Ryanair - 8

[eu01]

Ryanair is negotiating with several airports across the German border to avoid the German air tax burden. Finalizing the agreement with Liège (Belgium), the two first routes are rumoured to originate from Bologna and Gerona. Also discussing with Groningen (NL) to re-introduce the flights there.

[clareview]

To all those moaners about Ryanair, if you don't like (mostly) cheap fares (and by fares I mean the total you pay) then you have a choice - fly with someone else or don't fly.

70m in 2010 bookings suggest they must be doing something right.

[bia botal]

I'm particularly fond of the fact that they charge me to use my own printer, my own ink, and my own time...

considering that you dont have to line up at check in for hrs anymore i would say it has saved you money not cost you.

[Random Flyer]

I'm not a Ryanair "basher" and have often enough defended them and their "optional extras". However less and less of these optional extras are becoming optional.

The credit card charge is a disgrace. Clearly just trying to make the fare look cheaper and making the money back on the ridiculously high credit card charges.

The "Admin fee" for checking in online. Sorry, I'm the one checking myself in, I'm the one using my printer to print a boarding pass. There is more justification in me charging Ryanair an "Admin fee" than there is them doing so.

[eu01]

The "trick" of clearly stating the total price before the initial stage of booking would make a very positive impression on many FR customers, I'm sure. After all, they at Ryanair ARE the cheapest ones in most cases, so I do not really understand their kind of approach. For the client, it would be psychologically more exciting to have the impression of getting "discount" during the process of booking. No luggage? Look, the price has dropped. Paying with the MC Prepaid? Look, dropping again! Ready to travel one day later? We'll remove the "admin fee", still cheaper! And so on.

[howard h]

As a mere passenger, what puts me off Ryanair is
(a) the add-on and add-on and add-on of the fares, I like the idea of giving me th maximum and then deleting, that would help
(b) the fact that they appear to leave you stranded if a flight is cancelled.
My choice would be going with Jet2 over he same route, even if Jet2 were more expensive.
To me, Ryanair are the TalkTalk of the airlines. Some like their cheapness, others suffer their service. Am I wrong??

[FR-]

Ive seen jet2 in murcia last summer just leaving pax as did ryanair, so dont make out your all perfect. I know this for a fact as i shared the same hotel as the jet2 crew.

fr-

[Noxegon]

I'm not a Ryanair "basher" either; in fact I travel with them frequently. I just wish they wouldn't play silly games with their passengers regarding so-called avoidable fees. As others have said on this thread, it'd be really nice if the headline price included everything by default, with discounts available during the booking process if there are certain things you don't want to take.

[kdhurst380]

You cannot be left stranded by the airline, if you opt on your own will to forfeit your seat for a refund or credit of some description, your contract with the airline ends.

There are very clear rules laid out in those circumstances (EU261) which along with general 'duty of care' related stuff (LRV's and such like) they also have to get you onto the next available flight or arrange alternative transport for you. Your contract with the airline is that they will get you from point A, to point B, somehow. Any hint that Ryanair is exempt from these rules is completely false, whether you pay a penny, a £ or a hundred £, they are obliged to stick to the rules.

Airlines in general hate EU261, and you will normally need to request the literature stating your rights from a desk, bottom line is they're breaking the law if they refuse to honour anything.

So yeah, to conclude, book your seat in confidence with Ryanair, leaving you high and dry isn't an option.

[clareview]

My experience of flights being diverted or cancelled is that Ryanair provided coach transfers from Dublin to BHD when it was closed and the flight had to divert, Brussels put me on a LBA flight when one to Man was cancelled (but were, I percieved, somewhat reluctant to provide the transfer from LBA to Man) and BA provided a coach.

So rules apply to everyone, whether full or low cost

[pamann]

All I will say is you see the final price before you type in your credit card number. At that point you have a choice, you can't really moan if YOU choose to book it. :=

[sky9]

pamann, you are right but I do get pi$$ed off by starting at £20 and finding that I have to pay £5 for on-line check-in (is there a free option?) and by being charged anything for paying by a debit card when doing so costs the company nothing. I don't mind having the option of having to pay extra for hold baggage or even for airport check-in as those are all extra costs to the airline.

I also object to their staff being shafted by a company that seeks to take advantage of individuals.

The fact is that playing games is dishonest and reflects badly on the company. That's why the general public have such a low opinion of both Ryanair and MOL.

[racedo]

I also object to their staff being shafted by a company that seeks to take advantage of individuals.

Right and every other airline looks after their staff so well that they never threaten industrial action.

Airlines like Easyjet, Aer Lingus, BA etc etc have No industrial relations issues either now or in the past year ......................who knew.


The fact is that playing games is dishonest and reflects badly on the company. That's why the general public have such a low opinion of both Ryanair and MOL.

Afraid too many in the airline industry try to hope the negative PR against someone else is so bad that everybody will stop flying with them where as the general public who fly pretty much know what they are signing up to with every airline.

It has never been a great shock that a number of airlines use their upgrade facility to look after National media Editors and Journos on long haul flights to ensure negative news stories never see the light of day. Again it was never a shock that BAA ensured MPs had priveleged parking facilities at their airports. This all comes out of the PR budget to shut people up.

The faux indignation that Ryanair can advertise a FROM fare and its not what someone pays is no different from any other airline. But with FR its chic to hate them, one only has to look at aircraft incidents reported and the anti FR brigade are out in force where as with anybody else its just ignored.

[Jamie2k9]

Ryanair will operate some extra flights tomorrow 20 Dec.

19th December Cancelled - Extra flights on 20th December 2010 (http://www.ryanair.com/ie/notices/gops/101219-Extra_Flts_20101220-GB)

[clareview]

Sky9 says the generel public have a poor view of Ryanair. Where is his evidence? - I have evidence that says 70m members of the general public think otherwise

[apaul]

You don't have any such evidence. The 70 million figure is probably closer to 60 million taking into account no-shows and Ryanair double counting during the volcanic ash crisis. The 60 million journeys will perhaps represent less than 10 million different people. Out of those a substantial number will have criticisms of Ryanair or be flying a route where there is no competition. If Ryanair had good customer service it would not repeatedly be at or near the bottom in customer satisfaction surveys.

[BFS101]

The public's perception of Ryanair will be extremely subjective and personal. What is a priority for one, may not be the same for another.

But a point to those who always quote the 70m odd seats sold. How many use FR as their first choice, or as their only choice, or as the cheapest option, so use them reluctantly? I have used FR many times, and I'm sure will again, but after checking all the competition and deciding is the difference in fare big enough to decide to book FR.

How many people shop in Lidl, but would rather be buying from M&S; shopping in Primark, but secretly wishing it was Selfridges or Abercrombie?? Just because people use a service or store, doesn't necessarily mean they are happy with it, if it's their only realistic option.

People may not have had such a nightmarish experience to avoid FR in the future, but that doesn't then mean they would actually rate it.

[Phileas Fogg]

I'm sure that clareview has 70 million customer survey reports that were completed that all 70 million customers were 100% satisfied with the product they purchased, despite being boarded as if they were cattle, being seated in seats that do not recline and being scammed for warm beer and stale sandwiches etc.

I'm sure clareview has evidence to contradict this!

[MichaelOLearyGenius]

Phileas Fog

I recently flew BA for the first time in years and I found the pre-allocated seat boarding a nightmare, it took ages to get us all on board.

Alyhough I am not a big fan of the rugby scrum either it gets everybody on board and seated in half the time.:ok:

[FR-]

Does anyone know if EMA-EGC will return for the summer again?

[Phileas Fogg]

MOLGenius,

Why does travelling by air need to be a race? It cracks me up, when arriving on to stand, often a remote stand, all these pax rushing to the overhead lockers whilst the seat belt sign is still on, often we all have to wait for the same coach to the terminal and/or our hold baggage to be offloaded etc!

Why does everything have to be a race, I, for one, don't intend my life to be running around like a headless chicken and/or being boarded as if I were cattle!

[pee]

The 70 million figure
It's a decent figure, but Ryanair simply needs more pax
to fill its planes better
to be able to provide better schedules (at least daily flights on some routes)
to get better deals
to be able to sustain the growth at considerable speed
Just don't be more delusional than MOL who has already acknowledged the problem:"Ryanair needs to change now. It's going to become a different airline. I think the focus will need to change."

[Sober Lark]

Phileas. If this Ryanair scrum really does exist surely someone would have posted a decent one on YouTube. None that I can see in YouTube's 5 year existence?

Pee, one can't be in business and not change business direction. If you invent something you keep on inventing. Others will always be playing catch up.

[TSR2]

If what you call a 'scrum' is the lengthy queueing at the gate and subsequent rush to the aircraft, yes it does exist. I have seen it for myself but to be fair to Ryanair, it is no better or worse than easyjet and you know what to expect when you book the flights. It may not bother many people but it's not for me.

[sky9]

This is on the home page of PPRuNe.

Ryanair Cabin Crew Jobs (http://www.ryanaircabincrewjobs.com/index.html)

Any comments? No doubt it won't be long before Danny gets a call.

[FR-]

Omg I Really Hope Someone From Dub/stn Gets On To This Site Asap, The Uniform Should Of Been Handed Back In And The Id Given To The Airport Manager.

[oldbaldeagle]

Perhaps it a picture from 'graduation' day!

[IJM]

FR- it appears that Ryanair management from Dub/Stn are not too "on the ball", as the link has been on this website for a few days.

[FR-]

Im all for free speach but for posting pictures of crew and managers is just wrong, what gives them the right to post pictures of them. And as for telling people how to hack cabin crews personal information, ie rosters and pvt information, its just wrong and the link should be removed from here.


fr- :mad:

[eu01]

These Bulgarian guys are really great. Look at this article from Visit Bulgaria (http://www.visitbulgaria.net/en/plovdiv/news/20101220/plovdiv_flights.html).
On December 22 Plovdiv Airport will announce its second regular line from the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv to a city in Spain, general manager of the airport Doichin Angelov announced. Bulgarian footballer Hristo Stoichkov will participate in the press conference announcing the new line.

The new flight line will be launched in the end of March 2011. The airport manager did not want to tell any details about the new line.Did not want to tell, huh? Actually he has told everything. I'm not a football connoisseur, but just a small research revealed much enough. Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgarian: Христо Стоичков) moved on to Barcelona, winning the Primera Division four years in a row between 1991 and 1994 and the European Cup after defeating Sampdoria in 1992. During his stay in Barcelona, he had become an idol for the club's fans, and was Barça's most popular player at the time.Well right, it could be either BCN or GRO, but what else could still be a secret here?

[peacock1]

.......hey,pal, or FR whatever you call yourself, free speech reigns in this country, and in England too.
If you treat your people properly, this would'nt happen.
Looks like Duxie has a very worthy adversary in Mr. Foley from Liverpool.

