Ryanair Expansion in Sweden

[TACAN]

Sorry, can't link to this page in the FT, but here's a precis :

Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, is expected to announce today that it is broadening its attack on the European aviation market with the opening of its first operating base in Scandinavia at Stockholm-Skavsta airport.

Skavsta, about 60 miles south of Stockholm, will be the airline's fourth operating base in continental Europe and will become part of its rapidly expanding network, aimed at making Ryanair the largest short-haul airline in Europe within five to six years.

The group is expected to announce this week that it will also be developing its presence in the German market, launching to Airport Niederrhein in north-western Germany. Niederrhein, which is being developed as a civil airport on the site of a former UK fighter base close to the Dutch border, is scheduled to open in May.

Ryanair is expected to base three or four aircraft at Skavsta with the opening of a network to several European locations.

These are likely to include the existing services to London Stansted and Frankfurt-Hahn as well as Paris-Beauvais, Glasgow-Prestwick and destinations within the Nordic region.


TACCY[

[Departures Beckham]

Ryanair's News Report (http://www.ryanair.com/press/2003/jan/rte-en-280103.html)

Either me or Ryanair have lost a base somewhere. They say it's their ninth European base, yet I can only find eight:

London Stansted
Glasgow Prestwick
Dublin
Shannon
Brussels Charleroi
Frankfurt Hahn
Milan Bergamo
Stockholm Skavsta

Can anyone think of the 9th?

Edited because I couldn't find the ninth base ... and thought someone here may help me.

[whiskydrinker]

they have one aircraft based at luton

[Mevrick]

Yes, the 9th would be London Luton.

[Avro Arrow]

er Liverpool

Well done Skavsta - you deserve the prize.

AA

[OLNEY 1 BRAVO]

From the Ryanair Website:

"RYANAIR ANNOUNCES ITS NINTH EUROPEAN BASE
SIX NEW ROUTES (30 FLIGHTS DAILY) FROM STOCKHOLM SKAVSTA
Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 low fares airline, today (28th January 2003) confirmed that it had chosen Stockholm Skavsta Airport to be its ninth European base.

Starting in 9 weeks time (4th April 2003), Ryanair will allocate up to 4 aircraft to its new base in Stockholm, operating over 30 flights each day from Stockholm on 6 new international routes to Aarhus, Glasgow, Hamburg, Paris, Oslo and Tampere (Finland) – in addition to the hugely successful existing routes to London and Frankfurt.

This new Scandinavian base will result in the creation of over 200 new jobs in the Stockholm area and will result in over 1.5 Million passengers being carried through Stockholm Skavsta in the first year of this new base. These passengers will save over 3 Billion SEK compared with the high fares currently being charged by SAS, Scandinavia’s high fares airline.

As well as announcing details of its routes, Ryanair also announced launch air fares from just SEK 299! Ryanair’s one way fares will be at least 84% cheaper than the one way fares currently offered by SAS.

ROUTES COMMENCES RYANAIR SAS SAVING


ROUTES COMMENCES RYANAIR SAS SAVING

LONDON 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 299 SEK 6 824 95%
FRANKFURT 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 299 SEK 6 609 95%
AARHUS 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 399 SEK 2 671 85%
OSLO 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 399 SEK 2 569 84%
TAMPERE 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 459 SEK 3 169 85%
GLASGOW 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 599 SEK 7 092 91%
HAMBURG 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 599 SEK 5 004 88%
PARIS 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 699 SEK 7 774 91%



Announcing details of the 4th Continental European base in Stockholm today, Ryanair’s Chief Executive, Michael O’Leary said:

“Thanks to Ryanair, and Stockholm Skavsta Airport, the SAS high fares monopoly in the Scandinavian market is at an end. Ryanair are breaking the monopoly of SAS in the Scandinavian markets of Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark – with choice and low fares which will save consumers over 84% on the SAS high fares. For years, visitors to Stockholm area and Swedish consumers have had to put up with SAS’s high air fares, but this monopoly ends on 4th April 2003.

