor]

Hello,

I don't think..Ryan Air is really a "worst" airline.
The point of a travel by plane....is to go from a place..to another..rapidely.
And if you have the possibility to make this travel cheap..it's great.
If you want comfort etc...take the Q2 ...you will have all the amenities...but the travel will be long and expensive.
I never have comfort in planes when travel exeed 4 or 5 hours... (any airlines)...exept when traveling in first...or eventually business....
You have the choice....read...compare ...ask...and make your choice...
If you take a Ryan Air plane..and think..you will be like in a Singapore Airline first class sak...you make a mistake...not Ryan Air.:cool:

Regards. http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/a/bye.gif

[hobie]

a little bit of history ......

so it was all Maggie's fault! .... :p

Ryanair was founded in 1985 by Christy Ryan (after whom the company is named), Liam Lonergan (owner of an Irish tour operator named Club Travel), and noted Irish businessman Tony Ryan, founder of Guinness Peat Aviation. Christy Ryan was from Waterford and it was his idea to start an air service between Waterford and London. The airline began with a 15 seat Embraer turboprop aircraft flying between Waterford and London Gatwick with the aim of breaking the duopoly on London-Ireland flights at that time held by British Airways and Aer Lingus. In 1986 the company added a second route – flying Dublin-London Luton in direct competition to the BA/Aer Lingus duopoly for the first time. Under partial EU Deregulation, airlines could begin new international intra-EU services as long as at least one of the two governments gave approval (the so-called "double-disapproval" regime). The Irish government at the time refused its approval in order to protect Aer Lingus, but Britain, under Margaret Thatcher's pro-free-market Conservative government, approved the service

[StraightLevel]

"has been an outspoken critic of rivals"

no ****, they fly around with "bye bye easyjet" painted on the side of some of their aircraft!

:)

[Del Prado]

I think you're all missing the real news here, the last couple of paragraphs...
The company identified the hottest emerging holiday hotspots as Pamukkale in Turkey, Parga in Greece, and Ayr on Scotland's west coast.

[WHBM]

Hey, the BBC have changed it to Michael O'Leary.

But they've still got him down as "founder" :rolleyes:

[Will Hung]

Ryanair is undoubtedly run by a hard-nosed Businessman who believes in market forces, and market forces are what make people work for him, customers pay for him, and city analysts love him.

[The SSK]

the duopoly on London-Ireland flights at that time held by British Airways and Aer Lingus.

Oh, and, er, Dan-Air

Mustn't let the facts get in the way of a decent quote.

[Andy_S]

Imagine the Ryanair of 10 years ago and what it is now. Now imagine Aer Lingus today and what it could be 10 years from now.
Well, Ryanair got where it is today by applying a fundamentally different business model to the short haul airline business. Presumably, for Aer Lingus to similarly transform itself, it would also need to turn conventional industry wisdom on its head. And yet what you appear to be describing is a classic hub and spoke scenario with a short haul airline interlining with a long haul one, and that long haul airline flying to established airports and offering a variety of passenger accomodation depending on what the passengers are willing to pay. Pretty much like many other long haul carriers then. So what's the point?
Surely there's three ways this could go if MOL's bid is successful:
1. Run both companies separately, but make EI more profitable through shared admin costs, improved purchasing power etc (which I've no doubt MOL could do).
2. Re-invent EI as a long haul version of Ryanair. Competitive fares, but the normal caveats apply in the way that Consol so eloquently described.
3. Integrate EI and FR as a hub and spoke operation with interlining between the two - which would compromise FR's highly successful business model and make them look like either a cheaper, nastier version of the established legacy carriers, or indistinguishable from them.
I'm afraid your description of a high quality long haul airline run along Ryanair business principles isn't credible or convincing

[Faire d'income]

The myopic, unblinking focus of our business is on safety. Ask any of the thousands who fail our sim assessments, or better still, any of the 1500 Ryanair pilots themselves. The Ryanair safety standard is REAL, and it is ruthlessly applied, I can assure you.

20 years in the industry and you think safety is about bullying pilots. :rolleyes:

I have spoken to many of your pilots and can't print what they think of your attitude to safety. You have clearly demonstrated above a potentially catastrophic misunderstanding of the word.

A safety standard is achieved not applied and lots of us in this industry know exactly where you come on that particular ladder.

[Say Mach Number]

And Easyjet the second worst airline! So it says in the article. Theres probably not much to choose between them. And lets face it Easy have got an appalling punctuality record. Have never been on a punctual Easy flight yet.

[B737NG]

Why does MOL not give a sh*T about it? Because people talk about him, 42m a Year use the outfit to get from A to B. Most people do not love Ryanair but they take the monthly wages to pay the bills, in the meantime they look for better jobs. Remember the grass is allways greener on the other side. People who sit in a glass house should be carefull when they throw stones.... I do not blame them when they realy safe a buck! My doubt is that they do, at the end a well planned trip with a major carrier is not much more expensive anymore thanks to RYANAIR, DEBONAIR, EASYJET and and and. They all changed the culture of high airfares and the customers have more choices today. AF,BA,LH,KL,AZ and all the others where forced to offer competetive fares to defend the market position they have. It is up to the customer to compare and add all the side costs, then they see that the travel cost from A to B is not that much more with one of the majors. Notwithstanding the benefit of rebooking in case of delay, diversion and so on, the majors do not spare a buck to accomodate then all pax. Then you are happy to hold a real Airline ticket and the protection of the system they have in case of abnormalities. It is costly yes, but you are happy that they have the day you strand due to reasons out of your control.