[FR-]

So that gives them the right to post pictures of someone all over the internet? Only one side of the story on that website . . .

[Noxegon]

To be fair, I think there are generally three sides to every story; person a, person b, and the truth.

[pee]

Finnish Lappeenranta gets its third route. Flights from Bergamo will start on March 30th.

BGY will also be linked with the Romanian airport of Constanţa.

[WJ888]

New airport in Ryanair's network: Magdeburg-Cochstedt in Germany. Four new routes: Girona, Las Palmas Gran Canaria, Malaga, Alicante. All 2x weekly, stating from 30 March 2011. See PRESSEMITTEILUNG (http://www.flughafen-magdeburg-cochstedt.de/de/news/28-generalprobe) (German)

[WJ888]

Ryanair will launch flights from the German airport Magdeburg-Cochstedt, to Girona, Las Palmas Gran Canaria, Malaga and Alicante. All 2x weekly, from 30 March 2011.

This seems odd, because the German government just implemented a tax on all flights from Germany.

Routes and days:
Alicante: Monday, Friday
Malaga: Monday, Friday
Las Palmas Gran Canaria: Thursday, Sunday
Girona: Wednesday, Saturday

[pee]

Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (22nd Dec) confirmed that the Captain of flight FR1397 from Oslo Rygge to London Gatwick reported an Unidentified Flying Object to Aviation Authorities after passengers released shocking images taken onboard the aircraft some 200km south of Oslo.

Aviation experts confirmed that they had received a number of similar reports and confirm that such sightings are not uncommon in the region at this time of year, with an increasing number of sightings reported right up to 25th December.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said

“Ryanair confirms that the Captain of flight FR 1397 officially reported an unidentified flying object some 200km south of Oslo. The crew became aware of the object after passengers spotted it and begun to photograph it.
Ryanair has passed the image to Aviation Authorities throughout Europe in a bid to ensure further sightings can be reported. Ryanair does not comment on rumour or speculation and will not be drawn on passenger claims that the UFO was a test flight ahead of 24th December. This is now a matter for the authorities.”http://www.ryanair.com/img/pictures/news/2010/ufo-dec-2010.jpg
200km south of Oslo. That's why you are so appalled. Near Rovaniemi you'd see them every day in December ;)

[apaul]

Ryanair 'Europe's Favourite Airline' named the UK's worst E-tailer for 2010.

UK's Best and Worst E-Tailers Named in ForeSee Results Christmas 2010 Online Retail Customer Satisfaction Index (http://www.einnews.com/pr-news/270097-uk-s-best-and-worst-e-tailers-named-in-foresee-results-christmas-2010-online-retail-customer-satisfaction-index)

[Too Few Stripes]

@ FR- I agree they shouldn't be posting pictures of RYR employees without their permission but I didn't see any info on the site about hacking rosters or private information. He does state that crewdock may not be secure but doesn't give any details of how/if it's hackable.

As for the uniforms, if RYR want them returned the surely they need to re-imburse the crew who have bought them using their own money??

TFS

[Skipness One Echo]

I agree they shouldn't be posting pictures of RYR employees without their permission

Not illegal and newspapers do it every day. Their permission isn't really needed.

[Hull City AFC]

Ryanair announce new route to Faro from Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood Airport.

Media | Press Releases | Ryanair Delivers Early Christmas Present to Doncaster Sheffield Airport (http://www.robinhoodairport.com/press-releases/ryanair-delivers-early-christmas-present-to-doncaster-sheffield-airport.html)

[AMS flyer]

Ryanair announced this morning two new flights ex EIN:

EIN-PMI (4x/wk)

EIN-IBZ (3x/wk)

These new routes are in head-to-head competition with Transavia which announced the same routes just one month ago.....

Luchtvaartnieuws: dagelijks actueel luchtvaartnieuws (http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/news/?id=37458)

[SNOCLO]

Ryanair announced this morning two new flights ex EIN:

EIN-PMI (4x/wk)

EIN-IBZ (3x/wk)

These new routes are in head-to-head competition with Transavia which announced the same routes just one month ago.....


Which base is flying those routes since IBZ and PMI are no bases? Or will they be announced as bases soon?

Ciao

[eu01]

A batch of new routes out of Gerona just announcedRyanair estrenará nueve rutas en el Aeropuerto de Girona el próximo verano

GIRONA, 23 (EUROPA PRESS)

Ryanair operará en el Aeropuerto de Girona 64 rutas el próximo verano, de las cuales nueve serán nuevas: Cochstedt (Alemania), Karlstad, Skelleftea (Suecia), Kristianstad (Noruega), Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Rzeszow, Szczecin (Polonia), Tallin (Estonia) y Zadar (Croacia).Some are new airports in Ryanair's network, by the way.

[dwlpl]

Just to repeat yesterdays news here that there is a new FR Liverpool route to Toulon for 2011 plus expansion on other routes to Alicante, Faro, Malaga, Murcia, Palma and Tenerife.

The airline expects to carry 2.5 million passengers from Liverpool in 2011.

[Jamie2k9]

Ryanair havn't announce a new route from Zadar.

News : Ryanair Agrees 5 Year Extension of its Barcelona Girona Base (http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/ryanair-agrees-5-year-extension-of-its-barcelona-girona-base)

[Noxegon]

Girona preserved -- can't say I saw that one coming. I figured all the equipment would be going to El Prat.

[Jamie2k9]

6 new routes from Bremen.

[PPRuNe Pop]

Please get back on topic. And keep it there. 9 inrrelevant posts have been deleted.

AA&R mods

[no slot]

DAA 1 Ryanair Nil, Bravo! Siobhan Moore of the DAA came out swinging tonight in response to Ryanairs bully boy tactics to force the DAA to open the runway. Safety in aviation is paramount. Well done DAA.

[racedo]

No Slot

DAA had Feb 2009 when airport shut because of snow and ice with ground crews unable to gain access to aircraft and unable to refuel same.

Same again in Winter 2009/10 and same in Winter 2010 and still DAA has not spent money on ensuring runways, taxi ways and area around is free to use within a reasonable.

If they had spent 1 million on equipment and resources to ensure airport could be open and cut the PR budget for Terminal 2 by same maybe then people would feel happier.

DAA using excuse of snow to cover up yet again their own inadequacies.

[Jamie2k9]

Not just Dublin Airport. What about airports in the UK? Germany, France, Poland and Belgium have no excuse for closing as they are well used to snow.

I do agree that money needs to be spent. It's time for the EU to push airports to invest in more equipment as if they don't lessons won't be learned and it will happon next year.

[airbourne]

There was a spat a while ago with Ostend. FR said they would open a base and then pulled out after some argument after Ostend built a new terminal. With the recent weather issues, there was some diversions into Ostend.

7 aircraft on the ground the other day. There was talk about the airport not letting the FR aircraft take off by chaining the wheels. Is this rumour true? Did all the diverted aircraft get away ok?

[Charlie Roy]

Lots of Ryanair aircraft in and out of Ostend during the last week. What you say is the first I've heard. What I hear is the airport being very obliging, helpful and professional with all diversions.

teletekst.een.be/tt_een.php?p=383&g=0&s=1&r=0

[racedo]

AS

IF DAA spent as much implementing a bad weather strategy as they did on PR then maybe people would listen to them but their inactions over 3 winters speak for itself.

Using safety as a means of justifying inaction shows DAA could give Comical Ali a run for his money.

[Jamie2k9]

racedo
Why are you not giving out about Galwick, Heathrow, Luton, Birmingham, EDI, Berlin, Bremen, Leeds, Wroclae, Gdansk, Brussels, Hahn, Paris BVA???

They were all closed because of snow and the only airport people haveing a pop at is Dublin.

[airbourne]

Racedo,

IF Ryanair spent as much on their customer service as they did on PR then maybe people would listen to them but their inactions over the years shows that they really dont give a fcuk!!.

As for Comical Ali, he is a saint by comparrison to the Ryanair PR department!

[positive]

I think when the DAA look back at their actions over the recent 2 cold spells and keeping the runways open etc at Dublin they did okay but maybe need to look at some more efficient machinery in dealing with the clearing of the snow/ice and having less downtime if it can be done to the same standards.This will involve investment of course and one I'm sure the regulator would rule on.As for Ryanair's cry about the time the airport was closed they do tend to forget how many flights they cancel themselves due to circumstances outside their control when it suits them and I'm talking about the flights with low load factors that get pulled.

[Luke76]

Got a question about something, cant be bothered looking it up, hopefully someone knows.

Ryanair posts its financial results with the year ending on 31st March. Nothing unusual about that, many countries' fiscal year ends on this date, including the UK and Ireland. That said, How come easyJet posts its financial results with the year ending 30th September?

Thanks a lot.

[racedo]

Luke

There is no reason for a company in selecting its year end date as they can select what ever they wish, retailers tend to select post Christmas as on 31st of December high level of stock will still be held after christmas and part way through sales. Others depend on management but unsurprisingly Airlines and holiday companies avoid mid summer.

[ian_h1]

A company can choose its own financial year it doesnt necessarily have to marry up with the registratnt countries own fiscal year.

[Luke76]

Thanks for your responses

Next question

Why does Ryanair have a smaller turnover/revenue than easyJet even though it is a bigger airline?

[racedo]

Why does Ryanair have a smaller turnover/revenue than easyJet even though it is a bigger airline?

Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity is an age old saying.

Ryanair aim to be one of the lowest fare airlines and accordingly their fare will be on average substantially lower than Easyjet.

Based on last published full year results for both and assumming average £1 = €1.15
then
Easyjets average turnover per passengers was £60.86
Ryanair average turnover per passenger was £39.07,
Easyjet takes 24.3% more per passenenger

However in relation to profit
Easyjet avergage profit per passenger was £3.86
Ryanair's average profit per passenger was £4.17
Ryanair made 8% more profit per passenger

So while a small difference in profit per passenger the total costs per passenger are 55% more in Easyjet than Ryanair.

[Facelookbovvered]

You are correct on your historical analysis, what will be fascinating going forward is how this might change, a much larger proportion of Ryanairs volume is now through "proper" airports ie AGP/PMI and so on, whilst they will have enjoyed some sweetheart deals for basing aircraft all over Spain, they won't last forever. In addition to which they are flying much longer stage length sectors now and with oil heading North once again they will need to drive up their average ticket price to maintain profitability.

The big question is at what point does the volume start to drop if the prices goes up? it has been said many times (even by Ryanair) that its passengers are very price sensitive, would they be prepared to pay an average £60.86? personally i can't see much difference between Ryanair/Easyjet from a pax point of view at least in terms of the product, other than Easyjet fly into places that aren't in the middle of nowhere, but as i said that's changing.

