The commercial director of Ryanair announced that the airline plans to stop flights from more European airports next summer. The budget airline plans to leave numerous French airports due to what it describes as “unviable” tax hikes in the country.
Ryanair to stop flights
Ryanair had already announced that it is cutting 25 routes and withdrawing from French airports Bergerac, Brive, and Strasbourg following a 180% airfare tax hike in July.
This reduction in service follows Ryanair’s plan to slash 1.2 million seats in its Spanish flight schedule next summer and end all flights to and from Asturias Airport.
Speaking to French magazine Challenges, chief commercial officer Jason McGuinness said a tax increase was to blame for further cuts to its schedule.
McGuinness said, “They didn’t understand that when you increase taxes by 180 per cent in Bergerac or Brive, it simply makes those airports economically unviable for us because we operate there on very tight margins.”
“Certainly, we published very good results this week, but even we, the leaders in Europe, are still going to lose money this winter.
“It therefore makes much more sense for us to allocate capacity in regional Italy, for example, because in Italy, three regions – Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Calabria, and Abruzzo – have abolished their version of aviation tax. We allocate capacity based on the lowest costs, to offer the lowest prices.”
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