Now there will be a choice of air fares and daily scheduled flights not only to London and Frankfurt, but also to Oslo, Glasgow, Aarhus, Paris, Tampere and Hamburg – and guaranteed at the lowest air fares - 84% saving on the high fares charged by SAS. These fares are only available at Europe’s largest travel website, www.ryanair.com, and we would urge people to book early as seats at these prices will sell out quickly.

These routes will be operated by 4 of Ryanair’s brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft, and recruitment and training will shortly get underway of 100 people in time for the base launch on 4th April 2003.

Our passenger numbers have grown rapidly at Stockholm Skavsta Airport since we began flying in June 1997. With these new routes and our base investment, traffic growth at Stockholm Skavsta Airport will explode..”

Welcoming Ryanair’s announcement of Stockholm Skavsta Airport as its new base, Dot Gade Kulovuori, Managing Director of Skavsta Airport said:

“ Ryanair have been firm supporters of Stockholm Skavsta Airport for 5 years, and together we have seen passenger numbers increase year on year.

We are delighted that Ryanair share our ambitious plans for Stockholm Skavsta and today’s announcement and the new routes, will bring even greater choice and low fares to the people of Sweden, as well as benefiting the local economy with in coming visitors and jobs.”

[Tcas climb]

ROUTES COMMENCES RYANAIR SAS SAVING

LONDON 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 299 SEK 6 824 95%
FRANKFURT 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 299 SEK 6 609 95%
AARHUS 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 399 SEK 2 671 85%
OSLO 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 399 SEK 2 569 84%
TAMPERE 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 459 SEK 3 169 85%
GLASGOW 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 599 SEK 7 092 91%
HAMBURG 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 599 SEK 5 004 88%
PARIS 4TH APRIL 03 From SEK 699 SEK 7 774 91%

They are at it again, comparing aples and oranges. Take the most expensive SAS ticket, compare it with the lowest Rayanair ticket. You can not compare a ticket that gives you the right to rebook at your discresion, with a ticket thats worth absolutely nothing if your plans change.

[FlyingIrishman]

What a surprise, the Ryanair bashing has started, I wondered how long it was going to take...

[akerosid]

I have to say, as much as I admire SAS (and I do!), they had it coming. I was actually surprised when Begamo pipped it last time. With SAS effectively in control of aviation in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, fares are ridiculously high.

Although the routes initially announced are "international", I wonder how long it will be before they fly domestically in Norway and Sweden?

Watch out Braathens!

[AJ]

See where you're coming from TCAS, but let's be fair here, they've done a lot to bring down fares in Europe, so much so that even BA travellers should be partly grateful!

[dwlpl]

Yes Liverpool was named by Ryanair as a base for the north of England early in 2002.

Since then nothing.........................

[Tcas climb]

I'm not bashing Ryanair, I'm simply stating a fact.

[stormin norman]

After this weeks news who would want to go for a stag night in sweden "Sorry sir youv'e had one pint 12 hours ago,your pissed"
Holland wins every time!

[Departures Beckham]

They keep going....

Now five new routes from STN and increased frequency on eleven others.

FROM: Ryanair's Latest News (http://www.ryanair.com/press/2003/jan/rte-en-290103.html)

29 January , 2003
RYANAIR ANNOUNCES FIVE NEW ROUTES FROM LONDON
TO GERMANY, FRANCE, NORWAY AND HOLLAND

PLUS INCREASED FLIGHTS TO 11 DESTINATIONS FROM LONDON

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 low fares airline, today (Wednesday, 29th January 2003) announced five new routes from London Stansted Airport to Reims and Pau in France, Haugesund in Norway, Maastricht in the Netherlands and Dusseldorf (Niederrhein) in Germany, and announced details of increased flights to 11 destinations across Europe, with fares on these new routes starting from only £49.99!