Will Ryanair risk increasing their hold luggage charges again in the peak Summer months of 2011?

[potash]

FR to open new base at fuerteventura

http://www.canarias7.es/articulo.cfm?id=195546 (http://www.canarias7.es/articulo.cfm?id=195546):D

[Flowerdream]

Any infos about new Maastricht routes? They should be announced very soon now;)

[AP1995]

will ryanair ever think about flying to destinations such as SSH in egpyt?

[apaul]

Can't see it ever happening from the UK because of the distance and the higher rate of APD which is payable.

[MUFC_fan]

*sigh*

I don't want to post this but feel I must for the initial part of the article but once again MOL's cr*p is filling up print space...

Ryanair CEO says airline contemplating order for ?up to 300 aircraft? | ATW Online (http://atwonline.com/aircraft-engines-components/news/ryanair-ceo-says-airline-contemplating-order-300-aircraft-0908)

[dwlpl]

What part is cr*p?

The part saying they are 'contemplating an order of up to 300 aircraft' isnt as the lifetime of an aircraft flying for a LCC is around five years.

[MUFC_fan]

O'Leary also confirmed earlier statements to Bloomberg Businessweek that he is seeking permission from aviation authorities to use only one pilot on the shortest flights. “It would save the entire industry a fortune. In 25 years with [more than] about 10 million flights, we've had one pilot who suffered a heart attack in flight and he landed the plane,” he reasoned. “Really, you only need one pilot. Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer fly it.”


That's the cr*p I was on about.

[Hollymead]

Wasn't this done to death when the article was printed on September 9th or is this a review of the year special .?

[Kinocker]

Ryanair website is a bit messed up today, you can only book flights in 2010!

And if you select any date in 2010 it then tells you that today is that date and you need to contact the airline to book on today's flight.


A bit slack by their standards. ;)

[eu01]

Actually one can book by selecting "Book Cheap Flights" above - there you'll find an updated calendar. But as certainly not everyone will decide to try other options than this obvious one directly on the front page it means mostly... a loss of money(!!!) for the carrier. Pretty large sums, presumably, especially if it takes a couple of days to fix it - who would bother now. How many flight tickets could have been sold by then?

Well, it's only about money, a trivial thing:rolleyes::hmm:. Unimportant really?

[mickyman]

Perhaps if the Ryanair bashers didnt hang so much on every word MOL
spouts (in either business or journo press)they would have a better new year?

It must be the Irish in me that makes me chuckle whenever MOL
is quoted on here......I can see him reeling in the little fishes every time......

ASFKAP......hello!

[Kinocker]

Website is now fixed, but given that almost everyone who books Ryanair flights would use the set up on the front page it will have been a costly enough morning for Ryanair.

[Jamie2k9]

2010 - 72million travel with Ryanair.

News : Ryanair Celebrates Record Year in 2010 (http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/ryanair-celebrates-record-year-in-2010)

[lfc84]

F14's last two posts full of :mad:

[Stewart28]

Does anyone know if Ryanair are to do flights from Alicanate to Derry this summer

[daz211]

Please, I understand you have a gripe with Ryanair ... We have all heard about it now.
Please, Please can we get back to the topics that this site is designed for..

Im sorry you went through what you went through but please enough is enough.

[Evileyes]

daz211 is entirely correct. The posts he is referencing are now found here:

http://www.pprune.org/passengers-slf-self-loading-freight/438613-ryanair-issues.html

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread topic.

[befree]

2010 - 72million travel with Ryanair.
News : Ryanair Celebrates Record Year in 2010

It is strange that FR do not report how many people traveled in December at the same time as reporting the annual 72m. I suspect they carried less in Dec 10 than in Dec 09.

It is also worth noting that they have carried nothing like 72m pax. They have many no-shows and counted over a million who did not fly on planned sector due to ash.

[davidjohnson6]

befree - it's all down to the issue of whether tickets sold are refundable or not and thus when the ticket is recognisable as revenue under accounting policies, and as to what data shareholders would really care about (number of people on each flight will be reported separately to the various aviation authorities under a different metric).

Remember that Ryanair would like it if customers who bought tickets did not fly - it means they keep both the base fare, and also because their policies make it extremely diffiicult to claim back the Govt tax, they in practice usually end up keeping the tax as well. A large network carrier like Air France is in a different position - it sells many refundable tickets to large companies - if one of their staff misses the flight, the company can easily just claim the refund including the tax.

There has been much debate on this forum over the last year or two as to how one compares "number of non refundable tickets sold" as given by Ryanair to "number of people / RPK flown" as provided by most network carriers, and thus how one can compare the performance of Ryanair to (for example) Lufthansa.

[befree]

december growth is just out - just 2% more tickets sold than last year,
On top of that many seats will not have been flown.
Load factor for december was down to 80%.

Still waiting to see when they will admit to a month of negative growth!

[Jamie2k9]

Still waiting to see when they will admit to a month of negative growth!

It also states that 1.45milion passengers booked to fly during the ash but couldn't as flights were cancelled.

News : Ryanair?s December Traffic Grows 2% (http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/ryanair-s-december-traffic-grows-2-percent)

No responsibility for it was taken.



That was Luton airports fault and not Ryanair's as they don't update the arrival/departure boards. The airport does.

[wesleyscott]

is it terminal 1 that FR use for all arrivals and departures or do they use more than one terminal, thanks if anyone knows

[Jamie2k9]

All Ryanair operations in MAD are done in T1

[wesleyscott]

thanks for your help

[Jippie]

Madrid is mixed between stairs and gates. One of the few airports that Ryanair actually uses gates as far as i know.

[frfly]

Any idea from which base the new EIN - IBZ and PMI flights are being operated from? Is it a new route daily from somewhere or the sign of a possible base in EIN?

If it's to be a W pattern it must be coming from RYG, EDI or PIK?

[EI-BUD]

Any idea from which base the new EIN - IBZ and PMI flights are being operated from? Is it a new route daily from somewhere or the sign of a possible base in EIN?




FRFLY
I see that Marseille is still showing up as a route but has no available flights, perhaps the base will be re-established in time for summer and perhaps offer a daily flight arriving early in EIN in order to be available for 1040 the time on the different days that IBZ or PMI departs.

According to the schedule it doesnt seem that aircraft is coming from any of the existing destinations but maybe changes have to come

On a different note perhaps FR will announce base at LGW and offer an early morning departure to EIN that could operate a W.

RYANAIR stated last year that they will start serving primary airports in EU excluding CDG and LHR. As far as I can see there seems to be no signs of this yet (excluding the ones already operating). Surely by now we should be hearing about a raft of new bases?

No sign of CPH? LIS?

EI-BUD

EI-BUD

[VJW]

I'm RYR based in MAD- MAD is a good way to describe it all :)

Any truth to LGW opening as a base?

edit- for jippy.

Regarding gates, I presume you mean an air bridge, finger dock and/or jetty. Everyone has to come through a gate, even if you walk onto the apron in stn to board an aircraft. Madrid for sure, Palma Mallorca we use one, I've had them attached in LGW as well, and I think valencia once. Madrid and Palma for sure 100% of the time you get them.

[Jamie2k9]

On a different note perhaps FR will announce base at LGW and offer an early morning departure to EIN that could operate a W.



Not a chance as Ryanair are dropping Milan BGY, Porto, Bologna and Faro. from the end of March.

Oslo Rygge, Kaunas and Stockholm Skavsta have being reduced for Summer 2011.

Ryanair's new base in ACE from April is causing problems to people living on the island.

ACE airport operates between 07:00 - 00:00 daily but Ryanair want the airport open longer. Ryanair want operations at 06:00 - 01:30 and people on the island don't want this. No decision on the extended opening hours has being made and if it goes against Ryanair will the base open at all??

Ryanair are pulling out of Altenburg at the end of March.

[Telstar]

Jamie2k9

On a different note perhaps FR will announce base at LGW and offer an early morning departure to EIN that could operate a W.
Not a chance as Ryanair are dropping Milan BGY, Porto, Bologna and Faro. from the end of March.

Oslo Rygge, Kaunas and Stockholm Skavsta have being reduced for Summer 2011.

Pardon me, I didn't understand. Are you saying all those routes ex Gatwick are being chopped?

[Jamie2k9]

Milan BGY, Porto, Bologna and Faro all dropped at the end of March.

All other routes will operate next summer but some will be reduced:

Oslo Rygge - 3 flights cut.
Kaunas - 2 flights cut.
Stockholm Skavsta - a reduction over summer 2010 but no sure how many flights.

[Amelia Earhart]

On 4th January after local media speculation Ryanair released a statement to Radio Foyle in Derry stating that the Derry-Alicante route would operate again this year but the flight cannot be booked, is not listed in drop downs and does not appear on the route map.

Why this inconsistency? Is the flight axed or not? A straight question. Any chance of a straight answer from someone in the know?

[hodp]

sorry iam newbe as ryan air fell out with :confused:budapest

[andy mach 1]

I believe the have/are pulling out due to high charges.

Andrew

[Jamie2k9]

I see that Marseille is still showing up as a route but has no available flights, perhaps the base will be re-established in time for summer and perhaps offer a daily flight arriving early in EIN in order to be available for 1040 the time on the different days that IBZ or PMI departs.

According to the schedule it doesn't seem that aircraft is coming from any of the existing destinations but maybe changes have to come

No sign of CPH? LIS?


EIN - IBZ & PMI will most lightly be operated by Girona or Madrid based aircraft. Should be known over the next few weeks.


No sign of CPH? LIS?


Last I herd CPH not going to happon but that LIS is a done deal except FR don't want to use the International Terminal as they wouldn't be able to achieve a 25 minute turn around time. FR want to us the Domestic Terminal.

[747flyboy]

If anyone has any info regarding the above, I would be most grateful.
Trying in vain to book said flights for my parents and booking engine not giving anything even though flights start summer 2011.
Does anybody have exact days when the service will operate
Thanks in anticipation!

[Jamie2k9]

Route will not be operating for summer 2011.

[Delight]

Hi all,
I have a memory of reading (maybe here on pprune, but I can't find it) that RyanAir have a 50% ratio of contract to employees working on flights. Can anyone verify this? Is the ratio the same for both pilots and cabin crew?

Cheers,
Delight.

[FR-]

It depends on the base and time of the year for cabin crew. Most of the time its meant to be about 50:50 but seems to getting less and less on an fr contract. Look how much the company saved with the ash, crew on contracts still got a basic wage, but the agency n temps didnt get a cent. Some bases now have summer only temps. For those crew are on ryanair contract the wage is good, and those who aint well save some of your money in the summer.

fr-

[ericlday]

From 16th February Ryanair introduce a Thursday flight on LTN-TFS

[looot]

not anymore, it was maybe 6 years ago when everybody got the Ryanair contract automatically after one year, some people after 6 months. But 3 years ago they stopped, so probably now its 70:30, and it's going to be less in the future i think.

