Ryanair - 9

[lfc84]

my ambition is fulfilled to start such a thread !

[peppo_8787]

Ryanair introduces new plan for Italy: lower taxes and new bases
Ryanair introduces new plan, +13 million passengers in 4 years

ROME (Dow Jones) - Ryanair expects to reach 37 million passengers by the end of 2016. This was announced by the deputy chief executive of the company, Michael Cawley, during a press conference, explaining the new business plan for growth.

The low cost airline expects to close 2012 with 24 million passengers, which will create 24 000 jobs, and provides an increase of 13 million new travelers in four years.

The new plan calls for five new bases and 3 new airports in two years. By the end of 2016, Ryanair will contribute 'to create 37 000 jobs.

The rescue plan Ryanair would increase the numbers of traffic and tourism Italians:
*
1. Opening up to 5 new Italian bases
2. Opening new routes Ryanair in Campania and Sicily airports
3. Increasing the total traffic of Italian Ryanair from 24 million (2012) to 37 million (2016) pa
*
The proposal Ryanair to the Italian Government will encourage all airlines to rise above the levels of existing traffic.

Ryanair Festeggia 30 Milioni Di Passeggeri A Roma (http://www.ryanair.com/it/novita/ryanair-festeggia-30-milioni-di-passeggeri-a-roma)

[irish lad]

How does ryanair expect to expand so much without any more aircrafts coming?

[peppo_8787]

Ryanair leaves from October 12 the airport of Verona, Italy!
Deleted then the routes to London-Stansted and Edinburgh

[eu01]

Ryanair leaves Verona. All flights will stop from October 12Source: Corriere del Veneto

...11 routes, 39 flights per week, annually 500 million pax less (500 jobs, blah, blah)...

In a way, nothing new. We are already accustomed to such practices. However, please pay attention to the short notice of this announcement. If I was one of the passengers involved, I would be very furious now. Indeed, FR can keep doing this way, but shouldn't be surprised if their appreciation weakens even more.

[TSR2]

...11 routes, 39 flights per week, annually 500 million pax less (500 jobs, blah, blah)...


Bit of an exaggeration there I think !

[eu01]

Oops, my fault. 500 thousand meant to be :ouch:

[mickyman]

peppo_8787

Perhaps the people of Verona (and also some contributors to this thread)
do not appreciate what Ryanair can bring to a region enough.
If they can get a better deal from elsewhere off they go !!!

[jabird]

Perhaps the people of Verona (and also some contributors to this thread)
do not appreciate what Ryanair can bring to a region enough.

The people don't always have that much of a say in the matter. Either the airport / politicos / tourist boards bite or they don't. Verona is one of those cities that probably has bigwigs thinking it is famous enough not to need the extra visitors, but I think a lot of people would just pass through.

It does surprise me sometimes when you get cities with 2 airports who might fight for that business, but neither of them get it. I watch BFS rumours with interest.

[PPRuNeUser0176]

Manchester-Nice only bookable for two days in March and has being taken off the route map. Looks like some sort of special or gap filler.

[jabird]

There was comment on previous thread about €9 fares needing booking a month in advance. Not sure that's always the case - I have booked an "insurance" flight BGY-EMA as I'm not 100% sure about local transport getting me up through Croatia to TRS. That was still just €9, booked tonight for 9th Oct.

However, these flights only seem available into the regionals - I didn't look for the outbound leg as I've got that sorted, they might not be so keen to give you a flight for £9 with APD at £12.

[jdcg]

jabird - there are some coach services that run up to Trieste from Croatia - I think Zagreb, Rijeka, Porec, Pula and Split are all served. There's also a small coastal ferry that runs from Rovinj and Porec up to Trieste - a fun way to travel - but it might be summer only. Frequencies are fairly limited on the coaches though so you may have to overnight in Trieste - a great city to spend time in though!

[jabird]

jdcg - thanks, I know there are some, but the point is there aren't many, and the leg I plan to do by train (Split-Rijeka) is also extremely slow.

However - that's my problem. I booked the super cheap flight anticipating that I had more than enough time to make it. Some of the Ryanair haters would be trying to blame O'Leary for that, or for the fact it would cost me more to change it than to buy the "insurance" flight, which I did.

Now, back to Ryanair.....

[j636]

Was there a problem with a FR flight at DUB this morning, there was an FR aircraft around DUB area for around 1h30m before it returned to DUB.

[Jamie2k9]

There was a slight problem with a flight this morning but nothing major.

[airsmiles]

How does ryanair expect to expand so much without any more aircrafts coming?

They've just taken 4 new aircraft in September with the remaining outstanding orders for another 9 due shortly. I suspect they'll conclude a new order for 2013 and beyond in the not too distant future.

[FRatSTN]

Talking of Ryanair expansion, does anybody know what's happening where the East Midlands base is concerned?? Of course the loss of BmiBaby is a big blow for the airport and Ryanair have yet to deliver any significant boost as a result. Having said that, they don't have their summer 2013 schedule yet and the winter is hardly the time for big traffic boost however Ryanair's winter schedule at EMA seems slightly up on last year.

Has anybody heard anything, any rumours at all about Ryanair adding more capacity to East Midlands from next summer? Despite numerous airlines stepping in to fill the gap left by BmiBaby, its certain that not all capacity has been restored!

[BOH]

Does anyine know when the BOH routes will be released for next year?

[SecondDog]

Whats the latest on the FR BFS rumors? Any news on the discussions?

[Narrow Runway]

I think I am going nuts!

I'm looking to book GNB flights, but I thought you could pay to reserve seats on FR now? On this service, it seems only priority boarding is available.

Any ideas?

[FRatSTN]

Very strangely Ryanair's booking system seems to have some sort of glitch which I've found to indicate what routes may or may not operate in the next schedule season before anything goes on sale. If you select a flight route inthe next and currently unavailable schedule season (in this case "summer 2013") it will obviously show no available flights. Despite knowing this, try it anyway and make sure you select the return date to be exactly 1 week after the departure date but with flexible travel dates (just to make what I'm about to say easier to see).

If the selected departure date (highlighted in yellow) is not centralised so is basically not showing 3 alternative dates to either side but instead 6 alternative dates after and isn't actually the specific date you selected but instead 3 days before coming back, but the return flight is centralised (with 3 alternative dates toeither side of the selected date) then this simply means there is no flights available. Don't ask me why its like that, I have no idea, but it is.

If however BOTH the departure and return flights ARE centralised (with both showing 3 alternative dates either side of the selected date) and the departure date IS now the exact date you selected then this seems to indicate that Ryanair are planning to operate this route at least once at some point within that time.

For some routes, it can change and isn't 100% accurate but is correct the vast majority of the time and becomes more accurate the closer you get to flights being released for booking, however as we know it can still change after this point, especially with Ryanair as they are well known for cancelling routes or starting new ones at short notice! Of course you can't see what new routes are being planned since you cannot yet select them in the booking system.

People will probably think I'm just talking complete rubbish however I noticed it several years ago and have become certain that it is to do with what Ryanair are planning to operate and what not to, and I'd say that "planning" is the operative word there!

[alm1]

Reserved seats are available during checkin.

[sunday8pm]

FRatSTN,

Routes to Bratislava (BTS), Cork (ORK), Hahn (HHN) and Girona (GRO) are additions to the existing list from EMA for next summer, but only ORK follows your theory.

[FRatSTN]

As this theory seems to be supporting an identical schedule to the summer 2012 (the present) schedule, I wouldn't rely on it just yet. In actual fact last year, it did the same, indicating that summer 2012 was going to be identical to summer 2011. It was later changed and then 99% of the time, was correct. Although never actually started, the Cork route was the only one of those to be actually put on sale during the summer 2012 season, hence why only that one is following the theory at the moment.

Any new routes like Stansted to Maastricht or Lublin or indeed East Midlands to Warsaw-Modlin, are not following the theory either just yet but that will be because they dont operate in the summer 2012 schedule, but would certainly expect them to be flown in summer 2013. They're the routes I'll keep an eye on to see when it all changes and becomes more reliable. I'd expect this change with what routes appear to be operating or not for summer 2013 within the next month at the latest. Like I say, it can change and becomes more accurate the closer you get to the release dates (which for Ryanair is usually sometime in mid-late November) so I wouldn't give up on the theory just yet. But I gurantee, it's most useful if you are undecided whether to keep waiting for Ryanair's quite late schedule uploads or to book with another airline since theres nothing more annoying to miss a decent price by another airline and hoping Ryanair has it cheaper when they dont even intend to fly the route!!

[sunday8pm]

Would you say EMA-ORK is more likely to run next summer than the others? There's more room for expansion at East Mids if FR want it. I think they could price out the other carriers and almost make it a mini STN.

[FRatSTN]

I'm not sure. They quietly dropped the EMA-ORK route before it's start date on 01/09/12. I'm hoping it was only dropped for operational reasons and not that there was low-demand. Personally, I think it was dropped as Ryanair added those eastern European routes from ORK and they didn't want to expand too much in ORK due to the on-gong disagreements with DAA over landing fees and the rest of it.

I'd like to think that ORK will return for summer 2013, but I will have a better idea in due course what the liklihood is with use of my special theory. I'd also love East Midlands to become a bigger Ryanair base and more importantly, become thier second largest in Britain, where EMA deserves to have that status.

My only worry is that they are more interested in the bigger airports at the moment as they have pulled back in Liverpool slightly whilst expanding Manchester and this winter, Ryanair will fly new routes from Birmingham to Barcelona, Krakow & Milan, three key routes from EMA! I hope to god that that doesn't happen and Ryanair instead deliver sunstancial growth for summer 2013 at EMA due to the WW closure, where some of the lost capacity has still yet to be filled, despite numerous airlines increasing at EMA!

[OliWW]

EMA doesn't have the facilities to be Ryanairs 2nd biggest UK base, maybe one day, but not in the short term.

[sunday8pm]

I don't know the exact data on this but I'd imagine it is currently not far off being the UK's second largest FR base. Are the operations at EDI, LPL larger?

[anna_list]

Hi,

Based on the summer schedule, STN is of course the largest base by some margin.

In the UK this summer, STN is followed by:

MAN (just ahead of LPL by a whisker this summer)
LPL
EMA
EDI
BRS
LTN
BHX
PIK
LBA
BOH

[davidjohnson6]

Now that Wizz have announced it's happening systemwide, anyone want to guess how long it'll take Ryanair to announce a trial of charging for large pieces of cabin baggage ?

[racedo]

Now that Wizz have announced it's happening systemwide, anyone want to guess how long it'll take Ryanair to announce a trial of charging for large pieces of cabin baggage ?

Not so convinced they will do so yet......................

[j636]

Don't W6 offer somehing like 22kg of baggage allowance compared to FR 15kg. I think its the right hing for W6 to do but can't see FR doing it unless they increase there baggage size.

September passengers up 8% to 7.84 million but LF dropped a % to 85.

[lexoncd]

Spirit airlines in the USA have had a similar policy for some time so i wouldn't rule it out. Ryanair have to look for additional sources of revenue as all airlines do.

The credit/debit charge ruling will simply be made a admin booking fee for using the system not for payment type so thats the way round that potential loss of income. make it "Free" on a limited number of flights and its optional so therefore they will avoid having to show it in headline price... naughty, irritating and starting to backfire but perfectly legal.

