11 November 2009

Ryanair pulls Swiss base

Ryanair is pulling out of Basel with the loss of six routes.

Routes to Stansted, Alicante, Cagliari, Marseille, Porto and Stockholm (Skavsta) will be withdrawn from December 2.

The budget airline claimed the airport had refused to lower its charges to reflect lower fares being paid by passengers in the recession.

Ryanair said it had offered an additional 13 weekly flights and 200,000 new passengers which would have created 200 new jobs if the airport reduced its charges.

Passengers affected by the route closures will be emailed by the carrier and provided with a full refund.

A spokesman for the airline said: "Ryanair continues to lower fares to encourage travel, but with passengers paying lower fares airports must lower their charges - particularly high cost airports like Basel, London (Stansted) and Dublin.

"Ryanair will continue to grow at low cost airports which work with us to deliver the low fares required to keep passengers flying during this recession."

by Phil Davies

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Your Comments (2)

Good for Basel/Basle

The day will no doubt arrive, sooner than later, when Ryanair's bluff will be called and the the hot air balloon of Dublin's financial sleight of hand will fail. Just like sub-prime mortgages.

By J Hewson, Wednesday, November 11, 2009
How long??

How much longer can this continue? Reality is that airport/airline require a commercially viable & fair relationship. Bullying will no longer be fruitful for shareholders, and those that don't understand the industry may start to realise.. Once again, for those affected- f deck/crew; we have vacancies with a great airline in Saudi. www.progressivepersonnel.ae More info - james@progressivepersonnel.ae

By James Roberts, Wednesday, November 11, 2009