[Seljuk22]

New routes:
NYO-MRS
BLL-PMI
BLQ-Kos
BRI-Kos
TPS-Rhodes
BRS-IBZ and ORK-BGY were mentioned before

[pabely]

Did this occur then?




As discussion surrounding the closure of Ryanair's only French hub comes to a close, the low-cost airline shuts down its Marseille base today, Tuesday 11th January 2011. Following the commencement of legal proceedings against Ryanair's Marseille base regarding tax matters, the hub will be moved to competitor airports in Spain, Italy and Lithuania, with the result that 13 Marseille routes will be closed (see the list below). Ryanair will continue to operate 10 routes to/from Marseille Airport, on aircraft and crews that are based elsewhere.
The following 10 routes to continue are as follows:
Brussels
Dusseldorf
Fez
London
Madrid
Malta
Porto
Rome
Seville
Valencia

[Jamie2k9]

Edinbough and Dublin will also contuine. DUB has yeat to be loaded.

[Sober Lark]

Ryanair don't operate any 'hubs' pabely. They operate bases. At doesn't make one iota of a difference to the travelling public at MRS where the aircraft are based once they have a service.

[pabely]

Sober Lark, this came from a press article so the words would be part of journalistic freedom.
I was more thinking about locally based crews and local T&C and the legal preceedings as well as the route reductions.

[eu01]

Ryanair will start the route between Porto and Vatry with two weekly flights from March 29.

[Jamie2k9]

A Dublin based aircraft will operate all flights between Eindhoven - IBZ and PMI.

[barrymah]

Here - ryanair marseille base - Ryanair ferme mardi sa seule base française, à Marseille (http://www.2424actu.fr/actualite-economique/ryanair-ferme-mardi-sa-seule-base-francaise-a-marseille-1979345/#read-1979418)

are a series of vid links to various news outlets on RyR leaving MRS.

Not much more detail and little info on routes. MO'L did say he would reverse the flight pattern of a number of the MRS routes, presumably where he has aircraft based, hence Eindhoven loses and Edinburgh and Dublin will continue.

Personally I am surprised that they have dropped a number of flights to/from Morocco, they were, by all appearances, doing well there. Perhaps they'll open a few more in Summer, although I wouldn't have thought it was a big deal summer/winter as it was mostly expats living in France who travelled.

Here - Ryanair - New flight offers (http://www.ryanair.com/en/new-routes) there are so-called new routes from MRS including Malaga, which was already operated.... So.... watch the space....

[wesleyscott]

FR have suddenly removed the "brand new" wednesday flights from LPL-TFS anyone know why??? they havent even started them yet!

[Jamie2k9]

Only possible reason wouold be low bookings.

[wesleyscott]

thats what i thought BUT the inbound from TFS - LPL is still showing and booking, its hard to explain unless you look at their site.
Are these "one way" flights called repositioning flights maybe, not sure why they would only make the aircraft go in one direction

[Jamie2k9]

FR are just deciding which base will operate the outbound flight.

[wesleyscott]

thanks, your a ind full of information....hope they hurry up, i want to book!

[jdcg]

I see FR have cancelled both Altenburg and Graz from STN. Rather sad as I'd intended to use the Graz flights this spring and always enjoyed the bucolic charms of Altenburg and the fantastic restaurant in its Rathaus...

[eu01]

Just 800.000€ of marketing support finally granted has done the trick. The axed international routes to Santiago de Compostela will be re-instated as of end March. HHN-SCQ will be flown 3 times a week, STN-SCQ 4xweek (in Winter x3) and instead of Rome, BGY will be introduced (thrice-weekly). The still ongoing negotiations concern the CRL-SCQ route.

The amount of €0.8 mln is the official sum, reported by the local authorities, although I'm not sure if it concerns just the money for FR or possibly also the similar support to Vueling.

@jdcg
Altenburg? A pity indeed. You can, however, fly to Magdeburg, not so far away.

[ukswans]

Ryanair illegally fining passengers who failed to print boarding passes | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347212/Ryanair-illegally-fining-passengers-failed-print-boarding-passes.html)

[boyzinblue]

Flights fom Magdeburg are only to Spain. Is Magdeburg to London going to be announced. Magdeburg to Shannon once a week would be great.

[Jamie2k9]

Magdeburg - SNN is very wishful thinking. Not going to happon in the near future.

[FA10]

Most of the marketing support axed for Graz airport - not only RYR is going to pull out or reduce, probably also Air Berlin and some Regionals.
Strange politically motivated decision...

[Sunnyjohn]

Ryanair illegally fining passengers who failed to print boarding passes | Mail Online

Well spotted, UKSwans. Yes indeed and Ryanair have commented on their website. I can't quite believe it but it has been suggested that this could end up in the European court. What a waste of money. Although not a great lover of Ryanair, and especially not of MO'R, for once I think they're right on this one.

[eu01]

Whatever could be said about Ryanair exploiting its airports, for many of them the rejection of this carrier is not a good solution either. The article in L'Alsace (http://www.lalsace.fr/fr/sorties/aujourdhui/article/4463673,1235/Reprise-a-Bale-Mulhouse-stagnation-a-Strasbourg-Entzheim.html) notes:Strasbourg-Entzheim fait grise mine. Avec 1 060 000 passagers (-4,4 %) en 2010, on a frôlé la catastrophe. Avec un trafic quatre fois inférieur à celui de l’Euro-Airport (...) l’avenir de Strasbourg-Entzheim demeure incertain.(...) il souffre car il n’a pas réussi à attirer une compagnie low cost pour compenser le départ de Ryanair pour le Baden-Airpark voisin. L’aéroport de Karlsruhe/ Baden-Baden dépasse désormais celui de Strasbourg avec un trafic de 1 193 000 passagers, en hausse de 8,3 % l’an dernier.Strasbourg-Entzheim on a brink of disaster. With the traffic four times less than in Basel, overtaken also by FKB, Entzheim's future is uncertain. It is suffering because it failed to attract low cost carriers and has been unable to offset the departure of Ryanair [a few years ago]. In contrary, the airport Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden had a passenger growth 8.3% last year.

Of course, also the new fast rail connection (TGV, Eastern Line) has contributed to this poor result.

No wonder one can find also more radical opinions, like this in (Facebook) group "Sauvons l'aéroport de Strasbourg-Entzheim" (Let's save...).

Des taxes trop élevées, un monopole oppressant d'Air France, il est normal que les compagnies low-cost aient fui ou aillent voir les aéroports voisins. Dans le même temps, nous en souffrons car nous avons alors les trajets à faire jusqu'à cet autre aéroport alors qu'Entzheim est à 9 minutes en TER de la gare de Strasbourg.

Mobilisons-nous pour une baisse significative des tarifs et pour que de nouvelles liaisons aériennes soient ouvertes!Taxes too high, an oppressive monopoly of Air France, no wonder that the low-cost airlines have disappeared or moved to the nearby airports. We suffer having to travel to another airport while Entzheim is just 9 minutes by local train from Strasbourg [main] station.

Let's fight to achieve a significant drop in fees to attract new connections!

Nobody likes taxes, but sometimes there are really good reasons to lower them.
:ok:

[Hollymead]

Flights from NQY to ALC 2011
If anyone has any info regarding the above, I would be most grateful.
Trying in vain to book said flights for my parents and booking engine not giving anything even though flights start summer 2011.
Does anybody have exact days when the service will operate
Thanks in anticipation!..

BBC News - Ryanair axes flights from Newquay Airport in Cornwall (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-12214475)

[compton3bravo]

I see the toys out of the pram yet again - this time regarding the boarding pass issue with a judge in Barcelona who has ruled against the airline. Details on the Ryanair website.

[Skipness One Echo]

The council said the tax helped improve the airport which was expected to see more passengers in the long term.

Yes twice daily to Stansted gone meaning 4*180 = 720 seats per day, and that's before we add in the holiday flights. Councils and commercial airports don't mix. By the long term, they mean when?

[befree]

Today Easyjet said its winter lose is expected to be double that from last time in part due to higher fuel costs and lower spending on extras. Their shares dropped 16%.

FR will report the latest quarters results on the 31st. It is likely the fuel outlook will be grim for the airline.

[FR-]

Maybe this a good starting point FT.com - Markets Data (http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=RYA:LSE)


Total operating expenses rose by 25% to €1,636.2m, primarily due to an increase in fuel prices, the higher level of activity, and increased operating costs associated with the growth of the airline. Fuel, which reprensents 40% of total operating costs compared to 35% in the comparative period, increased by 44% to €660.2m due to the increase in the price per gallon paid and a 21% increase in the number of hours flown. Unit costs excluding fuel rose by 4% and including fuel they rose by 13%. Operating margin decreased by 1 point to 25% whilst operating profit increased by 21% to €545.4m.


So the question is just how much fuel hedging has been done. . . And without going thought finanicals all night, i couldnt tell you, im sure someone will. But I do know ryanair has been hedging its fuel for a while in advance.

fr-

[Sunnyjohn]

"I see the toys out of the pram yet again - this time regarding the boarding pass issue with a judge in Barcelona who has ruled against the airline. Details on the Ryanair website."

Someone's not reading the thread!

[Welshtraveller]

I was due to fly from Bristol to Porto the first week of May. I had a big shock when I read on Prune that the flights have been cancelled. I checked the Ryanair website (pretended I wanted to book a flight) and the flights were unavailable. After going into my booking on the Ryanair website the flights appeared as normal, very confused.

I rang Ryanair direct to ask for clarification. Ryanair told me that it looks like the flights have been cancelled but my booking is still valid. They said that I may receive a e-mail informing me of the cancelled flights in the coming weeks. Reservation agent was no help at all and I am none the wiser.

I just want to find out if the flights are cancelled or not. If they are cancelled (which looks like a strong possibility), when will I receive the confirmation e-mail? How long does it take to receive a refund?

Grateful for any help or advice. Many thanks.

[DannyKelly22]

i see between 4 and 8 aircraft are going to EI tomorrow to operate some of their schedules, suppose Ryanair at the end of the day have an interest in what happens here with being such a large shareholder.

[no slot]

Interesting move by Ryanair. It is a worry how they can spare 4 or 8 aircraft at the drop of a hat! Are they jumping into the breach to help AL or themselves? Or both?

[Jamie2k9]

There is plenty of aircraft sitting around Europe doing nothing. I think it will be the 4 from the MRS base which just closed that will be operating for EI.

[OltonPete]

no slot

BHX has three spare ryanair every day, saw them myself today parked
on the 70/80's stands. Even the other three based don't operate full-time.