I'm sure they will increase hold luggage charges, check in fee, etc. The often floated idea of a charge to use the loo is just a PR stunt and wont happen but perhaps they will increase seat allocation fees. Not a bad idea for a family wanting to sit together and good source of revenue. Beyond that I'm struggling to thinks of new ideas and that's when the business model will evolve. As others have said if Ryanair became customer friendly or encouraged interlining by saying providing you leave say 2 hours between flights etc its Ok or if we cancel one leg you may cancel the other they would be on a winner. Ryanair say they only cancelled 10 flights this summer. That's a great record but if you asked the public they probably thinks its significantly higher and they fear is being stranded by Ryanair late at night with no help, transportation or anything and told "f@@k off you paid peanuts what do you expect"

[DublinPole]

Wizz to be fair have quite a few more extra fees than Ryanair do already just to get their cheapest prices you have to join their club whilst many fees are higher than that of Ryanair such as charging 8 euro rather than 6 for Visa.

Whilst allowing heavier checked in luggage, they charge 5 euro extra now if the flight is over 1hr 50 mins.

[jabird]

How would you administer a "large" luggage fee? Flying out from BHX to DBV on Sunday (with BE), I noted every person on FR's KUN flight had their bag placed in the sizing device. At BHX, they are using their own staff, didn't know loading, but I guess it was quite busy.

Coming back from TRS > BHX this afternoon, handling agents doing the gate checks, no-one had to use the device, flight about 2/3 full.

[Jamie2k9]

Summer 2013 starting to appear on website.

[FRatSTN]

Yes some do seem to be up now and have been for a few days but I never posted anything because at the moment it all seems exactly the same as summer 2012. Ryanair strangely seem put routes on sale with the same timetable as the year before and then schedule changes are made on a lot of routes at later dates. I think it's so they can start selling tickets but haven't yet planned a timetable/schedule just yet so all I would say at this point, is if you book a Ryanair flight from April 2013 onwards, there's a fair chance of you not actually going at the specific time it currently says, or in extreme cases, it might be a slightly different day. I have seen it happen, particularly with Ryanair! However if you are flexible and bear that in mind and are very happy with the price, I dare say you don't really have anything to lose!

[barrymah]

Reserved seats (or more correctly priced seats).

Do I recall they were slapped over the wrist by the IAA for charging for emergency exit seats because they are supposed to check the users of those seats are mobile enough??

However I think Aer Lingus charge for legroom seats???:confused:

[Jack1985]

Do I recall they were slapped over the wrist by the IAA for charging for emergency exit seats because they are supposed to check the users of those seats are mobile enough??

However I think Aer Lingus charge for legroom seats???

They received a slap over the wrist from the IAA because they left those emergency exit seats go unoccupied when not pre-booked. Aer Lingus however assign all emergency exit rows as well as all other seats to be assigned for free on the day of departure.

[frfly]

There was a problem with rows 16/17, however remember the IAA have to approve everything that happens in FR from a SEP prospective....they originally approved no one there then went back on their own words and forced a procedure change from FR. Not so much slap on the wrist more disagreement between the two which was eventually resolved.

In regards to flights major holiday routes going on sale (probably reacting to EZY launch). Wouldn't expect FRs schedule to be finalised until December or January, when most bookings for summer flights start.

[jabird]

However if you are flexible and bear that in mind and are very happy with the price, I dare say you don't really have anything to lose!

Well actually, might you have something to gain? Many people book a number of flights to the same place (if they have property / relatives / time share), usually on the basis that they only have to take, say, half of them, to be much better off than booking closer to the date and paying more, but knowing you will take the flight.

If you booked 3 flights for S13 and then schedules changed on 2 of them, are you not entitled to a full refund if the times change? Not sure what the window is though to claim such a refund? Anyone got the small print on that?

[eu01]

Not sure what the window is though to claim such a refund?
Three hours.

[alm1]

If the flight times change then you won - now you have a flexible ticket that you can chose to use or not to use up to the departure. If you decide not to travel you can allways get refund. If you decide to travel only then you accept a shedulle change.

I am not sure how Ryanair 'flight credits' work. You can get them instead of a refund. Is it posible to use them on any departure on the same route or only on flights costing the same?

[ryan2000]

A takeover of EI by FR will spell disaster for Cork and Shannon as the overseas legacy carriers are very unlikely to take up the offer of competing with Ryanair into these airports.

[mikkie4]

if EI are taken over by FR what will happen to EI regional flights?

[davidjohnson6]

mikkie - difficult to say, but they are likely to be nothing more than a sacrificial pawn in a much bigger game. Aer Arann would not be in complete control of its destiny.

[DomyDom]

Jamie2K9, Is there any news that you can pass on regarding new or existing routes from MAN for next summer. If so please can you indicate when they are likely to be released. Thanks DomyDom

[rowly6339]

I thought that after a failed 3rd atempt to take over EI by FR that it is now dead and burried due to 3 strikes and your out?

[jubilee]

DomDom.

Some Ryanair routes from Manchester for next summer are on sale now.
J

[jabird]

I thought that after a failed 3rd atempt to take over EI by FR that it is now dead and burried due to 3 strikes and your out?

They are trying to buy out a rival, not defending themselves in a US court. Or is there such a rule for takeovers? For how long? Even if such a rule did exist, if MOL wanted EI that badly, could he not instruct his accountants to set up Ryana"e"r Holdings (LUX) Ltd and have another go?

[Jamie2k9]

Stansted owner excludes Ryanair from sale process - RT News (http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1009/stansted-owner-excludes-ryanair-from-sale-process-business.html)

Is there any news that you can pass on regarding new or existing routes from MAN for next summer. If so please can you indicate when they are likely to be released. Thanks DomyDom

Not sure but I would be suprised if some of the routes that are being dropped in a few weeks come back so there could be a few new ones to replace them.

[pee]

Ryanair will start flying to Dortmund from March 2013. Six routes, the destinations in Spain, Portugal and Sardinia.

One of the very few airports in the Central/Western Europe served by Wizz, where FR was not present yet.

Edit. The destinations mentioned are: Alghero, Girona, Faro, Malaga, Porto and PMI.

[MARKEYD]

Very disappointing news that Ryanair are not back to Bournemouth now until mid March next year ! , another 6 weeks off makes it a long wait for all customers to use Bournemouth

Any idea when they may actually put anything on sale from March , will have lost a lot of business in the meantime with everyone having to make the treck over to Bristol or Gatwick now

[The Hypnoboon]

Does anyone know what happened to flight FR656 on 09/10/2012?
According to my friend that should be on it, it's still sitting at Malaga after some delays. However, the usual sources (flightstats, PIK website and FR website) show it as already gone.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[blueplatinum]

Jamie2K9, Is there any news that you can pass on regarding new or existing routes from MAN for next summer. If so please can you indicate when they are likely to be released. Thanks DomyDomLPA would be nice now that we have lost LPL.

[Cian]

They are trying to buy out a rival, not defending themselves in a US court. Or is there such a rule for takeovers? For how long? Even if such a rule did exist, if MOL wanted EI that badly, could he not instruct his accountants to set up Ryana"e"r Holdings (LUX) Ltd and have another go?

The Takeover Panel rules forbid another attempt within 12 months of a failed/withdrawn bid without approval. Which they would be unlikely to get, as the allowances for it are very specific. So "new bid in January" as claimed is realistically out - even if they got approval, it would take time to get it.

I'm pretty sure there's some Irish Stock Exchange rules on multiple failed bids but I can't find them now.

[racedo]

The Takeover Panel rules forbid another attempt within 12 months of a failed/withdrawn bid without approval. Which they would be unlikely to get, as the allowances for it are very specific. So "new bid in January" as claimed is realistically out - even if they got approval, it would take time to get it.

I'm pretty sure there's some Irish Stock Exchange rules on multiple failed bids but I can't find them now.

As Ryanair is an Irish company not UK then UK takeover panel rules are irrelevant and as EU looking at it then UK have no involvement.

[Cian]

As Ryanair is an Irish company not UK then UK takeover panel rules are irrelevant and as EU looking at it then UK have no involvement.


Where did I mention the UK? We do, amazingly, have some things with similar names in Ireland.

[DomyDom]

Some Ryanair routes from Manchester for next summer are on sale now.
J
I know! Hopefully we will get some new routes from MAN. Clearly dithering or whatever is slowing the release of new routes from MAN. Hopefully we will see some new and interesting destinations to consolidate FR's growth at MAN.

[Ringwayman]

Some Ryanair at MAN stories over last 18 months

Ryanair base launch at MAN (http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/1426509_ryanair-to-invest-175m-and-create-2000-jobs-at-manchester-airport)

Future intentions at MAN (http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/jobs/s/1464053_ryanair-to-double-manchester-passengers-and-create-hundreds-of-jobs)

Riga and Gdansk announced at MAN (http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/1587437_ryanair-announces-new-routes-to-eastern-europe)


Ryanair welcomes MAG Stansted bid involvement (http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/deals/s/1589759_ryanair-welcomes-manchester-airports-group-interest-in-stansted)

[j636]

Some Ryanair at MAN stories over last 18 months

Ryanair base launch at MAN (http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/1426509_ryanair-to-invest-175m-and-create-2000-jobs-at-manchester-airport)

Future intentions at MAN (http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/jobs/s/1464053_ryanair-to-double-manchester-passengers-and-create-hundreds-of-jobs)

Riga and Gdansk announced at MAN (http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/1587437_ryanair-announces-new-routes-to-eastern-europe)


Ryanair welcomes MAG Stansted bid involvement (http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/deals/s/1589759_ryanair-welcomes-manchester-airports-group-interest-in-stansted)

Wonder why they didn't announce why the extra two aircraft which were due to be based from November are not coming. It would alos say that FR are not going to meet there passenger numbers they said but thats nothing new as they don't at any airport.

[chaps2011]

Didn`t know 2 were coming in November, I thought that was next summer

Ian

[j636]

The base will be two for winter. The plan was for 4 year round.

[dannyalliga]

Ryanair probed for social security evasion in Italy-source | Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/16/ryanair-italy-tax-idUSL5E8LG9U120121016)

[dannyalliga]

Ryanair accused in northern Italy of evading tax to value of €12m - The Irish Times - Wed, Oct 17, 2012 (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/1017/1224325339094.html)

[Carmoisine]

Ryanair probed for social security evasion in Italy-source | Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/16/ryanair-italy-tax-idUSL5E8LG9U120121016)

The bureaucratic wheels in Italy grind slowly, but they get there eventually. This is going to cause Ryanair a lot of pain, they can't spin this one away. Much like the French they will decide what is what and no amount of spin and bull$hit from the PR department is going to make this go away in FRs biggest market outside the UK.

[Dg800]

Let's see if they pull a tantrum and leave like they did in France. Considering the size of Ryanair's Italian market share that would affect their bottom line a lot more than pulling out of France (a single base) did.

[JennyB]

Is similar not being done here, but more likely BA and Virgin crew being investigated?

Taxman comes down on aircrew

Marie Woolf Published: 7 October 2012


Recommend (6)
Comment (2) (http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1142419.ece#comment-review)
Print (http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1142419.ece#)




PILOTS, assume the brace position — the taxman is on his way. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is putting the squeeze on aircrew who avoid income tax by saying they do not reside in Britain.
Some 2,300 pilots and air stewards do this on the basis of the time they spend mid-air and in other time zones, although most have homes, bank accounts and even children in Britain.
Crew who spend less than 183 days a year in the UK have claimed non-UK residency status and so have not paid tax for years. But HMRC is now warning flight crew that spending time abroad may no longer be sufficient qualification for non-residency.
As a result of recent court cases establishing that prolonged overseas travel alone does not constitute non-residency, the taxman is writing to pilots and flight attendants who have “significant ties to the UK” to inform them that they may...