Fly / travel safe and land happy

NG

[shannon55]

Hello,

I don't think..Ryan Air is really a "worst" airline.
The point of a travel by plane....is to go from a place..to another..rapidely.
And if you have the possibility to make this travel cheap..it's great.
If you want comfort etc...take the Q2 ...you will have all the amenities...but the travel will be long and expensive.
I never have comfort in planes when travel exeed 4 or 5 hours... (any airlines)...exept when traveling in first...or eventually business....
You have the choice....read...compare ...ask...and make your choice...
If you take a Ryan Air plane..and think..you will be like in a Singapore Airline first class sak...you make a mistake...not Ryan Air.:cool:

Regards. http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/a/bye.gif

well said!:D I can't stand the amount of uneducated criticism RYR gets on this thread. As you said, If you want air travel with all its bells and whistles then go full service. If you want low-cost travel then go with RYR. Critics of the airline should ask themselves why do 42m odd PAX travel with the airline year-in, year-out if they're such a 'crap' airline? Yes they haven't mastered all aspects of air travel perfectly but...who has?
What they do have ,however, is one of the youngest fleets in Europe, most with leather seats (which is alot more then what some Full service carriers have) and ,yes, while there's no in-flight frills and your destination airport may not be the nearest airport to the city intended....it's not as if you didn't know this before you booked with them. They do state the actual destination beside the main city on the booking engine e.g. Frankfurt (Hahn).
I do agree that their customer-care and aftersales service leaves alot to be desired but there's very little airlines in operation who can boast a flawless service.

[flyerz111]

Hey,don't forget Ryanair is not all about low fares - they have some absolute whoppers in there too to balance out the revenue on flights.

Take tomorrow on Dublin to Cork - they are looking for Eur129.99 plus 20.94 in taxes and charges plus no doubt a few Euros for using your credit card and bringing some baggage - around Euro 160 for a flight of 25 minutes or so. Aer Arran, with flights before and after Ryanair (but only 3 /6 showing, so presumably the other 3 are full), are "cheaper" at Euro 84 and 63 plus taxes one way. Fact is they will all fill every seat because of the mid term and holidaty weekend, Cork Jazz Festival etc. but Ryanair know how to charge when the know they'll get it.

It's not just a "low fares airline", it's a business model which pushes big numbers of low fares and gets the cream with low numbers of high fares, making its money on the extras like card fees, baggage charges and, from next week, web check-in charges.

[potkettleblack]

How do the web check in charges work? I thought they wanted us all to check in via the web as it must be leading to a time when they ditch the agents altogether or at the very least renegotiate contracts downwards based on fewer pax using the check in desks?

[flyerz111]

From their website (buried in the "new routes for Dublin release October 18, i won't post a link as I'm not sure if it's allowed) :
Ryanair also announced today a new online check-in and priority boarding service enhancement that will allow all passengers to enjoy online check-in / priority boarding for just £2/€3 per flight from 1st November. This service improvement will extend the option of priority boarding to all passengers and not just those travelling without checked in bags as was previously the case.
Passengers travelling with checked in luggage will (from 1st November) be able to enjoy priority boarding at departure gates for £2/€3 per flight. These passengers will then be entitled to board the aircraft first and choose their seats. This will be particularly advantageous for families and groups who wish to travel together.
Those travelling with hand luggage only will also have the option to enjoy the double benefit of bypassing airport check-in queues and priority boarding at the departure gate by checking in on line for just £2/€3 per flight.
From 1st November, families with children will no longer be pre-boarded however they will have the option of online check-in and priority boarding if travelling without checked in luggage or priority boarding purchased at the airport if travelling with checked in bags.

[potkettleblack]

Cheers for that. Think I will just stick to jumping on the back and sitting in the last few rows while all of the other punters for some strange reason seem to fight over the front of the aircraft and the exit seats. Give me an aisle seat 3 or 4 rows from the back anytime:)

I wonder how failing to preboard the mums and dads will effect his 20 minute turnaround though. Might be a bit short sighted. Might also turn away families from flying with them.

[Patuta]

Those travelling with hand luggage only will also have the option to enjoy the double benefit of bypassing airport check-in queues and priority boarding at the departure gate by checking in on line for just £2/€3 per flight.[/COLOR]

Does that meen the priority boarding fee becomes mandatory for the online-check? So they let you pay for checking in online? :*

[Faire d'income]

I can't stand the amount of uneducated criticism RYR gets on this thread.

70 posts of " I hope Flybe put on a magic carpet from ORK to GLA " does not qualify you to assess what is educated or uneducated Shannon55.

[Powerjet1]

Shannon to Lodz twice weekly from 4 Dec 06.

[VanBosh]

Did they have spare capacity or are they pulling something?

[brian_dromey]

FR worst, U2 second worst, etc, etc. You know that it really dosent matter. Ordinary passengers just want to get from A to B safely and on time. If the cabins are a bit tatty, so what? If the crew dont smile...well thats something to moan about:} I think the service was perhaps slightly freindlier about 3-4 years ago, but wush such an enormous expansion programme I suppose something has to suffer.

My major gripe with FR is actually the inflexability. For example Im using FR LBA-DUB this saturday. I forgot to add a bag to my booking(pesky new rules :* ). Do you think its possible to add a bag on-line? ahh, that would be no. If I wished to I could do it over the phone....but for the same charges I would pay @the airport. And the condtions attatched to the web check? OMG charge, after charge after charge. Its silly things like this that make FR such an unattractive way to fly. The fight cost 50 GBP one-way, not exactly a low fare?

BTW Im returning with Luxair from DUB to MAN on sunday....100 EUR , and full service, Vs 120 GPB for FR to MAN. Personally the FR product works for me at fares up to about 50 GBP, but not more, especially if there is a viable choice , eg EI, cityJet, Luxair, etc.

MOL is so proud of his low fares and great service, why then is EI almost always less expensive when booking a week in advance? We can not always predict our travel patterns and when we will want to fly.Why is the web site such mess, filled with misleading FR propaganda and basic in terms of functionality? I guess not all SLF have as much knowlage as regards routes as we on here do and they'll just stup up, nt knowing that there are other options.

