Ryanair will not suspend Knock-London flights

Ryanair has decided it will not be suspending its service on the Knock-London route from January 11th. Last week the company said it was suspending flights on the route because of a new £6 passenger levy the airport said it had to introduce in January if it was to stay open.

A brief statement last night said "Ryanair has, this evening, announced that there will be no suspension of its twice daily service from Knock to London, Stansted. Passengers will continue, therefore, to enjoy Ryanair's low access fares to and from the West of Ireland, without interruption."

The statement added however that "Ryanair continues to believe that the proposed passenger levy at Knock is fundamentally wrong. If Knock airport received the same parity of treatment in terms of regional support from the Government as airports like Sligo, Galway and Kerry, it would not have a shortfall and then would not have to introduce this unjust levy on passengers."

A spokeswoman for Ryanair would not elaborate on the statement. The company had "nothing to add", she said, but drew attention to the part of the statement which described the levy as "fundamentally wrong."

At the weekend Knock airport board refused to comment on speculation that Virgin Airlines was interested in providing flights on the Knock-London route, but the board confirmed it was talking to a number of airlines and would be making an announcement this week.

Virgin Airlines refused to comment on whether it had been involved in talks with Knock airport board.

In a weekend statement North Connacht Farmers described the Ryanair threat to suspend flights as "arrogant in the extreme" and said "while making enormous profits, Ryanair is losing consciousness of the need for reasonable behaviour and fair play."

Knock airport board defended its proposed levy on the grounds that it faced annual losses of £800,000 following the abolition of duty-free sales.