[Dg800]

This is most certainly a result of the current dire economical situation. When the state coffers are empty, the taxman comes knocking (more often and more persistently than before :E).

[PPRuNeUser0176]

Ryanair probed for social security evasion in Italy-source | Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/16/ryanair-italy-tax-idUSL5E8LG9U120121016)

The bureaucratic wheels in Italy grind slowly, but they get there eventually. This is going to cause Ryanair a lot of pain, they can't spin this one away. Much like the French they will decide what is what and no amount of spin and bull$hit from the PR department is going to make this go away in FRs biggest market outside the UK.


It won't affect FR as its correct under EU law and if there was changes all FR would do is keep profitable bases ie BGY, CIA etc and employ crew from Ireland to go and work there (there is over 400,000 to chose from) and close some of the smaller bases and move the aircraft else where. Think Italy will suffer more long term.

MRS would be a good example.

[racedo]

I love the idea that Italians are worried about foreigners not paying correct amount of tax.......if it was only foreigners then they wouldn't have so many problems.:rolleyes:

[eu01]

I publish it under Ryanair; if realized, this would obviously concern many other lcc's too.
The Russian government is discussing the possibility of inviting foreign low cost airlines to the Russian market, including performing domestic flights.

"We are very actively discussing the issue of inviting foreign low-cost airlines that exist in the world today, including for domestic transport.We expect to hold a serious discussion of this," Igor Artemyev, the head of Russia’s Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) told at the meeting of the governmental commission for competition and the development of small and medium business.
More in the TV-Novosti (http://rt.com/business/news/russia-airlines-low-cost-606/) news (Russian site in English).
¨

[frfly]

Ryanair know this is coming and they are gearing up for it. All EU crew that transfer now have no choice but to pay Social Security in that country (from June 28th 2012), but tax is still payable in Ireland under EU law. Those crew in EU bases currently will be safe for a maximum of ten years before the change.

For Ryanair it doesnt mean too much, for the crew it means a reduced take home pay. Will Ryanair increase wages to counteract....maybe in the long term but not dramatically.

The UK is totally unaffected (for cabin crew at least) as all UK based crew are on UK contracts as it is paying UK salaries. Flight crew I think are slightly different depending on the contract.

Wouldnt see so much of an issue in Italy. Ryanair need Italy and Italy need Ryanair, Im sure they will meet in the middle at some point on this. But as usual, the Ryanair bashers see it as "the end for Ryanair"....yawn.

[dannyalliga]

Italy needs Ryanair?
Where did you get this from?
Italy needs a real airline that offers good service, plays a fair game and creates real jobs and true business and FR is very far from that.
The only foreign success story worth mentioning in Bella Italia is Easyjet.

[TSR2]

For Ryanair it doesnt mean too much, for the crew it means a reduced take home pay. Will Ryanair increase wages to counteract....

I don't see why Ryanair should increase wages under these circumstances. Did crew run to Ryanair to offer a pay cut when oil prices jumped through the roof ?

[jabird]

Ryanair probed for social security evasion in Italy-source | Reuters

There is a big difference between legal tax avoidance (*$ style) and evasion, which (afaik) is a criminal act. Clearly, Ryanair maintain they have done nothing long. Maybe they can take the tax inspectors out to a nice slap up meal in Milan - worked for Vodafone.

I can't see what difference this will have on Italian routes. If (and it is a very big if) criminal charges were brought, Ryanair couldn't just up sticks anyway. I would assume they'd be denied overfly rights for Italy too, and if it came to it, would a European arrest warrant not be put out?

Far more likely scenario is that Ryanair will defend these charges, lap up the publicity as always, and if it looks bad, they will settle out of court.

France is quite a different scenario with just one base, and a decision to move to avert further costs of staying there, not because of any potential legal case (afaik).

Ryanair seems to have picked on smaller airports or countries in the past, when it knows it can call the shots. I doubt this is the case in Italy, not just because of the bases, but also because of all the other inbound flights. Italy must have more secondary airports than most, alongside the UK and Germany.

We know how much MOL hates APD, but he also knows he isn't in a position to leave the UK in protest, as he has far too much business here already.

[barrymah]

The French phrase for all this stuff is 'pas evident' - not that clear.

MO'L is pushing a case which will have to be sorted by the European Court (ECJ), sooner or later. The basic problem is the right of any EU citizen to work anywhere in the EU. There are rules for seamen, for example, and MO'L has been arguing that they should apply to aircrew and cabin personnel. Not unreasonable as seamen can specify how many days they were 'out of the country' and get relief of tax (and social security?) for that period.

The other element is the tax residency one - my tax adviser holds the view that the various Revenue bodies in the EU have an unwritten agreement not to poke the sleeping dog by allowing a case on this to go to the ECJ on the grounds it would last two minutes there; free movement of labour and tax residency are fundamentally at odds.

The result of all this is a typical EU mess - social security and tax are national responsibilities, but all the EU 27 have signed the Treaty of Rome which allows free movement of labour (with temporary derogations), so they need to sort the inevitable issues that will arise. In comes the economic crisis, what chance of sorting it.... none.

FR lost the French case on a ruling which applies to France, the court was not required to refer the case to the ECJ. I'd say they and other states will be very careful not to take cases which will require them to refer the question to the ECJ.

This one will run and run and MO'L will continue to prod....

[racedo]

MO'L is pushing a case which will have to be sorted by the European Court (ECJ), sooner or later. The basic problem is the right of any EU citizen to work anywhere in the EU. There are rules for seamen, for example, and MO'L has been arguing that they should apply to aircrew and cabin personnel. Not unreasonable as seamen can specify how many days they were 'out of the country' and get relief of tax (and social security?) for that period.

The other element is the tax residency one - my tax adviser holds the view that the various Revenue bodies in the EU have an unwritten agreement not to poke the sleeping dog by allowing a case on this to go to the ECJ on the grounds it would last two minutes there; free movement of labour and tax residency are fundamentally at odds.

The result of all this is a typical EU mess - social security and tax are national responsibilities, but all the EU 27 have signed the Treaty of Rome which allows free movement of labour (with temporary derogations), so they need to sort the inevitable issues that will arise. In comes the economic crisis, what chance of sorting it.... none.

FR lost the French case on a ruling which applies to France, the court was not required to refer the case to the ECJ. I'd say they and other states will be very careful not to take cases which will require them to refer the question to the ECJ.

Any realignment will mean that there will be big winners and big losers and of course you will be in favour of a change IF someone outlines that you will be a big winner. Problem is that the data may suggest something but actual implementation gives a different result and while politicians stupid enough to do something like that the Tax people who collect the revenue know the downside.

[pee]

Actually, it's great to be able to undestand some Russian :). Correct me if I'm wrong, but this official Russian agency (http://www.1prime.ru/news/0/%7B4B0D7DC1-1618-44A4-90CA-B1ECEC489D78%7D.uif) has just informed that Ryanair may become an official carrier between Ireland in Russia. Russian Federation's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received a note from its Irish counterpart designating Ryanair to perform the job.

"They sent a proposal to the Foreign Ministry that they want to assign to the Irish side Ryanair", - the ministry said. The document does not mention any desired routes nor frequencies yet.

[j636]

Not sure if posted before or not:
Ryanair jets out of Turku | Yle Uutiset | yle.fi (http://yle.fi/uutiset/ryanair_jets_out_of_turku/6345365)

[DomyDom]

Does anybody have any clues regarding any new routes from MAN for summer 2013? There are some clear gaps (e.g. Oporto, Krakow, Vilnius) that I would have thought would be successful even with LPL running some of them down the road. Any info on when we will find out would also be appreciated. Thanks DomyDom

[FR8364]

I will never understand why FR closed in 2011 the routes Seville-UK except London airports and now closes Gatwick. From 5 (BRS, EMA, LPL, LGW & STN) UK destinations to 1 (STN) in one year. BRS and EMA did not work very well except in July/August period but flights to LPL and LGW always were up to 90% of LF. A lot of Nothern England working and living in Seville from Manchester/Liverpool area (I know some of them) and they have to take flights from AGP. People is demanding the re-opening of these routes and I expect FR will include Seville in its route opportunities to open from MAN/LPL.

[eu01]

Indeed, now one can find also the English language news article on this subject, see The Moscow Times (http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/ryanair-seeks-permission-to-fly-to-russia/470254.html).

This could be a great opportunity for FR, but on one condition. Ryanair should create two "air-bridges", Moscow/Dublin and St. Petersburg/Dublin. As an exemption from their own point2point restriction, they should provide connecting flights to Spain (incl. Canaries) and Portugal, Russian's favourite, I guess. Voilà, not a very complicated thing.

Of course we all know it won't happen (connecting flights I mean), as FR continue to be a master of self-limiting in that regard, their choice.
:rolleyes:

[DomyDom]

FR8364, From what I hear the Ryanair routes from Manchester incuding those to the Spanish cities have been extremely sucessful. Like you I think Seville would be an excellent choice to be opened from MAN next summer. I think that this was one of the routes given serious consideration just before the base was set up last year and was crowded out by other routes for summer 2012 (I think FR even went as far as requesting slots at MAN). Even with the problems in the Spanish economy it would sustain good loads between that area of Andalucia and Northern England. Also FR do seem to listen to punters with regard to routes as we recently had MAD reinstated after it had been lined up for the chop and it now booming. I wouldn't be suprised if it goes daily for next summer. DomyDom

[FRatSTN]

I see Liverpool struggeling to attract new Ryanair routes. It has lost many key routes like Milan, Riga and Rome to Manchester and has suffered frequency cuts on routes alongside Manchester and any new route developments like routes to Seville or a new service to Venice which I think Ryanair needs from the north other than their Leeds/Bradford service are probably going to be from Manchester. I see Ryanair developing Manchester into a significant base, something around the size of their bases at Frankfurt-Hahn or Stockholm-Skavsta in the future.

Despite that, Liverpool may fight back. When Ryanair opened their Birmingham base in 2008, East Midlands lost some routes such as Bratislava and Derry, which remain from Birmingham and not East Midlands to this day. Budapest operated out of East Midlands until it was axed, then later announced from Birmingham. East Midlands has coped very well though, still accounting for the majority of Ryanair growth in the Midlands over recent years but is coming more apparent that East Midlands is the favourite for summer sun routes (now with Greece and a very good choice of flight frequencies and routes to Spain) whilst Birmingham is slightly more towards the city destinations. The same appears to have emerged in Scotland with Prestwick offering the "bucket and spade" routes and Edinburgh with the cities. Common sense may suggest that the same will happen between Liverpool and Manchester however with Liverpool being quite reliant on city routes, especially to Ireland whilst seeing cutback with both city and sun destinations recently, and Manchester having established a good mix both, then it might suggest Liverpool is going to lose out to Manchester!

[jabird]

Also FR do seem to listen to punters

Of course they listen to punters, but they listen to the beancounters and the airport bosses even more.

If one particular airport puts charges up, or brings in some other blockage that makes it harder to fly there (sometimes due to noise regs outside their control), then MOL goes elsewhere.

I personally think SVQ is a great city, but ditto to Nearby ODB, where the airport is not likely to see anything commercial any time soon.

High load factors alone don't make a route. They are needed together with high yields AND low airport costs. I asked before about yields for SVQ v AGP, assuming AGP would be higher because it is on the coast, and I am guessing that is still the case. Ditto for GRQ - another great city, but easier to sell as a day excursion from the costas than as a flight destination in its own right.