[jabird]

Brian,

You are hitting on those crucial 20% of pax who no doubt make up 80% of FR's profits, MOL is well versed in the rule of Pareto.

Ryanair are so easy to hate as an airline, but when it comes to running a business, their margins are leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. Sure, they have learned from Southwest etc, but having their routes development director ask them some questions about this very topic (ie why Southwest don't ramp up their fares in the last week before departure) at the World Low Cost Airlines Congress was very telling.

Who's profit margins are twice those of Southwest?

By all means shop around, but as you say too many people don't bother, only then to pick up a Hertz rental car booked through FR, and spend ages queing for it, boosting FR's bottom line further.

[VanBosh]

[quote=brian_dromey;2931509] Do you think its possible to add a bag on-line? ahh, that would be no. If I wished to I could do it over the phone....but for the same charges I would pay @the airport.

Not true. If you call before your flight, a day b4 maybe you can pay the online fee. I did it last month. You might have to give a days notice or something.

[brian_dromey]

Not true. If you call before your flight, a day b4 maybe you can pay the online fee. I did it last month. You might have to give a days notice or something.

Well I called this moring and was told in no uncertain terms that I would have to pay the full airport fee, even on the phone. Maybe the operator was worong, but the fact still remains that you can not add a bag on the internet after the booking has been made.

Yes FR are easy to hate, and I dont hate them, and I certainly admire them as a means of public transport. They are great at doing what they do, but there are somerules which sre silly and stupid and make the whole experience much more stressful than necessary. There are always options but ppl just assume that FR will ALWAYS be the cheapest on any given route, this is not always the case. As tiresome as the process may become, FR have revolutionised air travel and continue to do so, and for that they must be applauded. :D For the record I never buy "ancillary revenue" products from FR, they are usually not good value. Better deals can be found elsewhere. Don't even get me started on the catering.......

[daz211]

Ryanair in talks over expansion at EDI.
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1591372006

[daz211]

Your telling me why would RYR pilots not want a takeover, I think they are buying them at the current price and when MOL offers more they will sell
them to him and make a bit of pocket money, this takeover has a lot more
twists and turns to come.

[Carmoisine]

I love it! I think thats what you call "F.U money" being spent.

[FLYboh]

Anybody know why you can't book flights from Madrid at the moment? I hope it's just a booking engine fault! :confused:

[DH121]

Makes me think I may do the the same!

[Nocti]

Just think,

If everyone here were to become a shareholder and scupper MOL's chances? It would be a good feeling.

[bear11]

Courtesy of the Sunday Tribune yesterday (www.tribune.ie) - I find it very hard to believe that pilots would potentially **** up their pension fund and their family homes for the cause?

"A NUMBER of Aer Lingus pilots have remortgaged their homes to buy stock in the airline in an effort to fend off the 1.5bn Ryanair bid for the former state carrier.

Almost all of the 400 Aer Lingus pilots are members of the Tailwind Nominees consortium that last week spent almost 20m to acquire a 1.83% stake in the airline. The Irish Airline Pilots' Pension (IAPP) fund has a 2.7% stake, acquired at a cost of roughly 30m. Sources familiar with the Tailwind consortium confirmed that some of the pilots have remortgaged their homes to buy the shares, which have so far cost members an average of 50,000 each. Such a strategy is seen as highly risky by financial experts, as Aer Lingus does not intend to pay a dividend, so pilots are not guaranteed any return from their investment.

Several Sunday Tribune sources said last week that pilots are so concerned about Ryanair taking control of Aer Lingus that they are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to scuttle Michael O'Leary's battle plan. The Irish Pensions Board recently cautioned the IAPP that it must only make investments that are for the longterm benefit of its members. The warning came after the IAPP used pension funds to buy Aer Lingus shares. The Financial Regulator said it would advise any consumer who borrows to invest that they are at risk of interest rate fluctuations and that it may cost more to borrow the money than could be made on the investment.

Last week, entrepreneur Denis O'Brien said he might buy more Aer Lingus stock to prevent a Ryanair takeover. An additional investment of almost 100m at 3.05 a share would secure 6% of the airline . . . enough to end Ryanair's takeover attempt."

[Strepsils]

Could we start a pprune fund and join in with the Fungus and ryanscare guys? Anything to pi$$ off mol!

[potkettleblack]

Shame that other pilots didn't follow suit when their respective airlines were privatised in order to protect their T&C's and get a say in the direction of the airline through possible board representation. It is great to see the Aer Lingus pilots not rolling over like so many have done before.

[J.O.]

potkettleblack

When said privatisation occurred, the amount of available shares for purchase was in the hundreds of millions. Even if they had tried, it's highly unlikely that the pilots at most carriers would have had the financial wherewithall to come up with the funds to gain a "voting" share, never mind gaining a controlling interest.

[cesare.caldi]

Italian press report about three new route from Rimini (RMI) to "england area airport" (excluded London). Will be annonced soon and start from March 2007.

Rimini is a very popolar italian summer destinations on adriatic sea

[Hollymead]

Ryanair dropped STN-RMI and replaced it with FRL a few years back when RMI decided it was time to put the price up .

[ElectroVlasic]

Just think,
If everyone here were to become a shareholder and scupper MOL's chances? It would be a good feeling.While we're at it, kick him off the board and fire him too!

[Rick Binson]

Seems to me that all that will happen is MOL has now talked up the share price and will then sell netting a huge profit just as the Icelandics did with easyJet.

All those that have re-mortgaged their homes to buy shares are taking an extraordinary risk! Having shares in your own company bought through remortgaging your house is very very dodgy.

I wish them luck but I think one way or another it will end in tears.

[Charlie Roy]

Italian press report about three new route from Rimini (RMI) to "england area airport" (excluded London). Will be annonced soon and start from March 2007.