EMA I believe also has spares.

No complaints it makes BHX look busier - from afar! ;)

Pete

[west lakes]

I'm given to understand that for every two bases there is a spare aircraft at one of them all year round.

[derelicte]

Does everybody think that Mr O'Leary now wishes he hadn't bought quite so many aeroplanes?

[Jamie2k9]

I'm given to understand that for every two bases there is a spare aircraft at one of them all year round.


All aircraft operate during the summer months but some more than others.

[daz211]

No most Major Airlines have Aircraft not working in the Winter months :ugh:.

[Amelia Earhart]

Does everybody think that Mr O'Leary now wishes he hadn't bought quite so many aeroplanes?

There's room to base them at Derry Airport :)

When are the summer schedules finished being loaded?

[DannyKelly22]

Derry just cannot sustain the services, would be brilliant for all if it could but if RYR can't pull it off with a based plane then who is. If its to be RE with an ATR42 then prices will have to be high enough to make it commercially worth while, and while yes they may get an incentive in fees from the Airport we'll all be back to square 1 when these are re-introduced as seen at BHD with RYR, and if the prices r too high then because we are a price concious group of people we will just travel the extra to BFS or BHD to get the flight. N.Ireland cannot sustain 3 airports, it's as simple as that. A couple of ad hoc charters to sun destinations in the summer and 1 daily london freq will be all that Derry will ever be able to sustain long term.

[True Blue]

Danny, you had better prepare for incoming!

TB

[cuthere]

Danny and TB (ironic initials there), this would've been better on the Derry thread if we're talking about the sustainability of the airport.

[WallyWumpus]

Aer Lingus hires Ryanair aircraft to fly full schedule - The Irish Times - Fri, Jan 21, 2011 (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0121/1224288008871.html)

RYR aircraft filling in some strike-related gaps for Aer Lingus today, just as they did for BA last year.

[Sober Lark]

"No most Major Airlines have Aircraft not working in the Winter months "

So ideally for max fleet utilisation you should operate in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres!

"RYR aircraft filling in some strike-related gaps for Aer Lingus today, just as they did for BA last year."

What will that do to their passenger numbers, flow and movement statistics?

[Based]

What will that do to their passenger numbers, flow and movement statistics?

Nothing, they're still Aer Lingus flights and passengers.

[eu01]

I definitely support Ryanair arguments concerning the Spanish court ruling. When the passenger has agreed to print the boarding pass himself, the airline should be able to charge a fee for him to be able to get the pass re-issued if lost. I do not support paying for self-printed passes, but that's a separate issue.

By the way, wouldn't it be possible to introduce a totally paperless system? A special check-in code given verbally while presenting the id? Or better a small size chip card containing everything necessary on it, issued once and re-usable for each subsequent travel?

[FA10]

sounds like a big hardware issue on most of the remote FR-destinations, especially ar Ryanair does not pay the airports for extra equipment!

[davidjohnson6]

What happened in ye olde days when tickets were printed on paper with carbons ? I seem to recall that if a passenger lost their ticket and turned up at the airport, the airline had the right (even if not always exercised) to charge the passenger for a completely new ticket.

If however a passenger loses their boarding card between issue at check-in, and collection at the gate, what are the formal rights of an airline under that scenario ?

[GnRdL]

4 new routes from/to Manchester (MAN): Alicante, Faro, Madrid and Tenerife South. 2 additional frequencies to Dublin.

1 new route from/to Humberside (HUY): Alicante (2x/weekly from 12 April).

On sale from tomorrow 27 January.

Link: http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2011/01/26/35885/ryanair-launches-four-new-routes-from-manchester.html (http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2011/01/26/35885/ryanair-launches-four-new-routes-from-manchester.html)

[Bagmanlgw]

Any ideas when the Gatwick schedule for the summer will be confirmed ?

Some winter routes still not on sale , yet slots applied for summer 2011 ?

New routes or any expansion planned for Gatwick ? TFS , LPA , ACE, FUE would be nice ?


Bagmanlgw

[FA10]

Manchester reborn!
Never say never again... :)

[Alsacienne]

Until the next time the landing fees go up .................

(or something else that makes MOL throw his toys out the pram)

[NorthernCounties]

You can never trust a man as irradic as MOL. Don't get me wrong, he is a business genius... you just can trust him!

He could start a cheeky route to LDY though!

[MUFC_fan]

MOL wouldn't have gone back to Manchester if he didn't have to.

And the only reason we have as to why he had to go back was because he did exactly that...

[Jamie2k9]

Ryanair Announces 4 New Manchester Routes to Alicante, Faro,? (http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/ryanair-announces-4-new-manchester-routes-to-alicante-faro-madrid-and-tenerife)

[BELHold]

"He could start a cheeky route to LDY though!"

And or BFS:ok:

[Wozik]

What's up with their summer schedules? They didn't update them yet.
E.g. for KUN base they announced a new plane and didn't announce any new directions or even frequencies. That's somewhat strange, isn't it?

[mickyman]

We all know the Ryanair way so lets not drag out the same
old arguments - wait and see what happens.

Good luck to Ryanair and MA however long the relationship
lasts.

MM

[NorthernCounties]

BELhold, don't worry... I don't think Belfast has seen the last of MOL and his gang yet. Whether he returns to BHD or BFS, I wouldn't hazard to guess. BFS though seems more in line with Ryanairs operations. An airport further out from the City served and in need of some passengers. I'd happily give up Ryanair expansion at LDY to BFS, as long as we got Flybe! :}

[BFS101]

I don't think Belfast has seen the last of MOL and his gang yet.Oh please God no!!!!!!

Belfast (and Northern Ireland) is a fairly limited market. We have wide domestic competition with Easyjet and FlyBE, with also British Midland International, bmibaby, Jet2 and Aer Lingus on a smaller amount of domestic routes.

Coupled with many of the aforementioned carriers serving a wide number of European destinations, many in competition with fellow loco's or the charters. Some from NI will still also consider Dublin as an option increasing competition further! Many European routes have been tried and failed, showing perhaps the lack of imagination on the whole from the Northern Irish travelling public.

Yes, the UK is a capitalist economy, but don't ruin (in my opinion) the equilibrium NI currently has by simply replacing existing carriers with the lower service operation that FR offer. FR have also stated that in the future they may reduce their emphasis on soley being the cheapest option, so really what's the gain??? Extortionate baggage charges and having to print your own boarding pass!!! Oh please God no!!! (Ready for my retaliation).

[Seljuk22]

Anyone in the know about CGN become a new base with 2 based a/c?

[jpthomas72]

The 'two airplanes from April' rumour is from here:
Ryanair eröffnet Basis in Köln - airliners.de - Forum (http://forum.airliners.de/index.php?showtopic=48593)
The German forum people are highly sceptical about this. Esp with the new German flight-tax, and NRN already a very big hub serving basically the same area, plus HHN. LH would be very unhappy with CGN as they run the massive 4U hub there, which is effectively CGN's lifeline.
Nothing at all in the German media apart from some 'talks happening' between CGN and FR in October last year.
WW hastily got rid of EMA-CGN, but that's just WW's usual mess I guess, nothing deeper.

[FA10]

New Greek destination:

Thessaloniki (SKG)
3/week from Charleroy
3/week from Stansted
2/week from Skavsta
Rygge (no frequency published yet)

Thessaloniki would be the ideal place for the first FR base in Greece!

[eu01]

What is the most reliable way to anticipate new routes before they are announced? My hint: try to perform a multi-language scan of local governments' and city councils' budget decisions in different parts of Europe, it will tell you all. Thessaloniki is already announced, let's move ahead. So, what's next?

The next new FR destination will most likely be Rijeka in Croatia, the announcement is imminent. How do I know? Well, the essential decision concerning the marketing support has just been made. To make the agreement viable, the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) will provide € 125.000, both Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the City of Rijeka will give 50.000 euros, and the tourist boards of the City and County mentioned €11.500 thousand each. As a result, two new routes will be started. One from Stansted, twice a week, the second one from Skavsta, with similar frequencies. Both will be seasonal, from April to October. Can you see any reason not to implement the agreement?

Let's go elsewhere and switch to Spanish. Santiago de Compostela has just allocated 350,000 euros to guarantee three weekly flights to Brussels CRL. The sum will be paid annually to ensure three weekly flights until 2015, the flights are due to start in May this year. Any doubts if the plan will materialize?

On the other hand, there are some routes already planned and included in the schedule draft since the beginning of December still waiting to be released. Like this from Trapani to Tampere, no-nonsense route perhaps, waiting, waiting... for the marketing agreement supposedly?

The business life is very simple indeed, more simple than you might have expected.

[Jamie2k9]

You might like to read:

No one safe with O'Leary on full throttle at 'clinic' - The Irish Times - Sat, Jan 29, 2011 (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0129/1224288527387.html)

[eu01]

From the article mentioned above:There were the hapless travel agents who invited [O'Leary] to their Holiday World at the RDS. “Don’t waste your time with tour operators and travel agents. Book your flights with us and your accommodation independently and you will save money,” he started.I'm not a travel agent, but due to my experience in the field people ask me sometimes to find them a good travel alternative, non-standard flight connections and other solutions, like air + train/coach travel. Quite often at least one of the carriers selected used to be Ryanair, with a wise strategy you CAN help people save their money with them. Recently I became more cautious, however, especially after a couple of unexpected schedule changes happened when I had to do my best to find an alternative solution in order to avoid my "silent guilt" in the eyes of travellers for spoiling their holiday.

Last week a group of thirty youngsters wanted to save on the group ticket. My solution, a flight with Ryanair to an alternative destination and a surface transfer would have saved them half of the sum the travel agency required. But then again... who will be responsible if anything goes wrong? Me? With somewhat unfriendly data processing, time-consuming check-in system (try to enter more than 8 pax at a time), and all that inflexibility making the adjustment- and error-prone group booking very risky and ungrateful. No, thanx. I was about to pay FR over 3,000 euros on behalf of that group... No, the group booking "system" shortcomings discouraged me from doing so. If I had more options, I could have made this purchase, but I just decided to direct all these potential pax to a real travel agent.

You might say I'm bashing FR again, I'm certainly not. Quite hopelessly I just try to demonstrate how so cost-conscious and mercenary carrier is leaking money, by not earning them.

[befree]

Ryanair have just reported results for the last 3 months (up to dec 10). They reduced the loss for the qrt to 10m euros down from 11m last year. The big change are fuel cost for the qty now 283.7m euros from 206.6m last year. We know 90% of the fuel for that qtr next year will be 11% higher, the 4th qrt next year they face a 22% rise in fuel costs.

[EY18]

I have an advance booking for June, and just realised by checking the website that my flight is now scheduled for 3 hours later...