[pottwiddler]

just making a general observation about Ryanair's routing policy, and I'm in no way criticising Ryanair, but do they continually chop and change routes just to 'find' a more successful route or is there a science behind it.

It seems to me that routes fly from Airport A (in UK) to Airport B (in EU) then next year it's gone only to be either replaced by another route to Airport C (in EU) or moves to airport D(in UK) flying to Airport B. (Hope you understand my logic!)

[eu01]

do they continually chop and change routes just to 'find' a more successful route or is there a science behind it.
There is no research behind it other than trying to associate in pairs the airports with min. possible charges and max. possible marketing support on both ends. A pity, as quite often seem to get chopped some otherwise very promising routes - and potentially profitable even with no dole involved.

[jabird]

There is no research behind it other than trying to associate in pairs the airports with min. possible charges and max. possible marketing support on both ends.

I'm sure there is an exact science behind it, based on the very metrics you mention. They have a routes director working out all the permutations. The other key factor is where else the plane is already going that day.

Hence routes from regional airport A to Polish or French city B might work, whereas a longer rotation to the Canaries might not.

If destination D is not provided from airport C, will pax accept D instead, will they still fly with Ryanair from airport F, or will they go to a rival.

They are constantly playing with these figures, and if they get them wrong, the route gets dropped.

I am sure there is also a formula along the lines of yield Q on an existing route is better than a predicted yield of Q * 120%, because our predictions are only accurate +/- 30%, and we don't want to keep routes on a permanent yo-yo, although there are of course cases where that still happens, especially if destination airport G turns round and drops charges by 20%.

Also, a destination to us is origin at the other end, and this might be the source of anything from 5% upto 95% of the flight - and quite a few are an even 50-50 split.

[Jamie2k9]

I see Ryanair developing Manchester into a significant base, something around the size of their bases at Frankfurt-Hahn or Stockholm-Skavsta in the future.



Can't see it being that big, it could become the second largest in UK but not much more IMO.

[derelicte]

Was idling in Atlanta last week when I saw a Ryanair departure scheduled to Leipzig Halle - shome mistake shurely?

[Mr A Tis]

That would be a US military charter by Ryan International Airlines. A US charter company since 1976 based in Rockford. USA.
They operate B767, B737, MD80 & A330s

Zero to do with Ryanair.

[FKB-Freak]

New Routes for 2013 from Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden?

Greetings from Baden-Baden :)

[EI-A330-300]

BBC HARDtalk - Michael O'Leary - CEO, Ryanair (12/10/12) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64l769t4rdk&feature=youtu.be)

Some intresting topics discussed.

[jabird]

Some intresting topics discussed.

And also on this forum when it was aired.

Why?

They seem to make website changes on the fly. I suspect the Chrome issue will be resolved quickly.

I personally detest CAPTCHAS in all their forms, but it is part of their efforts to stop screen scrapers. It would appear to be more annoying to the casual browser, rather than an actual impediment to booking.

Again, this was discussed at length at the time they introduced them. I honestly thought they'd be gone by now, but Ryanair Web HQ clearly think they are still justified.

[davidjohnson6]

but Ryanair Web HQ clearly think they are still justified.

I'd guess that the screenscrapers are still out there, watching the Ryanair website, waiting for any sign of defences being lowered. If you have a Google around from May this year when FR removed Captcha for about 2 weeks, you'll see a few blogs where someone's written something to the effect of
"Captcha's gone ! Screenscrapers fill your boots !"

[Noxegon]

Googles chrome browser, which half of the worlds internet users use is not currently compatible with Ryanair.com Users are seeing the message 'Error - you have too many Ryanair pages open'

Safari is affected too.

[j636]

Ryanair are grounding just short of 100 aircraft this winter. Other loco such as DY and VY have substantial growth for winter. Soon Ryanair will be a seasonal carrier as all they do is grow during the summer but still let there LF drop.

[racedo]

Soon Ryanair will be a seasonal carrier as all they do is grow during the summer but still let there LF drop.

What is the point in growing through the winter if you end up losing lots of money ?

[eu01]

It's like admitting publicly: we are unable to achieve any profit for approx. 6 months in a year, our business model is not flexible (versatile, attractive, efficient, tempting etc.) enough. Even while some other airlines are unprofitable for entire 12 month a year, that does not change the main point made here.

[davidjohnson6]

Approximately what proportion of the year does a 737 in the Ryanair fleet spend unavailable for commercial use ?

By this, I mean time spent undergoing any form of maintenance or any other time when flying passengers is not possible. I count time spent on the ground on a Wednesday in late January not undergoing maintenance as being available for commercial use.

In particular, I'm interested to know what proportion of the year a FR 737 spends on the ground when it's neither being used for flying passengers for profit nor undergoing any kind of inspection / maintenance or other commercially useful duties. This number is probably rather more important when judging FR's capacity to make optimal use of its fleet rather than just time in the air. Presumably it's better to have an aircraft doing naff all in January, than grounded for maintenance in July...

[eu01]

Presumably it's better to have an aircraft doing naff all in January, than grounded for maintenance in July...
To some extent, yes. But it's already blown out of proportion. The number of idle planes grow every year. Too simple business model being even harder to sustain in the future?

[racedo]

It's like admitting publicly: we are unable to achieve any profit for approx. 6 months in a year, our business model is not flexible (versatile, attractive, efficient, tempting etc.) enough. Even while some other airlines are unprofitable for entire 12 month a year, that does not change the main point made here.

Eh !

Given that the majority of airlines lose money in the winter period then why run it such that you lose even more money.

Admitting that you take direct action to ensure you don't lose millions in winter sounds just like good management.

[racedo]

In particular, I'm interested to know what proportion of the year a FR 737 spends on the ground when it's neither being used for flying passengers for profit nor undergoing any kind of inspection / maintenance or other commercially useful duties. This number is probably rather more important when judging FR's capacity to make optimal use of its fleet rather than just time in the air. Presumably it's better to have an aircraft doing naff all in January, than grounded for maintenance in July...

The rotation of aircraft means that you don't just park up 100 and wait until spring time but as you said you carry out any maintenance and constantly rotate in and out so that every one of them gets used.

Given the recession within EU at the moment it makes sense to take capacity out of the system rather than aiming for fleet maximisation.

[teen_pilot_95]

If Ryanair turn out to order the C919 (or Irkut for that mater) will it start a trend of ordering (cheaper than Airbus or Boeing) Eastern aircraft

[DomyDom]

Anyone know when the FR routes from MAN are likely to be finalised and if so what if any new routes are in the pipeline. Looks like italy and spain routes are bookable but I would be interested to know if there are any to be dropped and any replacements, new routes etc. Thanks DomyDom

[racedo]

Ryanair biggest airline in Hungary, Lithuania, Spain and Slovakia; close second in Belgium, Ireland and Italy | anna.aero (http://www.anna.aero/2012/10/17/ryanair-1st-in-spain-hungary-slovakia/)

Interesting that while majority of people on this board still believe Ryanair is Ireland / UK focus the company has different perspective and continues to target its growth elsewhere.

[North West]

DomyDom - you're turning into a bit of a stuck record with ths. The schedule will be rolled out over the next weeks and will be subject to many iterations before it starts March. What is it you are so desparate to know ?

[j636]

A little shocked how low FR are in the UK with all the aircraft based here it shows very little compared to the likes of Poland, Spain etc.

[eu01]

Pity for Slovakia, as Ryanair flies only some 10 routes solely to Bratislava and still has 2/3 of entire capacity in spite of that. What does it mean? Looks like a kind of deserted territory with BTS new airport terminal so close to Vienna. Yeah, probably FR is just waiting for more marketing support, but I guess "Vienna East" could profitable serve many more routes even without alms.
¨

[davidjohnson6]

SkyEurope ceased flying in autumn 2009. Why would additional marketing support be forthcoming at Bratislava now ? For the last 3 years, FR have been the dominant airline at BTS. Ignore flights to Israel and Russia, and FR become even more dominant at BTS.

[LGS6753]

J636 -

FR have a smaller share in UK because they have a number of major competitors here: EZY, BA, FlyBe, Jet2, Monarch, Virgin & BMI until recently.

[eu01]

@davidjohnson6

Do not ask me, I don't live there. However the country has a population of 5 million, Bratislava appr. 500.000 while BTS airport is located just 88 km from the very center of Vienna, pop. 1,7 million. During November Ryanair will perform less than 40 flights per week to BTS, being dominant airline in the country. Something went wrong.

I do not blame Ryanair, but cannot imagine there are no opportunities there.

[racedo]

As indicated Bratislava is biggest population centre with 500,000, next is Kosice with half that number.............population is very spread out and I guess propensity to travel is low.

In 2011 Bratislava had 1.666 Million passengers and Kosice 267k..........market is small at present moment.

[Buster the Bear]

When you 'ground' the Boeings, you don't have to pay the 'contract' pilots.

[eu01]

^^ Or instead of luring Austrians to fly from Bratislava, Slovaks fly from Vienna.

[j636]

FR have a smaller share in UK because they have a number of major competitors here: EZY, BA, FlyBe, Jet2, Monarch, Virgin & BMI until recently.

Yes but they have around 40 based at STN and most other bases are 4-6 aircraft. A rought guess would be 70-75 aircraft based in UK which is probaly more than Jet 2, Flybe, Monarch but far behind EZY.

[RAT 5]

And even less than BA. in many EU states quite often the legacy carriers are more convenient, and in the total cost of travel to/from + parking + baggage, + + + , are cheaper. The Locos are not always the best value. Caveat Emptor.

[DomyDom]

North West,
Sorry for coming across as a broken record but I would like to plan travel arrangements for next summer. To answer your question I would be interested to know if there are any new routes planned from Manchester for next summer and if so what are they.

Basically I book flights depending on what flights are available, whether I like the look of the place, if I haven't been before or if it looks like an interesting destination etc. For example I'm currently planning to go to Bilbao with Easyjet from Manchester but if Oporto came up with Ryanair from the same airport for summer 2013 I may change my plans.

In short I am interested in whether there are likely to be any new routes from Manchester and if so what are they. If there are then please can you pass on any information that you may have regarding any new destinations. I'm not desparate but I am interested.

Sorry for being interested..... I suppose we can always go back to discussing whether it should be an 'E' or an 'e' in eayjet etc.. Hopefully you understand where I'm coming from.:)

[Bengt]

As I have a second home in the south of Catalonia I am always looking for flights from Stockholm Skavsta to the Barcelona/Valencia area. I usually book quite some time in advance and have been waiting for the schedule of summer 2013 to be loaded.
Now most part of the schedules seems to be loaded but so far there are no flights to Barcelona from Skavsta although both Alicante and Palma de Mallorca have flights loaded. Also there are flights from Barcelona to London Stansted...

Jamie2k9 (or anyone else), do you have any more information? Negotiations with the Generalitat again? A bit strange is also the appearance of Valencia in the drop down menus from Stockholm Skavsta again. Cancelled route since 2009 I believe, and other cancelled routes are not shown.

[jabird]

Such an important tone Sir. I'm sorry to have taken some of your time.

Again, if you go back and read it, it is nothing to do with Captcha. It is a compatibility issue with Chrome and apparently Safari which account for about half the worlds internet browsers. It is about Ryanair having a really, really crappy website which delivers a nasty user experience and is now actually turning customers away. All in the name of cost savings no doubt?

You are the one adopting a high handed tone. I merely pointed out in my reply that MOL's appearance on Hardtalk was discussed when it came on air, and secondly that the Captcha issue was also discussed at length when they introduced it.