Rimini is a very popolar italian summer destinations on adriatic sea

Well EMA to Rimini has just been announced by FR, starting next March, 3 times a week :ok:

Cesare, did the press article say that there would be 3 new routes from Rimini? Or did it say that there would be 1 new route, 3 times a week?

[caja]

Ryanair finish with Portuguese language.
Now the language you have is the English but culture=PT

[dwlpl]

Italian press report about three new route from Rimini (RMI) to "england area airport" (excluded London). Will be annonced soon and start from March 2007.

Rimini is a very popolar italian summer destinations on adriatic sea

CESARE.CALDI,

Do you know if Ryanair are to start a Liverpool/Verona service because there are one or two tour operators listing as using a Ryanair scheduled flight on the route?

[caja]

There are some rumors that Ryanair might fly to Maribor from Frankfurt, London and Barcelona.

Font:Crash course 2006 of Board of European Students of Technology

[caja]

Other notice about Ryanair. This is about a new base in Poland.

Gazeta.pl Warsaw Business Jornal - 30/10/2006

.............................
No time to dawdle
But officials in Poland say that there is no time left to wait. "We don't have time to build a new, large airport for Warsaw. We have to open the two airports to relieve Chopin Airport so it can function normally," Kalita says. Zasada claims that realistically it will take 15 to 20 years to build a new airport in a greenfield location in Poland. "That's a whole era. So for the next 20 years we are going to use the already overcrowded Chopin Airport?" he asks.

Kalita points to Ryanair's recent declaration that they could fly six million passengers to Warsaw annually. "Others also want to fly here. We can't base our assumptions on Chopin Airport's data. You don't know how many passengers would fly to Warsaw if we had more capacity," he says.

"I think Modlin and Sochaczew should be opened because that is what Poland's air traffic needs," Kalita concludes.

Low cost, big influence
Zasada points to another factor that LCCs frequently complain about - Okęcie's high fees. "The low-cost airlines, which will dominate the market for the next five years, will just force us to open a new airport. If not, we might find ourselves in a situation where airlines start playing a more active role in this field," he claims. There are already rumors that Ryanair is considering locating its new technical base in Jasionka near Rzeszów in southeastern Poland. Experts claim that this could be used as a bargaining chip to force authorities to open Modlin airport.

Sochaczew Airport's president points out that there are cities with more than one budget airport. "London has three low-cost airports and they are working fine. Warsaw can be a miniature version of that model," Zasada said.
............................

[cesare.caldi]

Cesare, did the press article say that there would be 3 new routes from Rimini? Or did it say that there would be 1 new route, 3 times a week?

Rimini Airport have signed a five years deal with Ryanair.
Second destination from Rimini will be open in September 2007 and third in March 2008, both route to england airport. I bet on LPL and PIK.

Ryanair expand deal also with Forli Airport (FRL).
New route FLR-CRL daily from september 2007 and two more new route in 2008.

[cesare.caldi]

CESARE.CALDI,

Do you know if Ryanair are to start a Liverpool/Verona service because there are one or two tour operators listing as using a Ryanair scheduled flight on the route?

I don't have any news about this possible new route.

If you want to go to Verona you can take LPL-BGY route.
Bergamo (BGY) is not too far from Verona.
Maybe tour operator use Ryanair flights to Bergamo and then transfer people to Verona by coach.

[dwlpl]

Rimini Airport have signed a five years deal with Ryanair.
Second destination from Rimini will be open in September 2007 and third in March 2008, both route to england airport. I bet on LPL and PIK.



Except that Prestwick is in Scotland.

[pee]

Myös Venäjän puolelta etenkin Pietarin alueelta tulee Ryanairille matkustajia. He ajavat omalla autollaan tänne Pirkkalaan ja jatkavat lentäen matkaa muualle Eurooppaan.Do not understand, huh? Yeah, it's in Finnish. But never mind, I'll translate it to you. "Many Ryanair passengers come also from Russia, especially from the vincinity of St. Petersburg. They drive with their own cars here to (Tampere) Pirkkala and continue their travel to other regions of Europe flying from here" - writes a local newspaper Tamperelainen. And then: "Every day we see up to 30 cars with Russian registration parking ahead of the Terminal 2".
See, that's what I was writing about a year ago. Would you imagine driving yourself hundreds of kilometers just in order to get to the nearest low-cost airport? If you didn't know, the distance from St. Peterburg to Tampere by road is a meagre 550 kilometers! You wouldn't, would you? But such a travel is still advantageous for these people in spite of fuel costs and fatigue, giving some indication about how expensive the flight tickets actually in Russia are. I've heard also about Russian people driving their cars (or making an exhausting travel in night trains) from Sankt-Peterburg to Latvian Riga - for the same purpose. Would you believe?
Looking at the new trend, we cannot regard Russians as a "mass of a colourless poor people" anymore. There are many social classes in Russia nowadays: a rich minority (that will never be interested in low-cost sector as passengers, they could only be investors), and yes, there still is a large group of people too poor to even consider flying to Western Europe. Apart from that, there did however emerge a pretty strong middle-class too. And just this group could be a target for RYR & Co. for the future expansion. If miracles happen, Russia will join Open Skies and we'll see new low-cost airports being built around Moscow and Sankt-Peterburg. Otherwise, you still can benefit (as a carrier and as a local community) and take part in this development by serving the Russian citizens at a dedicated Airport(s) as close to the Russian border as possible. Did you know St. Petersburg is less than 170 km from the EU border in some directions? It's possible to make use of some airports in Finland (albeit Tampere is too distant, look at EFLP) or in Estonia, Latvia, Poland and so on. It would mean providing bus transfers and many other organizing efforts, but It would pay. Just a vision? Maybe, I can't help being a visioneer, but the low-cost air travel in Europe is far from saturation, that's what I'm pointing at.