REIMS FRANCE £ 59.99
PAU FRANCE £ 59.99
MAASTRICHT HOLLAND £ 49.99
HAUGESUND NORWAY £ 59.99
DUSSELDORF(NIEDERRHEIN) GERMANY £ 49.99

The new routes, which will commence on 30th April 2003, will add even greater choice to consumers at the lowest fares, with Ryanair now serving 48 destinations across Europe from London. Ryanair now have a network of 100 routes across 15 European countries.

Announcing details of the five new routes in London today, Ryanair’s Chief Executive, Michael O’Leary said:

“Ryanair will carry more than 20 million passengers across the UK and Europe over the coming year alone. Since we started flying from London Stansted back in 1989, we have already carried more than 30 million passengers through Stansted Airport.

"Today, we are bringing even more choice to UK consumers with the announcement of 5 new routes to destinations in Germany, France, Netherlands and Norway. This brings Ryanair up to 100 destinations across 15 countries.

"These 5 new routes will commence on 30th April 2003 and with 75 flights per week to Dusseldorf (Niederrhein), Reims, Pau, Haugesund and Masstricht, and fares staring from £49.99 including taxes, UK consumers will continue to benefit from Ryanair’s low fares to even more top European destinations".

In addition, we are announcing increased frequency on 11 of our existing services from London Stansted to:

BOLOGNA KERRY HAMBURG TURIN

VENICE STOCKHOLM MILAN ROME

FRANKFURT BARCELONA STRASBOURG.

NEW ROUTES

ROUTE RYANAIR(One Way) COMPETITIOR FARE (One-Way) SAVINGS
LONDON- PAU £59.99 Air France £398.90 85%
PAU-LONDON €69.99 Air France €517.90 86%
LONDON-HAUGESUND £59.99 SAS - £380.10 84%
HAUGESUND-LONDON NOK790 SAS –NOK 6865 88%
LONDON- REIMS £59.99 Air France £379.90(Metz) 84%
REIMS-LONDON €69.99 Air France €487.90 (Metz) 84%
LONDON-DUSSELDORF £49.99 BA - £266.00 81%
DUSSELDORF-LONDON €59.99 BA - €362.23 83%
LONDON -MAASTRICHT £49.99 KLM Exel £197.40 75%
MAASTRICHT -LONDON €59.99 KLM Exel €264.88 77%



INCREASED SERVICES FROM LONDON STANSTED PER DAY


MILAN 6
BARCELONA 3
ROME 5
FRANKFURT 6
STRASBOURG 2
BOLOGNA 2
KERRY 2
HAMBURG 3
TURIN 2
VENICE 4
STOCKHOLM 5

[knobbygb]

Inital destinations from Skavsta are:

Aarhus (daily)
Beauvais (twice daily)
Lubeck (twice daily)
Prestwick (daily)
Torp (twice daily)
Tampere (twice daily)

[OLNEY 1 BRAVO]

Hmm ... some PR "smoke and mirrors" here I think.

Stansted - Strasbourg is said to be increased by two flights a day to ..... 2 flights a day! Good maths that. Anyway, they already fly twice a day on that route!

Shurley shome mistake?

[TheDrop]

You cannot compare Ryanair and SAS?

Maybe because SAS is for very rich people and/or people employed by government or rich companies, who can pay for the tickets.

Low fare airlines are for common people, who do not have access to large funds, or someone to pay their tickets for them. They just want to go from a to b.

Flexible ticket? Who cares whether the ticket is flexible? You can change your mind 20 times with a low fare ticket before you approach the cost of the SAS ticket.

Mialge points? The company pays the SAS tickets, the employee gets the points to fly for privately. If that was a 3rd world country, it would have been called corruption.

The biggest lowfare downside in my opinion is that when you are flying through, you cannot check your baggage through, and have to wait at the baggage belt, and check in again. For this you often have to allow 2 hours, even though you are just changing from one aircraft to another. Checking in can be tedious, and no automatic checkin machines (wonder why?)

The rest of the low fare I can easyLy live with.