Ryanair to cut back on flights from Dublin

RYANAIR CHIEF executive Michael O’Leary yesterday said the airline would continue to pare back its services from Dublin airport in a move to force the Government to rescind its €10 air travel tax, which is due to be introduced at the end of this month.

“We intend to drive down [passenger] traffic at Dublin airport until this Government gets the message,” Mr O’Leary said at a press briefing in Dublin.

Ryanair yesterday said it was cutting another aircraft at Dublin airport from its summer schedule, with the loss of 50 jobs in cabin crew and check-in staff. This is on top of the four aircraft and 200 job cuts at Dublin airport that Ryanair announced recently.

Ryanair will have 17 aircraft based in Dublin this summer, compared with 22 last year. It will carry about 8.3 million passengers through the airport in 2009, down from 10.8 million last year.

The latest cuts will result in its services to Oporto, Doncaster, Teeside and Basel being axed from July.

It also plans to reduce frequencies on flights to Aberdeen, Biarritz, Bilund, Bournemouth, Carcassonne, East Midlands, Malaga and Rome.

Mr O’Leary said Ryanair would probably reduce the number of aircraft based in Dublin to 15 for its winter schedule, with the loss of another 100 jobs.

“I don’t think we’ll cut any routes [from the winter schedule] but you will see cuts to frequencies,” he said.

Mr O’Leary predicted Dublin airport would carry 15 per cent fewer passengers this year.

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) yesterday confirmed that passenger traffic at the airport declined in February by 12 per cent year-on-year to 1.4 million.

Mr O’Leary said Ryanair’s cuts were the result of the Government’s decision to introduce an air travel tax and a 12 per cent rise in air traffic control charges, which fall under the auspices of the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).

“Clearly this is going to devastate Irish tourism,” he said.

He said the routes were in the bottom 5 per cent in terms of return for Ryanair from Dublin. “The yields would be very poor,” he added. No comment was available from Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, who is in Toronto for St Patrick’s Day.

In a statement, the IAA said its charges are approved by the Commission for Aviation Regulation on a five-year cycle, with the last increase agreed in 2007. Its charges are among the lowest in Europe, the IAA added.

“Notwithstanding the approval by the CAR of its charges, the IAA is currently seeking cost reductions in all its areas of operations and investments,” the IAA said.

A DAA spokesman said Ryanair had a “myopic attitude” to charges. “Dublin airport is among the cheapest major airports in Europe,” he added.

Aviation regulator Cathal Guiomard declined to comment.