[eidah]

Another Ryanair documentary for everyone to watch
From the ITV website:
Life of Ryan: Tonight
20:00 - 20:30 Friday, 10 November


http://www.itv.com/blackdot.gif http://www.itv.com/blackdot.gif Investigating the low cost airline Ryanair as it attempts a takeover of Aer Lingus. Fiona Foster takes an in-depth look at the company that revolutionised air travel, including controversial boss Michael O'Leary's management style that has upset regulators and passengers alike
It will be shown on ITV 1 Happy viewing

[phil_2405]

Thanks for the heads-up eidah

[Charlie Roy]

Ryanair have applied to start 4 more routes from Malta!
http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=241901

What are the routes then?

Norway: Oslo Torp
Sweden: Stockholm Skavsta
Spain: Madrid or Girona?
Poland: ???? whatever Polish airport is set to become a base! Krakow? Wroclaw? Warsaw?

[caja]

I have a Madrid frequency map and I think encore it's possible flights of Madrid.

[akerosid]

Ryanair has just announced half year profits of $418m, up 39% for H1.

MO'L has just been on CNN (and presumably he'll be on other channels through the day). Not much new and he repeated that if the ESOT Trustees vote against the takeover, FR will still remain a minority shareholder of EI.

[eu01]

24 hours strikes against Ryanair by Spanish baggage handlers have been called off. The strikes were planned for today at 12 Spanish airports: Almeria, Girona, Granada, Jerez, Murcia, Reus, Seville, Santander, Santiago, Vitoria, Valencia and Zaragoza.
Ryanair passengers have been told that flights to Spain are now operating as normal, and checked in baggage of up to 15 kg per person is being accepted.

[caja]

It took the Belgian cycling team longer than expected to reach Treviso for Saturday's World Cup cyclocross race. The cyclists checked in at Charleroi for a Friday morning flight to Treviso (Venice), only to be told afterwards that the flight had been cancelled. The cyclists had no choice but to collect their luggage and make their way to Brussels airport. They had to buy new and more expensive tickets to fly from there. Some of the cyclists only left Brussels at 8.45pm.

Font: Luchtzak Aviation 5/11/2006

[cesare.caldi]

Ryanair reduce new route VRN-HHN from daily to 4x week.
Advance booking of this flight it's a disaster! Pratically ever flight from now to march is sold at 0.01 cent!

Now Hahn base have a 3x week free frequency to reallocate.

[ryan2000]

Ryanair flights to several european destinations from SNN next week have still fares at 1 cent each way. No wonder MOL continues to be disappointed with the yields there.

[anna_list]

@cesare:

HHN-VRN was reduced to 4x weekly back in September. At the same time, HHN-GOA was announced (3x weekly), so it looks as though the capacity has already been reallocated.

Don't you think that it's a little bit early to condemn a route as being a 'disaster' when it has only been running for a week or two at one of the weakest times of year?

[en2r]

Just tried to book a flight. The new baggage policy means that online check-in is compulsory if you travel with only hand baggage, so basically they are putting an extra charge of £2/€3 per segment if you travel with only hand luggage. If you don't check in online you will still have to pay for it! This is ridiculous. So much for the low fares airline

[Shamrock 125]

surely the charging for online check-in will put people off using it altogether and hinder ryanair's ultimate goal of almost no check-in staff. besides most single travellers dont care where they're sitting on the plane as long as they're on it

[mad_rich]

Just tried to book a flight. The new baggage policy means that online check-in is compulsory if you travel with only hand baggage, so basically they are putting an extra charge of £2/€3 per segment if you travel with only hand luggage. If you don't check in online you will still have to pay for it! This is ridiculous. So much for the low fares airline

Wow. I didn't believe you, but have just been through a dummy return booking and you're right.

No bags = compulsory priority boarding for £4
1 or more bags £7 each, web-checkin and priority boarding not mentioned

It's not clear whether web-checkin itself is compulsory for hand-baggage travellers, or whether you are allowed to pay the extra charge and then choose to check in at the counter. And indeed whether this would garner you PB.

If it is true, then it's very disappointing. Additional charges (such as checked baggage etc) are one thing if they are optional. When they are unavoidable, they really should be included in the fare.

[840]

It's not clear whether web-checkin itself is compulsory for hand-baggage travellers, or whether you are allowed to pay the extra charge and then choose to check in at the counter. And indeed whether this would garner you PB.

If it is true, then it's very disappointing. Additional charges (such as checked baggage etc) are one thing if they are optional. When they are unavoidable, they really should be included in the fare.

If you select to travel with no bags, a piece of text appears below. This allows you to remove web-check-in and removes the charges if you click on it.

It's a bit of a mess that appears to be trying to dupe people into paying unnecessary charges though.

[Devonair]

I booked a flight yesterday and I was able to opt out of online check in by clicking on a link under the resvervation. It is not immediately obvious but I did it..

[cesare.caldi]

@cesare:
HHN-VRN was reduced to 4x weekly back in September. At the same time, HHN-GOA was announced (3x weekly), so it looks as though the capacity has already been reallocated.


Yes, but HHN-GOA start in February.
For me is not this the route to replace the reduced frequency of HHN-VRN. For instance what will do the plane based at HHN from now to february?


Don't you think that it's a little bit early to condemn a route as being a 'disaster' when it has only been running for a week or two at one of the weakest times of year?


HHN-VRN originally was annonced and put on sale as a daily route.
One mounth before of the first flight will be reduced to 4x week, for me due to the negative advanced booking. ;)

[cesare.caldi]

I booked a flight yesterday and I was able to opt out of online check in by clicking on a link under the resvervation. It is not immediately obvious but I did it..

Yes, is the same as travel insurance. For default is an option preselected, but you can remove it.

[the grim repa]

Ryanair pilots are now having their November duty payments by the company delayed. The reason "no one available to sign the cheques". But surely the cheques are signature stamped. Has the genius blown all the stash on trying to buy Aer lingus.