You then asked me to re-read what you said. I had already made it perfectly clear in my reply that Captcha and broswer compatibility were separate issues.

Ryanair's website has been well documented, and discussed at length by numerous so-called usability experts who point out what a terrible site it is to navigate, and just how horrible it looks.

Well let me let you into a little secret which the twitterati won't tell you - crap web design works! It is no different to those horrible sales letters with lots of red text and bolding - they work.

I wish they didn't. I wish Ryanair's website was easier to use. I still hate Captchas. But guess what - when they are selling me a flight for €10, I think I can tolerate all of this junk, just like I do on the flight.

If you don't like it, you can always go and book with Easyjet - they have (imho) a much nicer website, (imho) nicer planes and a nicer inflight experience.

But FR also have a base at BHX, U2 don't.

[Jamie2k9]

There isnt much released from BCN yet. STN is on sale now only because of the intense compitation starting in March.

They will be confirming slots at BCN but most routes should be out over the.next 4-6 weeks.

[EI-DAC]

Rumors report KRK as new base, announcement shortly.

[sunday8pm]

Don't FR already operate something like 25 routes to Krakow from other bases? Will we see more?

[peppo_8787]

Does anyone know of a possible flight Bremen-Palermo?

[PPRuNeUser0176]

Rumors report KRK as new base, announcement shortly.


FR want 10 million over 5 years to increase the current routes to 40 and base aircraft there. The airport won't agree as they can't gaurantee changes in marketing support. At least one airport operator has some sense unlike most other ones FR operate in Europe.

[eu01]

FR want 10 million over 5 years to increase the current routes to 40 and base aircraft there.
Ten million Polish money, you mean? If so, Krakow just granted 2 million PLN for the next year. Looks very likely to realize.

[sunday8pm]

MOL just on BBC breakfast, said they're announcing large expansion at MAN, LPL and EMA.

[North West]

You're about 2 years behind the times

[befree]

large expansion is just two extra planes
from stock market rel
Manchester Summer 2013:

-- 34 routes, 5 new routes - Corfu, Krakow, Lanzarote, Paphos & Trapani
-- 360,000 new passengers (over 2.4m pax)
-- 360 new jobs, over 2,400 jobs in total
-- 1 new aircraft

Liverpool Summer 2013:

-- 39 routes, 2 new routes - Lublin & Zadar
-- Over 180,000 new passengers (over 2.1m pax)
-- 180 new jobs, over 2,100 jobs in total

East Midlands Summer 2013:

-- 38 routes, 2 new routes - Marseille & Menorca (Growth on 17 other routes)
-- 460,000 new passengers (over 2.3m pax)
-- 460 new jobs, over 2,300 jobs in total
-- 1 new aircraft

[FR-]

So the 'extra' a/c will take EMA back up 2010 a/c numbers.

fr-

[racedo]

You're about 2 years behind the times

Its called EEBS - Ex Employee Bitterness Syndrome.

[TSR2]

EMA ... 38 routes ... Over 2.3 million passengers

LPL ... 39 routes ... Over 2.1 million passengers

MAN ... 34 routes ... Over 2.4 million passengers

Seems a bit inconsistent. Must be more flights from MAN.

[BOAC]

You have to hand it to the **** - on TV this am "We will be taking on extra staff - pilots, cabin crew, engineers etc, but not Customers Complaints staff as we don't have any of those........"- brilliant:)

[RAT 5]

For one the most supposed IT active companies in the business, 99.99%, you can still only contact Customer Service via post. Now there's a disincentive. The other Krypton Factor Egg-Heads challenge is to find out the phone number of the reception desk at DUB HQ. Answers on a post card to Pprune.

[LGS6753]

It's not easy (groan) to get in touch with Ryanair because all their staff have to provide their own mobiles - and they can't recharge them at work...:E

[dancava]

Have FR loaded all flights for summer 2013 from MAN? Can't find RIX-MAN yet, do FR have issues with RIX at the moment?

[TimmyW]

No routes for DSA announced as yet. It had two this summer. What are the likelyhood of routes being announced? Seeing as Ryanair have had a presence at DSA since it first opened, it would be a shame to lose them completely.

[davidjohnson6]

Plenty of routes from Stansted that are not available yet for summer 2013.... just have to be wait a little longer for all to be revealed

[FRatSTN]

EMA ... 38 routes ... Over 2.3 million passengers

LPL ... 39 routes ... Over 2.1 million passengers

MAN ... 34 routes ... Over 2.4 million passengers

Seems a bit inconsistent. Must be more flights from MAN.

As far as I know it will be 7 aircraft for East Midlands, 6 for Liverpool and 5 for Manchester in 2013. East Midlands and Liverpool do not have a great deal more flights other than those operated by their own based aircraft, (although East Midlands has seen less of this recently). The routes from Manchester on average operate at a much higher frequency and are a large number of services operated by aircraft based elsewhere (effectively making it a similar size to something like an 8 aircraft base with no flights by aircraft based elswhere). Manchester also serves a lot of city routes like Brussels, Dublin, Milan and Oslo which fly at least daily other than the 3 or 4 flights per week you get on most routes from East Midlands and Liverpool.

[flyOU]

An employee from Zadar airport said in a Croatian aviation forum that the airport undergoes an audit for a summer base in 2013

[pee]

Summer base? A new approach. It looks somewhat unclear what operational benefit would be created this way (emphasis on operational), FR are having so many small "bases" already. Nevertheless, Dalmatia is a pleasant region indeed.

[EI-BUD]

It looks somewhat unclear what operational benefit


I can only imagine that they see opportunities to fly between this destiantion and non base airports, i.e. avoiding need to do W patterns.

Perhaps they are being incentivised to this and hence that itself is the driving force behind such a move.

EI-BUD

[sawtooth]

Journalist posing for photos with with Michael O'Leary & Stephen McNamara just now at @Irelandwest (NOC), route announcement imminent?

pic.twitter.com/MeA32yLA

[jubilee]

I note that Ryan Air, get some bad press on this forum, but having used them a few times in the last few weeks,have to say impressed with the punctuality.
Crew have been friendly and aircraft interior clean.

Flying out Sunday afternoon with Jet2 and back Tuesday afternoon with Ryan,
so will be comparing the two flights.
Jubilee

[ssflyer]

"Dear Cardholder,
Firstly we would like to thank you for purchasing a Ryanair Cash Passport card. We have seen thousands of our cardholders benefit from the offer of avoiding the admin fee charge on Ryanair.com since the launch of the card on 1st October 2011. We thank you for your continued support.
It is with regret that we write to inform you that, as a result of decisions by the UK Office of Fair Trading, Ryanair Cash Passport card users will no longer benefit from avoiding the £6 admin fee for transactions made on Ryanair.com from 1st December 2012. While we are disappointed at this development, Ryanair is obliged to honour the decisions of the UK Office of Fair Trading.
We are committed to providing you, the cardholder, with further updates on card promotions and intend on notifying you shortly on our planned changes in the card offering."
:E


What next- Isn't it funny that there are no words from MOL!

[EZY7117LPL]

"As far as I know it will be 7 aircraft for East Midlands, 6 for Liverpool and 5 for Manchester in 2013"

It will be at least 7 aricraft at Liverpool for next year, maybe 8.

[fa2fi]

So does that mean there is no "free" payment method and the admin fee is unavoidable?

[Anansis]

I knew this day would come sooner or later, once the OFT made their ruling a few months ago. The bottom line is literally the bottom line; if a flight, including charges, is'nt value for money, fly with somebody else. As simple as that.

Personally, I only fly Ryanair when they are significantly cheaper than the alternatives (this has nothing to do with their service- more to do with my sincerely held feeling that they are willing me to fall foul of their regulations so that they can sting me with some charge or another). I rarely fly easyjet since they introduced their £9 booking fee. I'm a single traveller who books one way flights - the traditional carriers tend to work out cheaper when baggage and fees are taken into consideration. Vote with your feet I say. If you can get a better deal elsewhere then go for it!

I am intrigued to see what they do to entice people into keeping the card. It had one of the worst foreign exchange rates when I got it. Now it's one of the best (a 'limited' promotion which still seems to be ongoing). Wonder whether they'll offer anything else to keep hold of their customers...

[Jorik]

Well, still no news of the loss of benefits from the Prepaid Mastercard...Does this mean that it will be possible again to avoid the fee with a Prepaid Mastercard in the countries that had the Ryanair Cass Passport? Or simply no more avoiding of the fee?

[FRatSTN]

It will be at least 7 aricraft at Liverpool for next year, maybe 8.

I'm not sure it will be. Liverpool had only 6 for summer 2012 and in the recent expansion announcement for 2013 by Ryanair, it doesn't say they will add another aircraft to Liverpool whilst saying East Midlands and Manchester will both get another one.

Since 2012 was:
EMA - 6
LPL - 6
MAN - 4

Then that would surely mean for 2013:
EMA - 7
LPL - 6
MAN - 5

You may just get more flights with aircraft not based in Liverpool. Also, since Liverpool has a lot of short flights to Ireland, aircraft can do more rotations in one day so they could still do it with only 6 even after the new Lublin and Zadar routes commence.

[Anansis]

Jorik:

Good question. I doubt it personally, although in theory there's no reason why flights which do not either (a) originate in the UK or (b) do not involve a sale on UK territory need to be subject to UK consumer law (this includes the Ryanair cash passport which I think is underwritten by a Irish bank, so is outside the OFT's jurisdiction...).

[eu01]

Well, still no news of the loss of benefits from the Prepaid Mastercard...Does this mean that it will be possible again to avoid the fee with a Prepaid Mastercard in the countries that had the Ryanair Cass Passport? Or simply no more avoiding of the fee?
Or perhaps it still would be possible to avoid the fee with a Prepaid Mastercard in the countries where the Ryanair Cash Passport was never introduced.

However, simply the total price showing without any unnecessary "atomization" (disregarding only the truly optional fees) would certainly make the best impression of decency. Fortunately some positive changes were already made, one has to admit.

[OliWW]

Technically EMA had 7 based, but one was used as spare and for training, so it should be 8 next summer, although it will probably all change come next year anyway!

[EI-BUD]

First time I have checked with Ryanair to book a flight in a long long time and I remembered exactly why I dont fly with them these days;

1. I searched for flights and then exited Ryanair.com and the webpage was closed. I then returned and it then brought up the message, you have more than 1 copy of the Ryanair website open at the same time and this can lead to booking errors, something to this effect. I didnt have any other Ryanair web pages open. What a nonsense, I said this to a mate, who said he had the same issue during the week. He cleared cookies and rebooted and then successfully booked. I ultimately cancelled my search. Aer Lingus to the rescue and at a reasonable price for a last minute booking.

2. Captcha, drives me mad. A total annoyance.

Also:



more to do with my sincerely held feeling that they are willing me to fall
foul of their regulations so that they can sting me with some charge or
another


Anansis,

I couldnt agree more.This very point colours my complete judgement of the company.

[ayroplain]

Aer Lingus to the rescue and at a reasonable price for a last minute booking.
OK, if it is last minute seems reasonable but if it was for an important flight on the 19th Nov or after would you have booked EI?

The CAPTCHA can vary. Very occasionally you get an unreadable one or two in a row but otherwise I find it no problem.

In relation to the two FR web pages being open just wondering what browser you're using as I don't have that problem with either Firefox or Chrome.