Do Ryanair normally contact pax to notify them of schedule changes? I haven't heard anything and so I'll keep checking up until the day before I fly...

[Coquelet]

Yes, Ryanair does send a message to notify a change of schedule. Even if it's only five minutes.

[TWADDELL]

Sorry to disagree, but in my experience they email if it's earlier but they don't if it's later. Unless they've change recently?

[Jamie2k9]

have an advance booking for June, and just realised by checking the website that my flight is now scheduled for 3 hours later...

Do Ryanair normally contact pax to notify them of schedule changes? I haven't heard anything and so I'll keep checking up until the day before I fly...

You should get an email in the next few weeks.

[eu01]

Something I knew very well about, but didn't dare to ponder it even on this forum. The issue, however, just went public. The German newspaper writes: "Online bookings with Ryanair can be easily manipulated by others. Even people with no special computer skills could manipulate your booking data and even generate the additional costs for you. In order to view or change his flight details, the customer must select one of three "security options". The third one is way too easy to circumvent."

The Tagesspiegel (in German) (http://www.tagesspiegel.de/wirtschaft/sicherheitsluecke-bei-ryanair/3788552.html) raises a question: "What if your enemy wants to hurt you?". It's not so difficult to answer/ guess the Option Three security questions. You know the day and destination of your ex-partner's travel and his/her e-mail address? You can do with his/her booking whatever you want.

Well, true. Ryanair must have decided to allow this workaround due to very common booking system errors "Your session has been locked" etc., when the only remaining possibility for pax to verify if the booking has gone through was by using the Option 3. But now I guess this will have to be disabled. Ouch!

[Jippie]

I have (and had) the same thoughts eu01, it's easy but it's not safe. The only way to circumvent this is not tell anybody where or when you are flying with Ryanair, or create a special (secret!) address for Ryanair e-mail.
Both measures look a bit far fetched though:8

[FR-]

“Ryanair is pleased to announce this expanded Marseille summer season operation which will deliver 24 routes (including 11 new routes) and 500,000 passengers to the Provence region this summer.

This summer operation will involve the temporary overnighting of up to two Irish registered aircraft, with Irish crews, on Irish contracts, paying their tax and social insurance in Ireland for a four month period. Ryanair remains committed to Marseille Airport and we look forward to continuing to work with Marseille Airport and the Chamber of Commerce to deliver new routes and new visitors to MP2 from mid-April to early September 2011.”

OMG now the crews have a reason for a crew bag, night stops :E

[pee]

@ MRS overnight
Wouldn't it be the first regular overnight of Ryanair crews?

@ "Manage my booking" safety question
A little adjustment would help improving the security...

Option 1: Reservation Number + Credit/Debit/ELV Number (no changes)
Option 2: Reservation Number + Email Address + Flying from/to (no changes)
Option 3: Flying out on... + Credit/Debit/ELV Number (you keep it secret, don't you) + Flying from/to...

[pee]

O'Leary at the press conference in Oslo today.

- Our base at Rygge is a success. We will continue to invest in Rygge. The two new routes will substantiate this"

These new routes are to Kos and Thessaloniki.

[FR-]

And where does that leave Torp long term?

fr-

[Bournemouth Air]

Welcome back to Bournemouth

[Charlie Roy]

@ MRS overnight
Wouldn't it be the first regular overnight of Ryanair crews?

In recent history yes. A big exception for Ryanair, whose recruitment advertisements always emphasize beginning and ending your day in the same base.

But I'm guessing that has happened before in the very early days...

[Jippie]

Just wondering here. Will they "overnight" the same crew for 4 months straight and see what the French do? Crew will have to pay their own overnight.
Voila, same situation as before, but now it has a different name.

[bread&water]

Can anyone give a brief explanation of which UK airports have lost Ryanair capacity in 2011 schedules vs 2010 ? Thanks in advance

[CelticRambler]

French press is reporting MO'L saying that the crews will be deliberately different from week to week to defy (or provoke) the French authorities.

[FR-]

French press should get the facts first then, for those of us on here in the know . . . .

fr-

[CelticRambler]

Fair enough. Maybe a "lost in translation" incident.

Then again - did anyone tell Michael O'Leary?

"De la mi-avril à début septembre, de lundi à vendredi, deux avions passeront la nuit à Marseille, et un probablement durant le week-end, dans le cadre d'une opération estivale en totale conformité avec le décret français" sur l'emploi des personnels navigants, a expliqué le patron de Ryanair, Michael O'Leary. Cette solution permet de contourner ce décret "dans la mesure où les avions ne sont pas basés ici de façon permanente" et "parce que l'équipage et les pilotes ne seront jamais les mêmes de semaine en semaine", a-t-il précisé.

[barrymah]

>>French press should get the facts first then, for those of us on here in the know . . . .

Oh, do tell, what do we and the French not know??

and what is wrong with this??

>>""De la mi-avril à début septembre, de lundi à vendredi, deux avions passeront la nuit à Marseille, et un probablement durant le week-end, dans le cadre d'une opération estivale en totale conformité avec le décret français" sur l'emploi des personnels navigants, a expliqué le patron de Ryanair, Michael O'Leary. Cette solution permet de contourner ce décret "dans la mesure où les avions ne sont pas basés ici de façon permanente" et "parce que l'équipage et les pilotes ne seront jamais les mêmes de semaine en semaine", a-t-il précisé."

which would seem to mean what it says....a means of implementing the French law as it applies to personnel employed in transport (i.e. the interpretation in French law of the EU Directive).

BTW, I consider the whole thing to be a disgrace - a(nother) race to bottom activity by MO'L.

[eu01]

Are the booking system security issues going to be addressed sooner than we might have expected?
From Maxima IT business systems and managed services company press release (http://www.maxima.co.uk/about-us/news-and-events/item/ryanair-selects-maxima-for-major-citrix-netscaler-web-acceleration-project?category_id=178):Ryanair selects Maxima for major Citrix NetScaler Web Acceleration project

2nd February, 2011: Maxima, the leading IT business systems and managed services company, has secured a major contract from Ryanair to support the airline’s business-critical web booking application by implementing Citrix’s latest web acceleration technology. Maxima is Ireland’s leading Citrix Solution Adviser, and will implement seven NetScaler MPX 9500 hardware appliances to enhance server load balancing, improve web traffic management, increase security levels and substantially lower Ryanair’s online operating costs.

Maxima will support the NetScaler implementation with a three-year Gold-level support agreement. In a separate contract, Maxima will also provide ongoing day-to-day support for Ryanair’s broader Citrix-enabled virtualised infrastructure.

“Online booking is obviously a critical service for Ryanair – particularly as our traffic volumes continue to grow - so it’s essential that our Web infrastructure performs to the highest level. Having assessed the market it was clear that Maxima not only had the in-depth expertise in Citrix’s core web acceleration technologies, but also had the proven implementation skills and competitive prices we required,” commented Ryanair’s IT Director, Eric Neville. “Maxima also convinced us that the NetScaler Platinum Edition was the right choice for Ryanair.

“We’re delighted that Ryanair – one of the world’s leading airlines – has acknowledged our comprehensive Citrix and virtualisation skills, and selected Maxima to implement this major web acceleration project,” added Aidan McEvoy, Maxima Ireland’s Managing Director. “Citrix NetScaler technology allows Ryanair to optimise its server and bandwidth usage, and we’ll be working closely with the airline’s IT team to ensure that its Citrix web application delivery, load balancing and virtualisation technology perform to the highest levels.”

Citrix’s NetScaler MPX 9500 Platinum application delivery solutions combine load balancing, content switching and IPv6 support to provide intelligent traffic management and server availability for Ryanair. Data compression is incorporated to speed server response times, while the Platinum specification incorporates a web application firewall that secures Ryanair’s applications from the hacker attacks that network firewalls and intrusion prevention systems fail to block. Applications are further accelerated through an AppCache module for static and dynamic caching, while Citrix’s EdgeSight for NetScaler technology enables the proactive management of application performance.

The provision of virtualisation services is one of Maxima’s key strategic growth initiatives (...)
PS. The introduction of New Skies booking system wasn't fortunate at the time, hopefully we'll see something better now.

[eu01]

In addition, an update concerning the "already agreed" route to Santiago de Compostela from Brussels. Three weekly flights for 350,000€/ year (as a marketing support) were due to start in April, but the BNG coalition (Bloque Nacionalista Galego) has blocked this agreement today. BNG had "no problem with Brussels" as the destination "but not at that price". With an average of 150 passengers per flight and 162 flights per year, the sum would amount to "14.4 euros" per person. So the final answer is no.

Elsewhere... Ryanair strengthens its presence in Lithuania. Tomorrow the press conference in Vilnius(!), but no, we should not expect any news about a possible agreement with the main airport in Lithuanian's capital, as the new route will lead from Kaunas to Kos. Oops, it's a secret. Let's wait till tomorrow then.

[Jamie2k9]

There may be a new route but the 3 based aircraft will not happon this summer.

[RaSa]

Good news about KUN. Can somebody explain why booking Ryanair flight DUB-RIX-DUB Dublin airport charges are 38EUR and booking RIX-DUB-RIX 55LVL(78EUR)? Different charges exist for more than a year.

[Jamie2k9]

Ryanair announce 17 Greek routes

Ryanair Opens 17 New Greek Routes to Kos, Rhodes Thessaloniki (http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/ryanair-opens-17-new-greek-routes-to-kos-rhodes-and-thessaloniki)

[bread&water]

In their 3Q announcement Ryanair included a slide showing 337 lost departures from the UK each week in Feb 2011 vs 2010 - I was just trying to get a headline of where capacity has been lost and / or gained - which bases / airports are seeing more flights (?) and which are seeing fewer ?

[Jamie2k9]

Bournemouth, Birmingham, Luton, Stansted, Glasgow lost flights.

[anna_list]

Hi bread&water,

I don't have any data for February yet, but this was the picture comparing the number of FR flights per base in Jan 2011 to the number in Jan 2010:

LBA +124% (base started in March 2010)
LGW +75%
EDI +12%

DUB -3%
LTN -4%
STN -14%
LPL -21%
BHX -21%
BRS -36%
EMA -38%
PIK -43%
SNN -70%
BOH -100% (base suspended this winter)
BHD -100% (base closed)

The picture will change in February and March with the re-starting of a large number of seasonal routes, plus a handful of new routes.

[pee]

From Stockholm Skavsta Airport website:
Published: 03 February 2011

Today Ryanair announced two new routes from Stockholm Skavsta, Rijeka in Croatia and Rhodes in Greece.