[captplaystation]

I wish I could find that funny Dids, but frankly I find it more frightening than funny.

[Bearcat]

Dealing in: ………..Aer Lingus Group Plc…………….………..(name of company)



Class of security: …Ordinary Shares…………………………………………………



Date of disclosure: 09 November 2006………………………………………………



Date of dealing: …...08 November 2006………..……………………………….........



Name of EMM: …… Morgan Stanley Securities Limited …………………………….



Name of offeree/offeror with whom connected: … Ryanair Holdings Plc ………..







Total number of securities purchased: …316,010 …….…………………..……..



Highest price paid * …2.84 EUR…….………………..………



Lowest price paid * …2.83 EUR….………….…..…….....….

This is what FR did with their money today.:ok:

[gofer]

All those shares for less than €900'000.-

If Ryan doesn't have that in the kitty or available on credit - they deserve to go belly up - get real guys - that's close to the coffee money on a Ryan cash flow.

You can check that if you calculate the No. of staff and the av. pay .... and multiply that up. Or again take the number of tonnes of fuel burnt per day times the current price, on average.

Would be interesting if anybody has those or could logically extrapolate them... because those are known %'s of full turnover are they not?:ugh:

gofor it.

[Faire d'income]

Dealing in: ………..Aer Lingus Group Plc…………….………..(name of company)
Class of security: …Ordinary Shares…………………………………………………
Date of disclosure: 09 November 2006………………………………………………
Date of dealing: …...08 November 2006………..……………………………….........
Name of EMM: …… Morgan Stanley Securities Limited …………………………….
Name of offeree/offeror with whom connected: … Ryanair Holdings Plc ………..
Total number of securities purchased: …316,010 …….…………………..……..
Highest price paid * …2.84 EUR…….………………..………
Lowest price paid * …2.83 EUR….………….…..…….....….
This is what FR did with their money today.:ok:

That would be illegal Bearcat as they cannot buy over the takeover bid price.

Probably some FR pilots getting him back.

BTW Grim Repa you might like to know that non-payment of wages or any part thereof ( inc allowances etc. ) is an offence in Ireland. Only computer errors are accepted as an excuse.

[Sunfish]

Many many years ago in Australia, the Bond Corporation (run by Alan Bond) made a takeover bid for Tiny Rowlands Lonhro Corporation in London.

Lonhros defence was to get some good forensic accountants to have a good look at the Bond Corporation. What they found was not encouraging, they briefed market analysts and suchlike on the results.

The bid collapsed.

Then Bond bid for the Bell Group, whose founder had just died of a heart attack. Bell was cashed up to the tune of a billion dollars, Bond was successful in gaining control of the company and the cash disappeared.

Bond and some of his fellow Directors spent some time as guests of Her Majesty as a result. It's not the first time that a weak or over extended company tried to buy a fatter competitor to devour.

Does this apply to Ryanair? I don't know.

[wombat13]

Fella's, I know this thread is tongue in cheek (or at least it should be), but a few thoughts:


Ryanair is cash rich.
Banks would be falling over themselves to lend it money.
Just because someone comes on the forum and suggests money has been with-held (because a cheque signatory was not available) does not make it true.
The purchase of the Aer Lingus shares will most likely result in a very handsome profit for Ryanair shareholders.
I reckon Aer Lingus is still good value at this price. If MOL is serious, he has yet to add the premium (my personal view).


The Wombat

[Carmoisine]

wombat13

Just because someone comes on the forum and suggests money has been with-held (because a cheque signatory was not available) does not make it true.

You are wrong, and it is a little arrogant of you to say as much when you are not even a Ryanair employee. It is true. Ryanair employees can now add late wage payments to their list of grievances against their employer. For your information, the following appeared on the Ryanair staff website:

Sectors Cheques

To all Pilots, Just to inform you that the sector cheques will not arrive until the 13th of November as all signatories are at the road show from Mon Fri of this week. Thanks (Name Witheld)

That would be 3 days late, and usually more by the time they reach the European mainland bases.

[Re-Heat]

Many many years ago in Australia, the Bond Corporation (run by Alan Bond) made a takeover bid for Tiny Rowlands Lonhro Corporation in London.
Lonhros defence was to get some good forensic accountants to have a good look at the Bond Corporation. What they found was not encouraging, they briefed market analysts and suchlike on the results.
The bid collapsed.
Then Bond bid for the Bell Group, whose founder had just died of a heart attack. Bell was cashed up to the tune of a billion dollars, Bond was successful in gaining control of the company and the cash disappeared.
Bond and some of his fellow Directors spent some time as guests of Her Majesty as a result. It's not the first time that a weak or over extended company tried to buy a fatter competitor to devour.
Does this apply to Ryanair? I don't know.
What on earth has that got to do with this bid? Bond's actions were to support an ailing business empire, with massive debts to its name. Ryanair is a successful and highly profitable publically-owned company. Morals and ethics of employees' treatment aside, there is little to compare between the two.

Here is an example of another ridiculous insinuation:

Robert Maxwell stole millions from the company pension scheme, therefore as Ryanair has a pension scheme, Mr O'Leary might be a crook.

See how ridiculous that sounds?

[wombat13]

Carmoisine, it is anything but arrogant for me to suggest that just because something appears on PPRuNe that it might not be true. It is a statement of fact. And one of the few ones you can be sure is true on this forum.

As I said initially, the thread is tongue in cheek (I mean, "Has all the Ryanair money gone on the Aer Lingus bid?).

You need to be a little less sensitve. Or has PPRuNe become the exclusive domain of the Ryanair disgruntled employee windbags?

The Wombat

[Carmoisine]

Fair enough Wombat, I did bite a little too hard. It is sensitive to me though, to be paid late and then have people suggest that I have not.