[EZY7117LPL]

I'm not sure it will be. Liverpool had only 6 for summer 2012 and in the recent expansion announcement for 2013 by Ryanair, it doesn't say they will add another aircraft to Liverpool whilst saying East Midlands and Manchester will both get another one.

Since 2012 was:
EMA - 6
LPL - 6
MAN - 4

Then that would surely mean for 2013:
EMA - 7
LPL - 6
MAN - 5

You may just get more flights with aircraft not based in Liverpool. Also, since Liverpool has a lot of short flights to Ireland, aircraft can do more rotations in one day so they could still do it with only 6 even after the new Lublin and Zadar routes commence.

Definetly another aircraft for LPL (so at least 7, maybe 8) , however the aircraft going to EMA and MAN are new aircraft but the one/two at liverpool is a re-introduction of the one/two that was taken out a couple of years ago. This seems to have caused a bit of confusion.

[EI-BUD]

ayroplain, flight is for early next week. regarding my browser, good point, I have explorer, and I should be upgrading to chrome, though I dont have problems like this with any other airline....

Thanks for the prompt though...

[pug]

Correct me if Im wrong, but 180,000 extra passengers doesnt sound like an extra based aircaft or two at LPL.

[j636]

Woman hauled off Ryanair jet by police after luggage row | Irish Examiner (http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/woman-hauled-off-ryanair-jet-by-police-after-luggage-row-212730.html)

Why is it that passengers in the UK and Spain can never ovay the rules of flying FR. Its always something from boarding passes or baggage.

[airadio]

More routes to be anounced:ok:

[peppo_8787]

Where?????

[Anansis]

Why is it that passengers in the UK and Spain can never ovay the rules of flying FR. Its always something from boarding passes or baggage.

Because in my experience, these countries tend to be where the rules are most strictly and arbitrarily enforced. I often fly between the UK and Eastern Europe with FR. On the way out pax tend to have the dimensions and weight of their bags checked at the gate. Coming back there are usually no such checks.

[FRatSTN]

Definetly another aircraft for LPL (so at least 7, maybe 8) , however the aircraft going to EMA and MAN are new aircraft but the one/two at liverpool is a re-introduction of the one/two that was taken out a couple of years ago. This seems to have caused a bit of confusion.

Ryanair will announce an increase in aircraft if they will base more than the year before. East Midlands had 7 in summer 2011 but dropped to 6 in 2012. They have announced an additional aircraft so it will go back up to 7 in 2013. In that case, because Ryanair had 7 or 8 in 2011 at Liverpool, but only 6 in 2012, they would have announced an increase in aircraft if that were to go back up to 7 in 2013, but because they have not, it will remain as 6 for the time being!

Am I right in saying that yout theory suggest that because East Midlands had 7 in summer 2011, but 6 in 2012, the announcement of an additional aircraft for 2013 would make it 8 in your case as one would be a re-introduction to it's previous record along with an additional one??? If so, then that is not correct!

[anna_list]

First half results: Half Yearly Report - London Stock Exchange (http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=11384979)

Summary:

Profit up from €544m to €596m
Full year 2013 profit guidance raised to €490m to €520m (suggesting a loss of €70-100m over the second half)
Average fare up 6%
Passengers up 7%
Revenues up 15%
Fuel costs in Summer 2013 will rise by 5% (was 9% this year)
€489m dividend to be paid this month
H2 traffic to be roughly flat. Up to 80 aircraft to be grounded. H2 yields to rise by up to 4%

[Narrow Runway]

Staff pay down (in real terms) by 3.5% and morale down by a further 99% to all time lows.

Nice way to do business.

[Thunderbirdsix]

Ryanair continue to be the most successful airline in Europe

Ryanair Sees Profit Soar 10% In First Half (http://news.sky.com/story/1007038/ryanair-sees-profit-soar-10-percent-in-first-half)

:D:D:D

[NRU74]

Are Ryanair flying Man to Nice next Summer ?
The website still shows two flights in March 2013 but nothing else.

[ayroplain]

Congratulations to FR, MOL and all the fantastic, efficient and friendly staff I have met onboard over many years. A brilliant Irish, European and on-time success story begrudged only by the usual jealous begrudgers, successive Irish Governments, incapable and grossly overpaid Eurocrats, the ruling classes and the Daily Mail.

Raise your glasses tonight to the good ship Ryanair, all ye millions who travel in her.

[Leg]

Thanks ayroplane, best laugh I have had all day, and it's only 10 o'clock... :mad::yuk:

[RAT 5]

T's & C's reduce by 10% in 2nd half.

[racedo]

First half results: Half Yearly Report - London Stock Exchange (http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=11384979)

Summary:

Profit up from €544m to €596m
Full year 2013 profit guidance raised to €490m to €520m (suggesting a loss of €70-100m over the second half)
Average fare up 6%
Passengers up 7%
Revenues up 15%
Fuel costs in Summer 2013 will rise by 5% (was 9% this year)
€489m dividend to be paid this month
H2 traffic to be roughly flat. Up to 80 aircraft to be grounded. H2 yields to rise by up to 4%



Thanks Anna

Good set of results.

[Sober Lark]

Ryanair half year results passengers to Sep 30/2012 at 48 million up 7%. They state they carry approx 12% of Europe's short-haul air travel market.

Is 48 million 12% of the stated market or is 79 million on a 12 million rolling basis, 12% of the market?

Later they say over the next 10 years they can grow to 120 million pa which will be an 18% share of the EU short haul market and a 50% growth on their own passenger numbers. Do these figures assume the current 'regulatory obstacles to growth' remain as they are? Unlike previous reports there doesn't seem to be meaninful mention of orders for aircraft to carry this projected passenger growth.

[Torque Tonight]

Bonuses all round! :ok:

[Paolo]

this capitalist society that we live in.......

[Thunderbirdsix]

Would not mind having a few shares in Ryanair


It said that a second special dividend of 34 cent per share was approved at its AGM in September and will be paid to shareholders at the end of November. Ryanair said it has now returned €1.53 billion to shareholders - via dividends and share buybacks - over the past five years.

[FRatSTN]

Has anybody seen the new "Fun In-flight Menu" called the "Gateway Cafe"?? It's awesome! It has a few budget airline jokes, for instance on the drinks menu "Because the toilets are still free" or for the Alcohol "Well you don't have to fly the plane do you?" Even on the front it says "There's no extra charge to turn the page!"

With it, they now serve new hot food options like Chips and Chicken Nuggets and a new "Almighty Hot Dog" as well as a few other bits and peices such as a Meatball Sub for €6. I think Ryanair have done well here and may get a bit of interest from this. I've always thought that Ryanair offers an excellent buy-on-board programme albeit is a bit on the pricey side and it just got better!

[FR-]

Sounds like, mums go to iceland. Be nice if the food was actually kept in cooler bags all day, and not just abit of dry ice in the atlas box. I have to admit im guilty of having a few of the burgers.

fr-

[FRatSTN]

Ham and Cheese Panini is always my pesonal favourite. I also like how Ryanair with a lot of the snacks go large eg. Twix Xtra or Mars Duo as oppossed to the regular sizes like on EasyJet and charge the same amount!

Flew with EasyJet recently and thought there was a real lack of choice and by the time they were half way down the cabin, they had ran out of all hot food and ran out of vegetarian options by 1/3 of the way down! Luckerly I was 8 rows from the back, so just made it!!!

[Hangar6]

Finance & Stock Market News (http://www.lse.co.uk/finance-news.asp)



EU to oppose Ryanair, Aer Lingus deal - source (http://www.lse.co.uk/FinanceNews.asp?ArticleCode=7yarjd1sk487ywp&ArticleHeadline=EU_to_oppose_Ryanair_Aer_Lingus_deal__source )

Mon, 5th Nov 2012 17:00


BRUSSELS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators plan to object to Ryanair's proposed takeo

ver of rival Aer Lingus because the Irish budget airline has not offered sufficient concessions, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.

'A statement of objections is likely,' said the person, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

A statement of objections is a confidential document issued by the European Commission that sets out in detail the concerns it has about a proposed merger or takeover deal.

The person said the objections were likely to be sent to Ryanair in the coming week or two.

The source said the European Commission had not sought feedback from consumers or competing airlines on the concessions offered by Ryanair, indicating that it was unconvinced by the airline's arguments.
:O:O:O:O:O:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[BigFrank]

I am still amazed (ok, after all these years it has now degenerated merely to "surprised") that the ongoing illegal-under-EU-regulations subsidies demanded and received by Ryanair all over the continent are neither mentioned in the printed accounts nor enforced in any courts.

¿ Proof that the EU is de facto totally out of control?

¿ Proof that the EU is little more than " a cowboy outfit" ?

Cf one of the most succesful companies in the EU ????????????

[EI-BUD]

A news item on RTE Irish television last night said that Ryanair has said that it cannot rule out charging for bringing carry on luggage on board its aircraft, although a firm decision had not been made, the RTE news felt it significant enough to report on.!

Perhaps a piece of free publicity, maybe FR would expect to see a surge in bookings before the date that it comes into effect!!!

EI-BUD

[ayroplain]

A news item on RTE Irish television last night said that Ryanair has said that it cannot rule out charging for bringing carry on luggage on board its aircraft, although a firm decision had not been made, the RTE news felt it significant enough to report on.
I'm nearly sure that I read somewhere in the past few weeks that some other airline (can't remember which) has already introduced this charge and thought, bad move. In FR's case not so much that people will abandon FR as such for another airline but the large numbers of their passengers who presently fly a lot will fly less often due to the extra cost. The original move to charge only for hold luggage left people with choice but charging for cabin baggage means that only day-trippers don't lose out. Or will even a laptop qualify as carry-on luggage? Let's hope that this is another case of pay-to-pee publicity as I'm confident that the introduction of such a charge would be a step too far.

[barrymah]

Both the comments and the tv stuff indicate clearly the reason for the so-called "idea" - cheapest publicity you can get. Cawley has been well trained by M. O'L

BTW, one has to ask why RTE bothered - they wanted to add to the opinion 'Ryanair will try anything' or they wanted to 'knock' Ryr, or, most likely, they actually believed it.

Think, how would it be done? A fee at booking, on what basis? No control at boarding, so whatever you can carry??

I'll be amazed....:oh:

[DublinPole]

Wizzair introduced it a month back barely anyone picked up on it, after all it wasn't Ryanair and anything Ryanair does is automatically 100x worse than any other airline doing the same thing.

Wizz free policy:
If your cabin baggage is of size 42x32x25cm or smaller it can be taken onboard free of charge. It must fit under the seat in front of you.

Wizz paid policy:
If your cabin baggage is larger but not exceeding 56x45x25cm, you can take it onboard for a €10 fee.

The spin they used for it at first is laughable, in that they said they are now giving people a greater choice and now they have the option of taking a large bag on and paying a fee or bring on the normal bag for free. In reality the normal bag is now a much smaller size, whilst the 'large' bag is the old normal sized one that used to be free, although they seem to have changed the description on the site now

They also claim it will help their on time performance but policing it and preventing people with small bags using the lockers (which now are not allowed to be used by people with small bags) which is what they are doing will surely cost them time also?

Wizz Air launches new cabin baggage policy (http://wizzair.com/en-GB/about_us/news/wizen124)

[Sober Lark]

And what are the dimensions of the 'Ryanair official cabin bag' they sell you online?

[RAT 5]

"And what are the dimensions of the 'Ryanair official cabin bag' they sell you online?"

Smaller than standard ICAO, which is a real pain if travelling one way with another carrier, e.g. ez who use the ICAO size, and then RYR or some other non-standard carrier on any other leg. They all use the same a/c; bins are the same size. Why make life difficult? But that is a very open question with very long and varied answers.

