[Rallye EIBFP]

RYANAIR ANNOUNCES BIGGEST EVER EXPANSION AT DUBLIN 12 NEW EUROPEAN ROUTES START FROM DECEMBER



Ryanair, Ireland?s largest airline, today (Wednesday, 9th August 2006) unveiled a significant expansion of its European operations at Dublin Airport. From December, Ryanair will base three new aircraft in Dublin Airport, create over 200 jobs, and start services on twelve new routes from Dublin to points all over Europe. The new schedule of routes is as follows:

Destination


Starts


Frequency

Oslo (Norway)


Dec


Daily

Madrid (Spain)


Feb


Daily

Tampere (Finland)


Dec


Four Weekly

Vitoria (Spain)


Jan


Four Weekly

Billund (Denmark)


Jan


Four Weekly

Bologna (Italy)


Feb


Four Weekly

Grenoble (France)


Dec


Three Weekly

Friedrichshafen (Germany)


Dec


Three Weekly

Seville (Spain)


Jan


Three Weekly

Pula (Croatia)


Feb


Three Weekly

Almeria (Spain)


Jan


Two Weekly

Rzeszow (Poland)


Jan


Two Weekly

These new destinations start in December 2006 and will be served by Ryanair on a year round basis. They bring to 63 the number of UK and European routes served by Ryanair from Dublin and completes Ryanair?s displacement of Aer Lingus as the national carrier of Ireland, as demonstrated by the following facts:

1. Ryanair carries 42M pax annually, five times more than Aer Lingus? 8M.
2. Ryanair offers more routes from Dublin to the UK (18) than Aer Lingus (7).
3. Ryanair offers more routes from Dublin to Europe (45) than Aer Lingus (28).
4. Ryanair offers double the routes from Irl to UK&EUR (102) than Aer Lingus (51).
5. Ryanair carries 50% more passengers to/from Ireland (12M) than Aer Lingus (8M).
6. Ryanair?s av. fare is ?41. Aer Lingus?s av. Eur fare is 60% higher @ ?67.
7. Ryanair beats Aer Lingus on punctuality, fewer cancellations and fewer lost bags.
8. Ryanair brings more visitors to Dublin and Ireland than Aer Lingus.

Announcing these new routes in Dublin this morning, Ryanair?s CEO Michael O?Leary said:

?Move over Aer Lingus! Ryanair is now Ireland?s national airline and Aer Lingus is just a distant number 2. Passengers prefer Ryanair because we give them lower fares, many more destinations to the UK and Europe and a better passenger service in terms of newer aircraft, better punctuality, fewer cancellations and fewer lost bags.

?On every route where there they have a choice, millions more passengers prefer Ryanair to Aer Lingus. Today?s twelve new routes will end Aer Lingus? high fare monopoly to destinations such as Madrid, Bologna, Almeria and Seville. Irish passengers who previously had no alternative to Aer Lingus? high fares and frequent delays on these routes will now have a low fare, on-time option with Ryanair. Irish passengers will also enjoy Ryanair?s low fares to new European destinations such as Norway (Oslo Torp), Denmark (Billund), Finland (Tampere) and Eastern Poland (Rzeszow) which are not currently served by Aer Lingus.

?This year Ryanair will carry 42 million passengers across its network. This is five times more than the annual, 8M traffic of Aer Lingus. Ryanair also carries 50% more passengers than Aer Lingus to/from Ireland. The Irish people have voted with their feet and made Ryanair Ireland?s number one airline. In the process Aer Lingus has been displaced as Ireland?s national airline and now survives as just a distant number 2.

?In 2007, Ryanair will deliver 9M passengers through Dublin airport, sustaining 9,000 jobs in Dublin and generating a tourist spend of ?2.5BN. To celebrate these 12 new European destinations, Ryanair is launching a seat sale today with every seat on every one of these routes (except Grenoble and Friedrichshafen) being sold for just ?12 one way (including taxes, fees and charges) for travel during the first month of operation. This offer will run for one week only and I urge everybody to book their seats as quickly as possible on www.ryanair.com because at such low prices, these seats will sell out fast?.