Windbag? Moi !? , never. :O :E

[aerobat]

Sector cheques did arrive on time today ( 10th ).

[the grim repa]

http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/11/10/Navigation/177/210496/Ryanair+found+to+have+broken+rules+in+offer+to+Aer+Lingus+sh are+owners+on+value+of+takeover+by.html

[captplaystation]

Paid on time, or as usual 10 days late depending on whether you see the glass half full, or half empty. The power of PPRuNe / REPA , or an attack of conscience / common sense / read of the relevant legislation on their part ? You decide.

[Meccano]

http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/11/10/Navigation/177/210496/Ryanair+found+to+have+broken+rules+in+offer+to+Aer+Lingus+sh are+owners+on+value+of+takeover+by.html

So what's the sanction for breaking the law?
The usual slap on the wrist - like in the 'bullying case'?

[TheRedVonBaron]

Ten days late normally, if your lucky. Dont forget the 5 days it invariably takes the cheque (yes a paper cheque in 2006) to clear.

[Leo Hairy-Camel]

Or has PPRuNe become the exclusive domain of the Ryanair disgruntled employee windbags?
Yes. (http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-11-10T145759Z_01_L10473498_RTRUKOC_0_UK-AIRLINES-RYANAIR-AERLINGUS.xml)

[sky9]

Leo could you help me please.
I see in the latest accounts that the number of leased aircraft has risen from 17 to 24, a total on 7 new leased aircraft in these accounts.
Reading between the lines of the accounts it appears that they are operating leases. Are these aircraft part of the Ryanair order that were sold to a 3rd party and then leased back or have they come from outside the Ryanair order?

[Charlie Roy]

Am I understanding this article (in Italian) correctly:
http://www.paradisola.it/rassegna_stampa_sardegna/news_item.asp?NewsID=1592

And that the crippling Sardinian PSO routes are to be abandoned from 15 Janauary 2007, allowing Ryanair to once again fly to Ciampino, and Easyjet to Milano?

If such is the case, maybe Ryanair will give even more consideration to opening a base at Alghero!

[johnrizzo2000]

With RE pulling the DUB-SNN route, could FR give it a go? I wonder how their DUB-ORK route is going, anybody know? It has been increased in frequency which is always a good sign!!

[Meccano]

Yes. (http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-11-10T145759Z_01_L10473498_RTRUKOC_0_UK-AIRLINES-RYANAIR-AERLINGUS.xml)
From that article:


Others pointed out that opponents of the bid, who have paid over 3 euros a share accumulating defensive stakes, may be less inclined to buy more given the losses they are carrying.


But if they buy more at, say, 2.50, wouldn't that mean they average DOWN the cost of the investment? Then its a matter of where you see the long term value of the share price.
Too many of these financial articles seem focussed on the short term. the quick buck. I guess the ALT pilots are in for the long haul, not a quick buck!

[cesare.caldi]

Am I understanding this article (in Italian) correctly:
http://www.paradisola.it/rassegna_stampa_sardegna/news_item.asp?NewsID=1592

And that the crippling Sardinian PSO routes are to be abandoned from 15 Janauary 2007, allowing Ryanair to once again fly to Ciampino, and Easyjet to Milano?


I confirm, EU have imposed to open BGY, MXP and CIA airport with free access for all airline to fly into Sardinia. :D

Now Ryanair is ready to restart CIA-AHO e maybe open BGY-AHO.
Also Easyjet would restart MXP-OLB.

Finally a new air of freedom in the italian sky! :ok:

[Bearcat]

Yes. (http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-11-10T145759Z_01_L10473498_RTRUKOC_0_UK-AIRLINES-RYANAIR-AERLINGUS.xml)



I burst my chops laughing when I noticed the sly inclusion of dwarf investments.

[EGAC_Ramper]

Anyone know if Glasgow Prestwick is to get any new routes/aircraft early next year??


Cheers

[Rallye EI-BFP]

Cork-Dublin is around 60% loading.....not bad in terms of a B738.....not too sure if Shannon could achieve even 50% though :( M'OL may be persuaded though

[en2r]

Does anyone know why Ryanair has never launched a base at Beauvais? Considering the number of routes that Ryanair offer from Beauvais it seems odd that they haven't set up a base there

[Leo Hairy-Camel]

Does anyone know why Ryanair has never launched a base at Beauvais?
Yes. (http://www.airfrance.com)

[Cyrano]

Cork-Dublin is around 60% loading.....not bad in terms of a B738.....
60% is actually pretty dire for a low-cost carrier (Ryanair's October network-wide average was 83%). It might be redeemed by high yields but, given the competition from train and plane on this route, I'm not sure about that.

If I look on skyscanner for Dublin-Cork & v.v. flights tomorrow (imagine I'm a business person needing to travel from Cork to Dublin at the last minute for an urgent meeting - the kind of passenger the revenue managers LOVE ;) ), there's only one Ryanair flight selling at more than EUR31 including taxes. That doesn't suggest stellar route yields to me.

I think FR is on that route more to stop Aer Arann getting cheeky elsewhere than because it's hugely profitable for them. (Of course they can get good yields on a couple of the Friday/Sunday flights, for the Jazz Festival, etc - but so can anyone. The challenge is having a reasonable average yield and load factor all week, and all year - and if your 60% figure is accurate, it seems to me that FR ain't achieving either on DUB-ORK.

Brgds
C.

[XSBaggage]

en2r,

I believe the reason they have never set up a base at BVA is to do with the hours of curfew there. I don't know any details of it but apparently they are not flexible enough to allow recovery from any disruption to the flight schedule.

XSB

[Charlie Roy]

So with the new terminal going to be ready mid-2007, Ryanair can finally expand at Charleroi, and rumour has it, that's exactly what they're going to do!