And remember, airlines both LOCo & charter, make a big splash about being able to take 10kgs (ez even more) on board FOR FREE. It has always been the case and forever always will be. Are you going to discriminate between a man with an umbrella, or nothing? and lady with normal hand-bag? a duty free bag? even a pile of magazines under your arm or heaven forbid in a plastic bag? And don't even start to think about a mother with all the baby stuff. Obviously some carriers are starting to have the philosophy that they provide a ticket for transport on 1 person between A & B. AND NOTHING ELSE. Anything outside this contractual envelope is chargeable.

Could this size be anything to do with the fact that even with RYR's smaller size they can not fit more than about 140 in the cabin bins? They imposed a rule, but if everyone obeys it and carries their own bag, some will have to go in the hold anyway; for free. Good game.

Interesting article in Daily T's travel section about beating travel costs. It is often cheaper to take the servant with you on a trip, (extra pax ticket) to use their extra baggage allowance than pay for an extra bag. How stupid is that?You can buy a seat for a musical instrument, i.e only 1 pax travelling, but effectively an extra piece of baggage in the seat, but if you purchase the seat only, no musical instrument, you can't take the baggage allowance? It is classified as a no-show. And if you do purchase a seat for the musical instrument you don't get an extra baggage allowance as well. I'm sure the legal boys would have a field day with those conundrums.

Bring on the strap-hanging pax with no bins at all.

[ayroplain]

Wizzair 42 x 32 x 25? Hmm, if adopted that would rule out the official FR bag which is 55 x 40 x 20 and also my own bag which is below current limits and easily fits under the seat.

Like I said, bad move if it comes to pass. I certainly wouldn't pay £20 extra for a return flight for such a small bag.

[racedo]

Traffic up 4% in October

Ryanair today (6 Nov) released passenger and load factor stats for October 2012 as follows:



Oct 11
Oct 12
Change
Yr to Oct 12
Passengers
7.27M
7.54M
+4%
79.3M
Load Factor
84%
82%
-2%
82%





October 2012 was the seventh month in succession that Ryanair has carried over 7m passengers (including a record 8.9m in August). Ryanair remains the only airline in Europe to carry over 7m passengers in one month. Ryanair also carried over 79m passengers for the 12 months to October 2012, which is another record.

[Sober Lark]

Hi Racedo, any idea what's the total short haul passenger traffic for Europe for the same period? (12 months to Oct 2012 that is)

[racedo]

Hi Racedo, any idea what's the total short haul passenger traffic for Europe for the same period? (12 months to Oct 2012 that is)

No idea

Anna Aero may have it but key thing is what do you define as short haul.

You going on the 12% item in the half year results, always a difficult one because there probably will be no standard agreement on total figure.

[apaul]

Passenger growth and load factors are a bit insipid compared to easyJet's 6.2% and 88.4% this October. Presumably the gap in size will shrink further during the winter.

[BKS Air Transport]

I was just reading an article in today's Daily Mail, in which it reports that MOL's long term aim is to bulid up to carrying 20% of European traffic. One of the ways he intends to reach this figure is by taking passengers from legacy carriers and their 'expensive' 'loss making' short haul routes.

I have no problem with this strategy, but I know many people who have never flown on Ryanair, and flatly refuse to do so, because they fear being ripped off in the booking process and/or poor service. This all comes from the things people read about in the papers, and the sort of statements that MOL and his senior management are prone to come out with.

Cultivating an image as the 'nasty' airline (intentionally or otherwise) is hardly the right strategy to win passengers over from legacy carriers. They are effectively alienating a sizeable group of potential passengers.

This is a shame, as I have travelled with Ryanair a number of times, and they have delivered me and my baggage to my destination on time, without fail, at a very good cost, and with perfectly reasonable on-board service from pleasant crews. I can't say this of some of my other airline experiences.

I feel MOL and his colleagues need to think more carefully about the things they say, stop shooting themselves in the foot, and start emphasising the things that they do well. Otherwise I can't see their target as being achievable.

[ryan2000]

I can never understand why Ryanair play down their good points. I traveled with an elderly relative on sveral occasions and they treated her like a V.I.P. On another occasion I mislaid a name on an online booking and they changed it without any charge or difficulty.

The one thing that frightens off older passengers is their policy of leaving you to your own devices if a flight is canceled. It costs them as much in the long run to compensate passengers so they should adopt a more hands on approach and sort out accomodation etc if people request it.

[BigFrank]

I remain amazed that "industry insiders" (I presume) on a website of this nature can post ignorant comments as below:

"The one thing that frightens off older passengers is their policy of leaving you to your own devices if a flight is canceled..."

I know that the UK CAA has scant interest in ensuring that Ryanair obeys law EU 261/2004. Ditto their Irish cousins.

¿ But surely at least one of the remaining 25 jurisdictions is willing to uphold this law ?

[The SSK]

I have been to a meeting of the European Consumer Centres, co-chaired by the Irish ECC and attended by Ryanair's Customer Service Director. The first thing you notice is that there is clearly a friendly working relationship between them.

My conclusion was that Ryanair do settle their claims, to the satisfaction of the enforcement body. Their trick is to create the mindset amongst their customers that leads to the claims not being made in the first place.

[BigFrank]

As per my previous post, I already factored in the cosy working relationship between Ryanair and the local Gardai-equivalents and thus discounted the Irish authorities as enforcers of the law. (After all, any "jurisdiction" which could clutch "bumpkins" like Sean Quinn et al to its bosom is hardly likely to nail "silver-tongued" M 0'L, is it?)

I am also aware of the scandalous use of a Ryanair jet by the EU Transport Commissioner at the time of the last Irish EU referendum, so I'm not holding my breath about HQ-in-Brussels either.

But surely at least one of the other 25 will uphold the law !

¿ Poland ? ¿ Slovenia ? ¿ Andorra? ¿ Lichtenstein ? ¿ Vatican City ?

[racedo]

As per my previous post, I already factored in the cosy working relationship between Ryanair and the local Gardai-equivalents and thus discounted the Irish authorities as enforcers of the law. (After all, any "jurisdiction" which could clutch "bumpkins" like Sean Quinn et al to its bosom is hardly likely to nail "silver-tongued" M 0'L, is it?)

I am also aware of the scandalous use of a Ryanair jet by the EU Transport Commissioner at the time of the last Irish EU referendum, so I'm not holding my breath about HQ-in-Brussels either.

But surely at least one of the other 25 will uphold the law !

¿ Poland ? ¿ Slovenia ? ¿ Andorra? ¿ Lichtenstein ? ¿ Vatican City ?

Dear oh dear so having a friendly professional relationship between an airline director and consumer organisation is not allowed............who knew. Do you think any other airline has adversarial relationship with their national consumer bodies ? Do you think businesses who deal with consumer bodies should have adversarial relationships or professional ones ?

As for lending out an aircraft ..... well given the stated aim of the company was in support of the last but one referendum then they perfectly entitled to spend their money supporting it, as was Intel / Apple and a host of other companies based in Ireland.

There is nothing illegal or scandalous about it as it wasn't exactly a well kept secret was it.
As a number of Ryanair AGMs have occured since and it was not raised as an issue by shareholders I think they don't care.

As to Mr Quinn, well he was born and reared in an area of Ireland that comes under juristiction of UK and maintains that is his place of residence.

Unless you happy to go to court to prove they have broken the law all we have to rely on is just another vindictive statement.

[racedo]

I have been to a meeting of the European Consumer Centres, co-chaired by the Irish ECC and attended by Ryanair's Customer Service Director. The first thing you notice is that there is clearly a friendly working relationship between them.


Question was every everybody talking to each other or was it business on one side and consumer groups on the other and never the twain shall meet ?

[The SSK]

It was a friendly and constructive meeting, until the boss of EUClaim took the floor, accusing all and sundry of deception and ineptitude.

[racedo]

It was a friendly and constructive meeting, until the boss of EUClaim took the floor, accusing all and sundry of deception and ineptitude.

Correct me if wrong but aren't the equivalent of US bottom feeding Ambulance chasering lawyers ?

[The SSK]

They keep I believe 27% of any successful R261 claim they assist in.

[racedo]

They keep I believe 27% of any successful R261 claim they assist in.

Ambulance chasers was right.............

[BigFrank]

27% indeed seems a tad steep as a charge in the real world.

Though not of course in the unreal world of M O'L and his acolytes where customers (sic) are charged the princely sum of 40€ for having their boarding card printed [a charge declared by the Commercial Court in Barcelona on 22nd December 2010 to be legally null and void as well as "abusivo" which you can feed through your google translator for yourself if you are curious.]

[jabird]

I am intrigued to see what they do to entice people into keeping the card.

How about diddly squat? Who paid who when each card was taken out? Normally, a bank would pay an affiliate fee for anyone bringing them customers, and knowing Ryanair they paid a licence fee to have their aircraft on the card.

Perhaps there was no fee paid as Raffaels were essentially doing Ryanair a "favour" because the £6 sign up fee was refunded.

Either way, small print will have no doubt said "we reserve the right to charge at any time", or maybe just "if the OFT tell us we have to charge, then we will - without twisting their arm, honest".

Any ideas on number of people who actually took up card? Percentage of bookings paid for using it?

MOL and his colleagues need to think more carefully about the things they say, stop shooting themselves in the foot, and start emphasising the things that they do well.

I think they think very carefully about what they say. Why do they shoot themselves in the foot? No publicity is bad publicity. They aren't bothered about the social snobs who think Ryanair are beneath them. They will never convert those types. As long as Ryanair marketing costs are well below those of their rivals, they have a key benefit of a couple of extra percentage points on margin, and in this industry, that counts for a lot.

[racedo]

Though not of course in the unreal world of M O'L and his acolytes where customers (sic) are charged the princely sum of 40€ for having their boarding card printed [a charge declared by the Commercial Court in Barcelona on 22nd December 2010 to be legally null and void as well as "abusivo" which you can feed through your google translator for yourself if you are curious

Ryanair today (11th Oct, 2011) welcomed the decision in the Barcelona Appeal Court, which ruled that Ryanair's boarding card reissue penalty is lawful and complies with Spanish and EU law. This final ruling overturns a lower Court finding that the boarding card reissue penalty did not comply with Spanish law.

Least if you going to claim stuff you get state the correct position as the original decision got slapped down in a higher court.

[BKS Air Transport]

@ jabird

You are right, they won't get those 'snobs' (your word) off legacy carriers and on to Ryanair with the sort of things that MOL comes out with. But Ryanair's expansion policy requires them to do exactly that, they have said as much themselves.

Being careful in the things that they say costs nothing. I can think of several other airlines who operate to a similar business model, but none of them set out in a way that actually discourages some people from even considering flying with them. And what is it that puts these people off? The publicity.

I think it would be very interesting to do a word association test with 'Ryanair', and measure the ratio of replies positive to negative.

[alm1]

The most similar airline to Ryanair is Wizz Air. They carry millions of passengers. But they do not do those publicity stunts. The result - even in this forum ant this thread there are people who do not know them. They say - some airline started charging for carry on. But they do not remember Wizz Air name.

