Ryanair to reduce flights at Dublin

Ryanair has said that it plans to reduce the number of flights from its Dublin operating base by this summer, meaning a loss of up to 200 jobs.

The Irish budget carrier will cut the size of its fleet based at Dublin from 22 to 18, which will result in weekly flight rotations reduced by 18 per cent.

Among routes affected by the move this summer will be services to Barcelona, Leeds-Bradford and Manchester.

Additional cuts are being threatened next winter as Ryanair protests Dublin Airport charges and the government’s planned €10 tourist tax.

The carrier has estimated that the combined effect of these levies will result in a decline in Dublin traffic by as much as 20 per cent, from 10.8 million passengers to 8.7 million passengers in 2009-2010.

Michael O’Leary, the CEO of the low-cost carrier, said: “The decision by the Irish government to introduce a flat rate €10 tourist tax from April is nothing less than ‘tourism suicide’. This travel tax when introduced (appropriately on April Fools Day) will exacerbate the traffic decline at Dublin, as price sensitive visitors will avoid Ireland and choose other lower cost destinations.”

O’Leary went on to say: “Ryanair has repeatedly called for this tax to be made fairer by making it a percentage of the air fare paid, or alternatively why not scrap the tax altogether and generate equivalent savings by closing quangos like Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland which spend over €150m p.a., but deliver few if any visitors.”

Thanks to www.travelmole.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.dublinairport.com