The new destinations start in mid-April and are both operated twice per week, Rijeka on Mondays and Fridays, Rhodes on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Rijeka is situated in the north-west of Croatia and is the third largest city in the country. It is a main seaport of Croatia and the coastline hosts many tourist- and spa resorts, e.g. Opatija.

The Rhodes island... (okay, that we surely know).

I'm a bit disappointed by not seeing even a single route to Greece from Finland. It's encouraging to spot the flights there even from Kaunas, but... while I don't have any doubts that Lithuanians will be able to fill the planes, I think Finns would be able to pay for FR flight tickets to Kos or Rhodes substantially more (just comparing the purchasing power, GDP per capita and alike).

With no offence towards Lithuanians, of course.

[Jamie2k9]

FR will also fly between STN - Rijeka

[dwlpl]

Liverpool to Rhodes and Kos.

[Jamie2k9]

Ryanair?s January Traffic Grows 5% (http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/ryanair-s-january-traffic-grows-5-percent)

[TCU LUX]

Ciao Tutti,

Does anybody have any information about a flight from Cagliari to Dublin. I heard RYR have already received a slot but it is not possible to book a flight :confused:

Thanks for any news.

[Jamie2k9]

Not sure but I can't see it happoning as they already fly AHO - DUB twice weekly year roiund so would they fly both routes or drop AHO and start CAG. There wouldn't be a market to keep both routes going.

[jpthomas72]

About RIX having much lower charges than DUB, ask any Lithuanian about how RIX and AirBaltic killed-off their national carrier. FR pays very little at RIX too.
Let's see how KUN-Greece goes, KUN had some reductions (notably BER - which was picked up at VNO by EstonianAir), and just like e.g. HHN, they heavily subsidies all new FR routes. No surprise though MOL finally shows his face in Vilnius, as this is were the holiday flights leave currently (charters like Small Planet), also to tempt the capital city folks to that little airport near the Second City. And his big rival Wizz will soon have the stronghold at VNO, not good news for MOL, really.
Finland, sure, they have much more money than the folks in LT, but you surely also have a saturated market of flights to the sun with charter airlines. Otherwise TUI would send some more planes. And Finns are probably more demanding w.r.t. decent service from an airline, and would they go to TMP in masses instead of going to HEL ("No pun intended !" :O.) Interesting economic indicator, that.

[Jamie2k9]

Ryanair have had there operational hours restricted in Lanzarote when the base opens. The airport is open between 07:00 - 00:00 daily and Ryanair wanted to operate between 06:00 - 02:00 daily. Now all Ryanair flights will depart/arrive between the airport operational hours except one flight which arrives from Venice at 02:00 on Thursdays. Ryanair have asked if this flight can land as they have changed all other flights which had been due to arrive around 01:30 every day.

Can somebody explain why booking Ryanair flight DUB-RIX-DUB Dublin airport charges are 38EUR and booking RIX-DUB-RIX 55LVL(78EUR)?

Ryanair tax for Dublin flights:

€38.48 tax is chraged until 28 Feb.
€31.48 tax will be charged from 1 March as the €7 reduction in the Irish Travel Tax comes into affect.
€33.89 tax will be charged from 1 April as Dublin Airport charges rise.

[RaSa]

I understand airport charges, taxes, etc. But in this case Ryanair is simply cheating. Check for example return flight 7Feb-8Feb RIX-DUB-RIX. Price for DUB-RIX will be 101LVL (144EUR) . Flight 8Feb-9Feb DUB-RIX-DUB . Price for the same flight DUB-RIX 104EUR. Ooops, small mistake, division and multiplication mixed... 40 euros from one pax... Half a million every year..

[No RYR for me]

I am very interested to find out what Ryanair uses as their source for the impact they have on local employment and tourism etc. Ryanair’s Greek traffic will grow to over 700,000 passengers in 2011 sustaining up to 700 jobs and delivering over €350m in tourism revenues for the benefit of the local economy.I guess that a listed company that is screwing every local government needs to support these figures with a source. Is that the case or is it just an imagination of a PR department? :confused:

[FR-]

why dont you try investor relations.

Stephen McNamara - Ryanair Joe Carmody - Edelman

Tel: 00 353 1 812 1212 Tel: 00 353 1 678 9333

[Cyrano]

This was discussed a couple of years ago here. Here's (http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airports-routes/274500-ryanair-6-a-214.html#post4883654) what I wrote at the time.

Ryanair uses a very simple formula. 1000 passengers per year = 1 job. In the example you give they also imply that each passenger is worth €500 in tourism spend.

It's not difficult :rolleyes: to pick holes in this methodology, but that's how they do it. In the same way, whenever they open a new base they describe it as an "investment" based on the list price of the number of aircraft they plan to base there, even though they haven't paid anything near the list price of the aircraft. But ultimately, it's like the guy in the film Casablanca saying "I'm shocked to find gambling going on in this casino." Ryanair twists statistics to suit its own ends. That's just what it does. Expecting otherwise is naive.

[No RYR for me]

Excellent Cyrano, just what I needed :ok:

Thanks for the link FR but I think my question would have to be rephrased when I call them LOL I guess that a listed company that is screwing every local government needs to support these figures with a source.

[befree]

The latest traffic data has been released by the airlines for January. The difference between the growth is growing. Ryanair added 5% while Easyjet added 19%.

We seem to be having a big changeover with most of the growth going to easyjet.

[FR-]

So your willing to listen to someone off nothing more than a gossip site than the company itself? You must be a reporter for the daily mail :ugh:

[bread&water]

Thanks Anna - excellent

[FR-]

Noticed you did tell everyone that easyJets load factor was down -0.4%

[Cyrano]

Noticed you did tell everyone that easyJets load factor was down -0.4%

Down -0.4%? My God, it must be the end for them with a drop that huge. Do you think they can last the winter, FR-? :hmm:

(Incidentally, I don't think that January traffic is the most trustworthy metric. Ryanair has parked up something like 40 aircraft this winter, which IIRC is more than last year, so a very modest traffic growth in January wouldn't really surprise me. I'd suggest that average growth over the last 6 months or last 12 months might be a more meaningful metric. I don't see enough evidence to support the "big changeover" hypothesis.)

[No RYR for me]

Haha nope I try to understand the otherside of the spin that marketing put´s on it. That is the main reason why you should never ask the spindoctor but always the people on the other side of the fence :p

[anna_list]

Hi,
As Cyrano has suggested, making comparisons between the two airlines is not a straightforward thing to do. You could pick any of the following measures on their own and try to tell a story with the numbers... but if you're going to do that you need to be very careful.

Consider for example:
Jan 2011 vs Jan 2010 % pax growth: U2 +19.1%, FR +5%
Jan 2011 vs Jan 2010 growth in absolute passenger numbers: U2 +600,000 FR +220,000
Jan 2011 LF: U2 78.9%, FR 71%

Rolling year to Jan 2011 Pax: U2 50.32 million, FR 72.9 million (rightly or wrongly including volcano cancellations)
Rolling year to Jan 2011 % pax growth: U2: +8.5%, FR +11%
Rolling year to Jan 2011 growth in absolute pax numbers: U2 +3.9 million, FR +7.3 million
Rolling year to Jan 2011 LF: U2 87.1%, FR 82%

And one more important statistic:
Predicted loss for W10/11 (Oct 2010 to March 2011): U2: Approx £140-160 million, FR: Approx EUR 50 to EUR 70 million.

Unless they place another aircraft order, FR's growth will slow to zero in the next couple of years. U2 still have plans to grow, even though Stelios doesn't like this plan. As for a big changeover, U2 still have a lot of catching up to do in terms of passenger numbers and profits, although as I recall they still lead in terms of profit per passenger. Is it a race? And if so, which race do you want to win?

[MUFC_fan]

Rolling year to Jan 2011 LF: U2 87.1%, FR 82%


Wow re easyJet! :ooh:

[GCILover]

I don't know if this is the right thread to put this on but I have flown easy and ryanair frequently between the UK and spain and if i am flexible with my dates I have found better bargains with easy. Even if they were more expensive on occasions I book easy as the whole experience and service is far more superior than that of ryanair...in my opinion it is anyway

[daz211]

I have always found if you play the Ryanair game you always get the best price
all my flights are booked with pre payed master card I only take 10kg of hand baggage and always get free tax flights ... some of my best deals have been -

STN-LPA-STN for £20 RTN
STN-FUE-STN for £12 RTN
STN-PMI-STN for £6 RTN
STN-CIA-STN for £6 RTN

I could go on and list many more flighs but I wont I must add that the above prices are without paying to print my boarding pass so add that on ...

I have always looked at Easyjet as well as Ryanair but always find Easyjet to be alot more than Ryanair even with both having sales on.

[racedo]

The latest traffic data has been released by the airlines for January. The difference between the growth is growing. Ryanair added 5% while Easyjet added 19%.

We seem to be having a big changeover with most of the growth going to easyjet.

Course it has nothing to do with the fact that in January 2010 Easyjet's biggest base namely one Gatwick Airport was shut for a number of days because of SNOW.

[RAT 5]

daz211. Good for you; well done. Now tell those of us on the continent where we can obtain a pre-paid CC or an electron card. I tried to buy a RYR CC and you have to be UK resident. Electron cards are like hen's teeth and tits on a frog. MOL, on TV, lauded those because they are available in IRE; not over here there not. I heard a German judge rule that the CC charge was illegal unless there was a free alternative. MOL said there was an electron free option, so he'd keep the CC charge. However, electron is NOT availabale in Germany or most continental countries. 70m pax at 6euros a pop = 420m euros into RYR's back pocket, minus a minute charge from said CC companies. More than the annual profit. One MD of a CC company said it was only a few censt to 'process' a purchase. RYR, and any other company, have their own printing press. Increase the charge by 1euro (mandatory for internet purchases) and wow. I doubt it will have any effect on sales. I see even EZ have doubled their CC charge and cancelled the free debit card charge. A debit card IS free; there is no charge, butg what a subtle boost to profits. In previous years RYR, whose debit card charge was 1/2 the CC charge, did not recognise my debit card and I had to call it a CC at twice the cost. EZ recognised it correctly. RYR gave no reply to my query. I know the argument is the bottom price, but the rage is caused by the feeling of being cheated. Why can't they be honest and just say the cost of travel is XYZ and admin, CC, checkin etc etc is all included? Only baggage is extra? With RYR I'm still trying to find out what the compulsary insurance is for. It's not travel/medical? And the wheel-chair levy... don't get me started.

[racedo]

RAT5

Ryanair no longer allow Electron as a free of fees option and haven't done so for a year
MasterCard Prepaid now FREE payment method (http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/mastercard-prepaid-now-free-payment-method)

As for stating Electron not available in Germany that clearly is not the case.

[daz211]

So why can you not get a pre payed Mastercard, where do you live, I guess Germany as you state that a German judge ruled agenst the cc charge .. but a quick search on the web shows a pre payed Master card is available in germany.