[pee]

Not sure if posted before or not:
Ryanair jets out of Turku | Yle Uutiset | yle.fi (http://yle.fi/uutiset/ryanair_jets_out_of_turku/6345365)

@j636. Two weeks ago it was that way. Now we can hear something quite different. According to McNamara (quoted by Turun Sanomat yesterday):

Turku routes were quite a success and Ryanair was very satisfied with them
For Ryanair it was obvious the routes would continue
There is only one reason why Ryanair had to cancel all these routes: Finavia has risen the security charges, FR cannot accept that
Ryanair has contacted the Finnish authorities and informed that all routes will re-start if the charges in question return to the previous level

I´ve bothered to check what these fees are;

1,00 EUR per pax before
1,20 EUR per pax now.

:mad:

Btw. Finavia did not rise these fees. The decision was made by Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi).

[Jamie2k9]

Liverpool with have 7 or 8 aircarft there next summer with more routes planned.

[Hangar6]

Have to say the only measure that matters is passengers, and lets face it FR know how to get those passengers on board , hard to see any short term change in the continued growth in bums on seats....just wish they were a wee bit nicer about it all .....

[EI-A330-300]

A SNAPSHOT IN TIME: Ryanair's November Network :: Routesonline (http://www.routesonline.com/news/36/the-hub/168188/a-snapshot-in-time-ryanairs-november-network/)

Some intresting stats suprised DUB is still there second largest destionation and quiet a drop at some main European bases.

[eu01]

quite a drop at some main European bases.
I didn't expect Rome CIA to drop that much. Any explanation?

[boyzinblue]

Köln-Bonn to be announced as a new base on Tuesday. FR going to take on Germanwings (Lufthansa) on their home turf. Currently, they serve only Palma and Girona.

[sunday8pm]

I'd also expect a new base when BER eventually opens.

[PocketRocket]

I didn't expect Rome CIA to drop that much. Any explanation?

CIA was closed for about ten days when the runway got partially new pavement, traffic was transferred to FCO during that time.
Not good for the statistics.

[daz211]

The Irish low-cost carrier will begin flights from the Essex base on April 2 next year.

Spokeswoman Michelle Lowe said: “Ryanair is pleased to announce a new route from London Stansted to Dole located in the east of France between Dijon and Besancon on the Doubs river. “This new service will operate twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays from April 2.

[ericlday]

Should be a popular route as there are a lot of people on it already.....sorry

[davidjohnson6]

I'm assuming the airport at Dijon, the main regional centre, is capable of supporting B737 operations.

Therefore, is Dole the new Angouleme ?
Ryanair flies there as long as they get plenty of "marketing support" from the local Govt. As soon as the commercial terms change, FR throws a hissy fit and walks off...

[Charlie Roy]

Ryanair have already being flying from Porto to Dole for a couple of years.

[jferreira20]

Just since April 2012.

[insuindi]

It seems as if Ryanair is preparing an attack on the German market - it looks as if in addition to the aforementioned press conference in CGN on Tuesday there will also be two further ones on the same day - in LEJ and NUE. For NUE, this will include a STN route apparently, which is probably not what Cityjet was hoping for.

[racedo]

I'm assuming the airport at Dijon, the main regional centre, is capable of supporting B737 operations.

Dijon 7824ft, Dole 7300ft according to Theairdb but that has been known to show European airports nearest airport as one in Australia from time to time.

Given they opened up the route to serve the significant Portugese population there may be no huge marketing support but just a couple of flights a week.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

Hi,

Does anyone have any insider knowledge where the Ryanair Tel Aviv service will be operated from? So far, I have heard it might be from Stansted or Milan.

[Syntax]

Does anyone have any insider knowledge where the Ryanair Tel Aviv service will be operated from? So far, I have heard it might be from Stansted or Milan.

Here's hoping. Alitalia and El Al fares seem to be fixed at remarkably similar prices all year around and are extortionately high.

[davidjohnson6]

There are 41 flights per week in November between London and Tel Aviv - I'm guessing there will be more come high season next summer.

El Al won't exit London out of principle. Easyjet are onto too much of a good thing with the location of Luton compared to the residential origin / destination of many passengers. Seems most unlikely that BA would drop TLV from Heathrow.

Is there really room for a 4th carrier and more frequencies on the route ?
Perhaps Milan, Eindhoven, or (if crew overnighting requirements can be managed) Beauvais and Marseille might have more room for capacity expansion...

[FRatSTN]

Reality is that if they were to strat flights from Tel Aviv, Stansted would be included in that. The routes I really want to see at Stansted are Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais, both very short routes I know, but very feasible. Something like a minimum of 3 flights and 2 flights each day respectively would certainly work. They have done Brussels up to 8 daily flights in the past. Would also like to see Tallinn as well since EasyJet dropped that route, they could easily do a daily service alongside the Luton service since Vilnius goes daily from both.

[racedo]

The routes I really want to see at Stansted are Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais, both very short routes I know, but very feasible.

Personally would prefer a Stansted-Orly service.

[davidjohnson6]

The routes I really want to see at Stansted are Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais, both very short routes I know, but very feasible. Something like a minimum of 3 flights and 2 flights each day respectively would certainly work. They have done Brussels up to 8 daily flights in the past.FRatSTN - could you provide a rationale for flying from Stansted to either Charleroi or Beauvais when a Eurostar from St Pancras (Waterloo no more, so easily accessible from north of the Thames) is both fast (2h20 to Paris, 2h10 to Brussels) and frequent, and there are existing flights to the primary airports in Paris + Brussels from a mix of Heathrow, Luton and City. Would be great if you could also indicate the kind of passenger who would choose to fly STN-BVA or STN-CRL, why they would pay a sufficient price to make the flight profitable and why when including the cost of ground transport and APD into the overall fare, they would not find the Eurostar more suited to their needs

Yes, I know that FR flies regularly from Stansted to Dublin, but that route doesn't have a competing 300 km/h train service...

[Seljuk22]

possible new routes from NUE: STN, CAG, AGP, PSA, ALC, OPO

After DTM the 2nd new airport for FR in 2013 in Germany.

[FRatSTN]

davidjohnson6

The passenger who wants the cheapest access to/from London and East Anglia to/from Brussels or Paris and their surrounding catchment areas. Ryanair on a STN-BVA route with passengers getting transport to/from central London/Paris included would still be a heck of a lot cheaper than the Eurostar as well as a STN-CRL route.

But remember, very few people will want to go from central London to central Paris/Brussels therefore people have to travel to the centre of their origin city in order to start their journey by rail, and many people will not want that. Instead people could fly from a local airport to a cheaper alternative location (STN, BVA or CRL) and spend just 50 or 60 minutes of their lives travelling to their destination city (if they even go there at all, they may be going to a more local area, eg. to see friends/family etc. who live close to STN, BVA or CRL).

[davidjohnson6]

FRatSTN - I grant you that for some people, a STN-BVA or STN-CRL flight would be the ideal option. Yes, FR can do cheap but are there enough people wanting to fly these route and will enough of them pay a fare above the cheapest possible so that Ryanair can make a profit ?
Eurostar have a train with 750 seats approx every hour to Paris and have over 80% of the market - there's probably a good reason for their high market share.

[anna_list]

Ryanair operated STN-CRL from April 2001 (the opening of the CRL base) to April 2004, carrying over 30,000 passengers a month on a few occasions.

The route was re-opened in June 2007 and operated at least twice daily until March 2008, carrying up to 16,000 passengers a month. In both 2007 and 2008 the route achieved an average flown load factor of 56%, giving it the 2nd worst load factor from STN in both years.

The London - Brussels air market has suffered hugely in the last 10 years, shrinking from 1.5 million passengers in 1999 to 0.5 million in 2011.

With Ryanair we've learned never to say never, but I would have thought that having tried STN-CRL twice before and in the context of a market that has all but collapsed, it would be surprising if they tried a third time.

I suspect that their experiences on STN-CRL also explain why STN-BVA has never been attempted.

[Hollymead]

Eurostar have a train with 750 seats approx every hour to Paris and have over 80% of the market - there's probably a good reason for their high market share.

So many more advantage's of train over aircraft when its a viable option , look what happened to STN-PIK when Euston to Glasgow Central came down to 4 and a half hours .

[ScotsSLF]

The train between Glasgow Central and Euston was not the reason behind PIK-STN being stopped. Whilst loads were good the yields to be had were greater on the Bucket and Spade routes out of PIK and hence the aircraft were better utilised doing routes like PMI, TFS , ALC etc.

[Hollymead]

Im sure the load factor was great ....as there was only 1 flight a day at the end . ;)

How many was there at it's peak 6-8 ?

[ScotsSLF]

In the early days there were 10 return flights all designed to try and take market share from BA and BMI. Then Easyjet started up and competition became fierce with prices across all the airlines falling. Great for the consumer but the capacity was too great and yields suffered. FR changed their Scotland strategy in that they centred their European city destinations on EDI and the sun spots on PIK. The UK internal flights just didn't bring the returns so they were stopped. In fact the only one left is PIK - LDY and with load factors of around 55% not sure how safe that one is. The train might have taken a few passengers but as it is still expensive and 4.5 hours I doubt if it took so many as to cause FR to drop the STN flights. Bigger profits on the sun routes.

[Jorik]

Besides PIK from Derry, there are still BHX, LPL and STN which are also UK domestic flights. Can you tell me where to find load factors and yields? Or is that just inside information?

On the other subject, two reasons why STN-BVA and STN-CRL have little potential: distance from the city centre (STN, BVA & CRL, ruling out business traffic) and proximity of both Brussels and Paris to the canal tunnel (Making car and train so much faster). FR does operate the very short flights EIN-STN and NRN-STN, which are doing very well, and from December they are starting MST-STN (I have my doubts, route was tried before and failed)

[davidjohnson6]

Jorik - yields are not publicly available, but you can find number of passengers each month on (almost) any route out of a UK commercial airport by going to the CAA website and looking at the airport statistics section. Initial passenger numbers for Oct 2013 due to be released provisionally some time this week. Given passenger numbers and knowledge of how many seats were available for sale you can obtain load factor.

[boyzinblue]

New routes from Leipzig are Faro and Pisa (2x weekly). Faro was announced this year but never started - so not really new.

[peppo_8787]

Good.. do you have news from Cologne?

[boyzinblue]

Nürnberg also confirmed.
New routes are Stansted, Pisa, Alicante, Malaga, Cagliari and Porto.
3 year deal bringing in 200.000 passengers

[Jorik]

davidjohnson 6 - Thanks a lot! Pitty Dutch airports only announce montly figures with the overall passagers. Not by airline and not by route.Always quite interesting to know load factors..

[jdcg]

Faro and Malaga added from Cologne

[FRatSTN]

I hope they don't start a CGN-STN route, that would no doubt pull Germanwings out of the route and they are one of very few carriers Stansted has left now other than Ryanair and EasyJet.

[VC10man]

I recently flew with Germanwings from Stansted to Cologne. I really enjoyed my flight, lovely clean plane with nice pastel shades of paint. No signs of dark blue or yellow in the cabin. They did not try to sell us any scratch cards and although they arrived early they did not play us that lovely Ryanair trumpet ditty!

Great.:D

[ssflyer]

Most of the routes post April from BHX are up,utilising all of the 6 locally based aircraft, but not GRO (winter flights transferred to BCN).
Any idea when they will be bookable as I would like to use my Ryanair Cash Passport for 8 sectors,saving me £48,before the end of this month (-:
Thanks for all your great input
SSF

[FRatSTN]

I thought BHX had 4 aircraft, which maybe possibly up to 5 for 2013 in order continue the BCN, BGY and KRK services through the summer that were new for the winter.

[Transportraition]

To VC10man - stick with them !

[EI-A330-300]

All flights from Canneries after March have being taken off sale, could there be more cuts to services/bases on the way?