I think its time for Aer Lingus to start worrying.

[doyler]

Yea that deadly my dad fly DUBLIN-ALMERIA With Aer Lingus!! which cost him about 118? Single! most defo be cheper wit Ryanair!!
!

[TolTol]

They are more English than Irish if you ask me.

[RV BLUE]

They are more English than Irish if you ask me.

Sorry sir thats a load of "hog wash" Aer Fungus is getting its butt kicked at long last...even Willie got out before he got bogged down in the old government management style. British Airways got a good buy with Willie. Flying home in a couple of weeks on a real airline, US Airways...direct Dublin....Aer Fungus sucks... Anything that is owned and run by any government sucks, always has been that way....

[Rallye EIBFP]

I agree....certainly!

[dowlingm]

rv-blue

you should read some of the PPRuNe threads about BA (and especially BACON) and then tell me if WW was a good acquisition. Willie is stuffing regional services like he did in EI, following the Waterworld Fortress Heathrow tradition - and now look at the state of LHR.

[RV BLUE]

Dowlingm, I'm sure you are correct, my point was one of destain for anything run by a government, especially Aer Fungus who were benefactors of protectionism for so long and could'nt make it then.

[Akerosid]

In fairness, for most of its history, it was serving one of Europe's poorest countries and it was also serving successive govts which saw fit to use it to reduce unemployment, overstaffing it significantly. Then it had to deal with backward aviation policies which prevented it from operate t/a routes profitably. True, it has made mistakes, but compared to other state owned carriers like Sabena (who?), Alitalia, Iberia, Olympic etc, it's wasn't a bad outfit at all. I'm not saying it's perfect, but given the environment in which it had to operate, it served us well. So, let's be a bit slower with the boot in the rear.

Look at Sabena and yes, I'll preface that by saying it too had a proud history and I'm sorry it died - particularly for the staff it left behind, BUT there was Brussels, at the heart of Europe, HQ of the EU, NATO, etc, with all the conferences, business trips etc that brought, and Sabena couldn't make that work? Do you really think EI would have made a mess of that? I don't. Given the chance, it can get things right - but it must actually get the chances. And it still doesn't have freedom to operate.

[RV BLUE]

And it still doesn't have freedom to operate.

As long as it belongs to the government, there'll be little change. Like I said as long as it is in government hands it will never be run like a buissness, they dont have the same rules.

[StephenM]

They are more English than Irish if you ask me.

Flying home in a couple of weeks on a real airline, US Airways...direct Dublin....Aer Fungus sucks... Anything that is owned and run by any government sucks, always has been that way....

I agree with the US Airways remark, I cannot remember the last time I got something for free on a short haul flight! Great airline

However I do not regard Ryanair as "Irish" anymore, they are too much related to STN to be Irish. Anyway how many routes are they dropping to bring those in? Like their recent "expansion" at Shannon.

[RV BLUE]

However I do not regard Ryanair as "Irish" anymore, they are too much related to STN to be Irish.

I think thats purposeful, staying out of the grips of the government.......quite smart if I'm right....

[TolTol]

I stand by my comments, why the hell do people have to go to EMA for an interview if they wish to join an "Irish" airline? Also, go to Ryanair.com and you'll see all their prices are in sterling!

I do agree though that anything to do with the government sucks, bring on privatisation.

[Rallye EIBFP]

Also, go to Ryanair.com and you'll see all their prices are in sterling!

Click the little Irish flag on the top left and you will find they change to Euros.

[TolTol]

Lol, I know how to work the website, it was the fact that it is displayed in sterling first.

[StephenM]

Also, go to Ryanair.com and you'll see all their prices are in sterling!

Click the little Irish flag on the top left and you will find they change to Euros.

If we are Irish, looking at an Irish airline, why should we have to change prices from British to Irish? Surely thats more evidence that they prefer to think of themselves as British.