[wesleyscott]

i live in spain and use Moneybookers prepaid mastercard....its based in the uk but as long as your a european resident you can apply, also have one with Netteller..
I have an electron card issued by Lloyds International and a german bank called Deutsche Bank.
All of them work with no problems and in fact saves me a fortune in fees!

[Jamie2k9]

Two new routes from LCA to Weeze and Bologna. Both operate twice weekly from April.

[FR-]

Also new, GRO-SFT which will be ryanairs most northern airport.

[RAT 5]

Many thanks for all the Credit card/Electron info. I have been wrongly informed and will research more. A fine weekend to all.

[daz211]

No worries if you are in Germany try -
VoiceCash issues Germany's first Prepaid MasterCard® twin-card

[pwalhx]

End of the day I am not going to get an Electron card just because I have to have one to save a few quid on Ryanair, I simply factor in the additional cost when comparing prices. Seems to me such a big issue is being made out of this unescessarily.

[OltonPete]

Okay there was a reason.

100 Passengers Offloaded from Lanzarote - Charleroi flight? (http://www.ryanair.com/en/notices/gops/110205-ACE_Offloads_-GB)

Must be up there for one of largest off-loads ever?

Any insider knowledge on this one? Nationality not stated.



Pete

[daz211]

GOOD ! Because getting an Electron cardng wont help you one little bit when booking a Ryanair flight :ugh:.

ONCE AGAIN you need a pre payed master card ! and if you travel alot it is well worth getting one, mine has save me and mine well over £200.

[pwalhx]

Forgive me for mentioning the wrong card daz, does not detract from my point. I admire your devotion to Ryaiar it counters the many negatives from others.

I do travel a lot on average 50-60 flights a year (including some on Ryaiair and maybe more now they are returning to Manchester)

So I repeat I see no point in getting a prepaid Mastercard just for flights with Ryanair, I simply factor in the CC costs, which you get on all airlines into the decision on who to book with.

[Jamie2k9]

They pulled out and now they are back. They got a better deal so they are back but for how long??

OltonPete

In regard to the ACE - Brussels-Charleroi flight this morning. A group of 100 passengers were offloaded because of safety reasons. As the Ryanair statement said only a few had to pay for extra baggage and the passengers who had to pay and some others from the group were very disruptive to the crew on board as a result. The aircraft had just started to be pushed back when the decision by police and crew was taken to bring all passengers back to the gate as baggage needed to be taken off. While at gate tempers got the better of a number of passengers in the group and the decision was taken by police and crew to off load all 100 of the group.

[Facelookbovvered]

I read somewhere of talk of Russian or Chinese made aircraft being looked at? a very brave move if true, I suspect a Western order for 300+ plus units would be a game changer for either country and something both Boeing and Airbus will try to stop through pricing.

I doubt that the pax will give a stuff most of their clothes will come from the far East and MOL would have a field day at the cost of lazy over paid Boeing or Airbus workers his view not mine!!

[Ian Brooks]

Jamie2k9

I think you find that Ryanair didn`t get a better deal, it`s just the bog standard rate for
the time of day they are flying which is out of peak. I think it`s more they need Manchester for the volume


Ian B

[wanna_be_there]

regarding the Ryanair deal at MAN, there is an article on routesonline that states (from M'OL himself):

-The present MAN deal at its present stage is actually worse than when he left 15 months ago

-The deal may be worse at the moment, but works better with higher volumes, so, the more routes/frequencies added, the better the deal RYR has

-The next stage is for based aircraft at MAN

-The next non based routes he is looking at is more western Med, particulary spain, so may see BCN added, along with more MAD.

-He isnt there to trash the market, but add volume where routes are already served.

Cant remember the address for the site, but if you search for routes online ryanair Im sure it will come up

[sanjaime]

Link to press article :

Ryanair may spend billions on cheap Chinese jets - Irish, Business - Independent.ie (http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ryanair-may-spend-billions-on-cheap-chinese-jets-2527367.html)

[FA10]

I read somewhere of talk of Russian or Chinese made aircraft being looked at? a very brave move if true, I suspect a Western order for 300+ plus units would be a game changer for either country and something both Boeing and Airbus will try to stop through pricing.



recently Michael Cawley mentioned the interest for a 200 seat aircraft (to fully utilise 4 cabin crew).
A couple of days later the new Tupolew 204 (in a modernised version with a couple of tons less) had its first flight - however with no customer for the "new" type the future for Tupolew does not look good.
The introduction of a Russian type as a second fleet into RYR would mean a huge effort - however it could open a new market:
After 9/11 RYR made a bargain in buying discounted 737s when airlines stopped buying - and offered Boeing a lifeline.
Now a deal with Tupolew could safe Tu and give FR the option to enter the Russian market - huge potential for growth included!

[Aero Mad]

Why couldn't they go into Russia with Boeings?? Would be much easier...

[Cyrano]

recently Michael Cawley mentioned the interest for a 200 seat aircraft (to fully utilise 4 cabin crew).
A couple of days later the new Tupolew 204 (in a modernised version with a couple of tons less) had its first flight - however with no customer for the "new" type the future for Tupolew does not look good.
The introduction of a Russian type as a second fleet into RYR would mean a huge effort - however it could open a new market:
After 9/11 RYR made a bargain in buying discounted 737s when airlines stopped buying - and offered Boeing a lifeline.
Now a deal with Tupolew could safe Tu and give FR the option to enter the Russian market - huge potential for growth included!

The Tu204 doesn't give them any operating cost advantage over their 737-800s - far from it. The future for Tupolev does not look good irrespective of Ryanair's comments.

The Russian aircraft theoretically of interest is the now-under-development Irkut MS21.

I say "theoretically" because those of a cynical persuasion might suspect that a main motivation for Ryanair to talk to Irkut (or Comac in China) is to provide bargaining leverage to encourage Boeing to reduce their prices for a new order. Since Airbus unsportingly ;) declined to compete for a new Ryanair order (on the basis of how they were treated in the past), Boeing has no obvious competitor for a further Ryanair aircraft order and thus doesn't have any credible motivation to discount their prices.

[davidjohnson6]

If FR were to order a large (100+) number of Russian aircraft, would it be credible for Ryanair to receive political favours ? As an example, if FR orders a very large number of aircraft, the Russian Govt grants FR the right to set up a Russian subsidiary (Ryanair owning at leas 51% of the shares) with Russian crew, and with a Russian AOC, similiar to Easyjet in Switzerland, allowing FR domestic Russian traffic rights ?

[Cyrano]

If FR were to order a large (100+) number of Russian aircraft, would it be credible for Ryanair to receive political favours ? As an example, if FR orders a very large number of aircraft, the Russian Govt grants FR the right to set up a Russian subsidiary (Ryanair owning at leas 51% of the shares) with Russian crew, and with a Russian AOC, similiar to Easyjet in Switzerland, allowing FR domestic Russian traffic rights ?

Yes, that seems a plausible scenario, though whether the state would give up a majority stake is questionable. A stroke like that would give FR a direction for expansion, a home for the older 737s, and ultimately a place to try out the new aircraft before unleashing them on the wider network. If that's how things end up turning out, you need to claim paternity of the idea!

[apaul]

Ryanair's present fleet is too big for the airline to go anywhere else than Boeing for new planes. I doubt Boeing will be persuaded by the airline's bluster about Russian/Chinese planes to offer Ryanair a knock-down price for new Boeing 737-800s.

[pee]

A stroke like that would give FR a direction for expansion
Way to go, probably.

However, any negotiations in Russia could be a big hurdle for them. Not necessarily concerning the aircraft, but all these individual agreements with airports, as well as taxes & fees issues.
I guess the negotiation skills should be very different there, including the ability to digest (litres of) vodka, the expertise of local customs, corruption/bribery etc.

As far as I know, at least Wizz Air are having such kind of problems in neighbouring Ukraine.

[MUFC_fan]

Ryanair's present fleet is too big for the airline to go anywhere else than Boeing for new planes.


I don't think so...in fact having such a large fleet of one type can be a hindrance, especially on the negotiation table.

Look at Air Berlin for example, they can approach both Airbus and Boeing and pit them against each other to get the best deal because they operate both type of aircraft!

Say Ryanair ordered 200 aircraft and saved $2m on each - I doubt training crew etc. would cost $400m...

There are dozens of factors involved such as this along with operations, crew contracts etc.

[Skipness One Echo]

The resale value of the 5-7 year old B737-800 was a large factor in the Boeing order. Not so sure second hand nearly new untried Russian aircraft have quite the same impact on the balance sheet.

They pulled out and now they are back. They got a better deal so they are back but for how long??

Ryanair at no time have suspended operations from Manchester Airport. They merely pulled back frequency on the core MAN-DUB route and shouted a lot that they wouldn't expand. Until they do. Which is now. (that's enough of that - Ed)

[Jamie2k9]

All Ryanair flights to/from Venice-Treviso between 1 June - 30 Spetember will operate from Venice Marco Polo. See Ryanair booking system for details.

[DjerbaDevil]

Here's a good one:

The Andalusian Regional Government has announced that they will fine any airline charging passengers for printing their boarding passes at the airport with up to 30,000 Euros, having ascertained that some low cost airlines charge 40 Euros for this service.

For those who wish to see the original and full report in Spanish: http://www.hosteltur.com/0429_andalucia-multara-30000-aerolinea-cobre-imprimir-tarjeta-embarque.html (mhtml:{25171FF0-2B93-487E-847D-B68C941D8898}mid://00002407/!x-usc:http://www.hosteltur.com/0429_andalucia-multara-30000-aerolinea-cobre-imprimir-tarjeta-embarque.html)

It may be worth mentioning that within the jurisdiction of the Andalusian Regional Government there are 5 airports used by RyanAir, namely, ALMERIA, GRANADA, JEREZ, MALAGA and last but by no means the least, SEVILLE.

[Wozik]

About Ryanair and Russia - I highly doubt. Aeroflot has a very strong impact on everything airline there. Local low-costers can operate only within Russia, they're heavily pressed and pushed by all possible means, including airport authorities.

In Russian news I often see government, including the president, talking about the airfares, about Aeroflot being a legal monopoly, etc. The truth is that everyone knows, that should they liberalize the market, everyone would beat Aeroflot with lower prices.

It's just that 199 Eur price for Moscow - Europe flights is considered a bargain there, let alone that this is a before tax fare!

[vkid]

See FR settled out of court with SNN/the DAA for Eu3.5m and also seems to have settled with the 3 airports on late payments of fees

Ryanair paid airport body €3.5m to settle action - The Irish Times - Mon, Feb 07, 2011 (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0207/1224289182027.html)