Ryanair axe 9 out of 10 routes in charges row
18.08.09
Ryanair is closing 9 of its 10 routes from Manchester Airport this winter - a move that will lead to the loss of 600 jobs, it says. The budget airline blamed Manchester Airport's refusal to lower its charges for the decision. A total of 44 weekly flights will be lost from October 1, with the loss of 60,000 passengers a year.
Routes to Barcelona (Girona), Bremen, Brussels (Charleroi), Cagliari, Dusseldorf (Weeze), Frankfurt (Hahn), Marseille, Milan (Bergamo) and Shannon will cease from October 1. Passengers affected by the decision will be emailed and offered the choice of a refund or flying from a ‘lower cost airport’ - East Midlands, Leeds Bradford and Liverpool.
Ryanair said it had offered Manchester Airport an additional 28 weekly flights and 400,000 new passengers. It said the move that would have created 400 new jobs if the airport ‘reduced its high charges’. An airport spokesman said: ‘We don't believe that charges as low as £3 per passenger are unreasonable. Clearly, Ryanair do and that is regrettable.'
‘We have consistently cut our charges for the last 15 years even when faced with increased costs such as security. We have all but one service that Ryanair offers served by other airlines that operate at Manchester, so the damage will be limited.’
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