New rumoured FR destinations from CRL (from Sept 2007):

Liverpool (reintroduction, in time for Capital of Culture)
Bologna Forli
Oslo Torp
Morocco (I would expect RAK 1-3-5-7, FEZ -2-4-6-)
Poland (Any of Krakow, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Warsaw, Lodz are likely)
Slovenia (Other rumours would suggest Maribor)
I would also bet a lot of money on Murcia! The following destinations would come as no surprise either:
Porto, Santiago de Compostela, Sevilla, Granada, Alghero, Trapani, Genoa, Verona, Pescara, Bari, Brindisi, Bratislava.

Does anyone have any more info on the next FR expansion at Charleroi??

PS - Wizzair also intend to introduce Bratislava to Charleroi when they set up base there in 2007.

[VanBosh]

Charlie Roy

Thats a pretty concise guess there Charlie! Is this a theory of yours or do you have it on good advice?

Also is this where you think the last 2 planes for W07 will go?

Van

[Charlie Roy]

Van Bosh

Indeed, Ryanair still have 3 aircraft due for delivery before mid-2007 for which it has not been revealed where they are going to. Although 1 of them is hotly tipped to be destined for Pisa. Maybe the other 2 will go to Riga? Or who knows really?! :}

The CRL expansion that I'm talking about will be part of the next wave of expansion. For starters, Bremen will get one more aircraft in September 2007 and Charleroi is expecting 2 or 3 new aircraft in September 2007.

The routes that I have listed at the top of my original post were mostly mentioned by Ryanair during a press conference at Charleroi airport on the 29th of August.

The other routes that I have listed (mainly Spanish and Italian) are indeed pure guesswork.

[Charlie Roy]

This isn't the exact article I was hoping to retrieve to support my earlier CRL expansion claims, but it does go some way in support:

http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/versie2/nieuws/details/060829Ryanair/index.shtml

Gering zegt dat hij tien nieuwe bestemmingen op zijn verlangenlijstje heeft staan, onder meer in Oost-Europa en Noord-Afrika.

Translation: (Regarding expansion at Charleroi next year once the new terminal is opened) Gering said that Ryanair have 10 new destinations on their wish list, including destinations in Eastern Europe and North Africa.

My Bet: Liverpool, Oslo Torp, Bologna Forli, Marrakesh, Fez, Krakow, Warsaw, Maribor, Bratislava, Murcia :cool:

[the grim repa]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/14/bloomberg/bxmove.php

[johnrizzo2000]

I'm happy FR wont get EI!!! It means we can sit back and watch the battle; EI vs FR, and to a lesser degree FR vs RE!!!!

I want to see FR launch more domestic irish routes, like Dub to Snn, Cork to BFS, and Dub to knock!!!! Yield/loads on Dub to ORK might not be stellar, but a dublin to SNN/Knock might just fit in nicely to keep utilisation up. A fair few people already book Cork to Dublin, and book another flight with FR Dublin to X, Y or Z, so another domestic route might help loads out of Dublin!

[ICING AOA]

(http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/versie2/nieuws/details/060829Ryanair/index.shtml)http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_m...ir/index.shtml (http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/versie2/nieuws/details/060829Ryanair/index.shtml)
(http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/versie2/nieuws/details/060829Ryanair/index.shtml)

Gee !! How many languages can you speak Charlie Roy ? !!! spanish, french, english, german !!...:confused::eek: :ouch: !

anyway, as you seems to know quite a lot, do you thing ryanair will open a base a Tenerife in the near future ?

[Charlie Roy]

ICING AOA

(English, Irish, French, Dutch, then some Spanish and some German).

Ryanair have no immediate plans to set up a base at TFN. Their current deal with the airport is to start 5 routes to TFN in the first 18 months of operations there.

Would you like to go and work there? ;)

I think TFN could make great year round base for FR, except for the fact that they couldn't have a lot of short-haul flights. Unless of course they were to start flights between the Canary Islands themselves. (Which are probably PSO routes right now, no?)

Conclusion: no immediate plans for a TFN base, but of course it is always possible in the future... :cool:

[Charlie Roy]

I want to see FR launch more domestic irish routes, like Dub to Snn, Cork to BFS, and Dub to knock!!!!

I hope FR don't read that post because no doubt it'd inspire them to change the current usage of the one solitary Cork based aircraft from being:

ORK-DUB-ORK-DUB-ORK-LGW-ORK-DUB-ORK-DUB-ORK

to being:

ORK-DUB-SNN-DUB-ORK-LGW-ORK-DUB-NOC-DUB-ORK

:}

[ICING AOA]

Would you like to go and work there? ;)

No Thank you
No Gracias
Non Merci
No grazie

(just a bit curious)

[ryan2000]

Charlie Roy, Ryanair are constantly monitoring this thread. Cork Prestwick is in my view a route that would work for them without diluting their SNN-PWK to any great extent. Lots of Celtic supporters in Cork and only competition is the double daily ORK-EDI service with RE.

Ryanair have been almost a year on Dublin Cork and have made well over 1,000 landings without one diversion. I wish I could say the same for some of their competitors. The Cork RVR rarely stays below CAT2 limits for very long.

If only pilots would take on sufficient fuel and hold they'd almost always get in.

[TNT747]

Rumors only ...???
I heard Ryanair would start Long haul operations with 777.:p
Can someone confirm ?

[cesare.caldi]

From now all route from HHN and MRS to Morocco are no more on sale.

Maybe a new delay to start these routes due to authorizations problem?

[larshakan]

Seems like they are starting HHN-AGP instead of Morocco! As well as MRS-GSE and MRS-MMX plus something instead of MRS-OUD

http://www.fliegertarife.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1292&Itemid=42

http://ekonominyheterna.se/(RoxenUserID=00114189da5fe685d4830b8687dc3d68)/nyheter/2006/11/16/flyg-ryanair-startar-ytterligar/index.xml

[Hollymead]

If you thought the security delays were bad now !

http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=5638