Posts Tagged ‘Ryanair’

  • Page 1 of 2
  • 1
  • 2
  • >

Ryanair admit Ethiopian Airlines jet which crashed into the sea was previously theirs

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

The Ethiopian Airlines jet which crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from Beirut Airport on Monday was allegedly previously the property of Ryanair. Witnesses say that the jet burst into a ball of flames as it crashed into the sea. All ninety passengers on board are thought to have been killed. Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chef executive said that the company had sold the Boeing 737 in April last year. The aircraft was eight-years-old and last underwent routine maintenance checks on Christmas Day. During its seven years in service the 737 logged 17,750 hours of flying time. A number of plane spotters have come forward saying that they have records of seeing the plane at British airports between 2002 and 2009. The Irish Aviation Authority has also said that the aircraft with serial number 29935 was previously owned by the budget airline.

Mr. O’Leary has said that there is no way that he can be held responsible for the tragedy. He said that second hand aircraft were like second hand cars, the previous owner cannot be held responsible for an accident that happens eleven months after the vehicle has been sold. He also pointed out that no one yet has any idea what happened to cause the catastrophe. Army officials are still searching for the black-box recorder and gathering up the aircraft debris which is coming ashore. Finding any survivors of the crash is extremely unlikely and thirty-four bodies have already been pulled out of the water. Among the dead are two British men.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Travel News | No Comments »

Visa Electron users face administration charge when booking with Ryanair

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Customers who book tickets with budget airline Ryanair with their Visa Electron card will face paying an additional charge as of 1st January 2010. In the past customers have not had to pay extra when using the card to book tickets. Now if customers wish to avoid a charge they will have to use a Mastercard Prepaid card if they want to avoid Ryanair’s £5.00 administration fee.

At the moment airlines have to offer at least one free payment option to customers if they want to avoid increasing the headline prices on adverts for their services. If they do not have the option of buying a ticket that does not involve the addition of an administration charge then they have to display this fact to their customers when they advertise their fares. The Advertising Standards Authority states in its rules that all non-optional fees included in a ticket’s price must be included in the headline price.

At the moment Visa Electron holders are not charged a fee when they book with budget carriers such as Easyjet, Flybe, BMIbaby, Aer Lingus and Ryanair.

Mastercard Prepaid cards need to be topped up before they are used and although customers are not subjected to credit checks in order to obtain one they may be subject monthly charges, a fee for making the card operational and charges when money is withdrawn.

According to the U.K. Cards Association around 1.7 million people already own a prepaid card from either Mastercard or Visa. Stephen McNamara from Ryanair points out that such cards are readily available throughout Europe.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Travel News | No Comments »

British Airways cabin crew accused of not helping

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Cabin crew working for British Airways have been slammed for not doing enough to help the recession hit airline. Jonathan Strickland, an aviation expert was talking at this years World Travel Market when he pointed a finger at BA employees for not helping the airline’s CEO Willie Walsh adapt to the modern market. They are due to vote on whether or not to strike in the run up to Christmas over working conditions and pay. He said that airlines now had to focus more on costs rather than just the traditional glamour associated with air travel. Strickland went on to tell the Vision Global Economic Forum that BA needed to keep up with airlines such as Ryanair who are managing to supply quality service without the enormous costs.

Walsh also spoke to the forum in a pre-recorded video. He said that the main challenge facing British Airways at present was to make sure that it was striking the right balance between demand for seats and the supply of those seats. He said that the business was going to have to bring itself in line with the drop in demand.

Both Walsh and Strickland talked about the impact of the loss of the business passenger on premium airlines. Walsh said it was obvious that the global economic downturn had had a devastating impact of the numbers of people flying in the airlines first class and business cabins. Strickland said that because airlines cannot be sure whether or not these passengers would be returning then business models had to be made to adapt. He went on to say that BA was trying to do this by reducing capacity.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Travel News | No Comments »

Aer Lingus’ future secure if merger takes place

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Former chief executive of Aer Lingus and current British Airways chief Willie Walsh believes that the future of the Irish flagship carrier would be secure only if it merges with another airline.

The airline is currently fighting to save €100 million by slashing 670 jobs in Ireland, however the Belfast operation would not be affected.

Mr Walsh spoke yesterday at the Jim Kemmy Business school saying that various vactors had created an uncertain future for Aer Lingus, given the state of the economy, so the airline must look at a relationship with another carrier.

But the airline may face difficulties given the current ownership of the national airline in finding new investors.

Walsh said that the current shareholder being Ryanair with 30 percent, the Irish government with 25 percent, and the Employee Share Ownership Trust with 15 percent, he struggled to see how anyone would invest or want to invest with that sort of structure.

When asked about the proposed takeover of Aer Lingus by Ryanair, Walsh said he always found it a challenge as to why Ryanair would want to control Aer Lingus.

He said that there were serious competition issues and there was a significant overlap between the two carriers and the competition regulators would always struggle with that.

He continued by saying that it wouldn’t be impossible, but a merger between the two would be very difficult.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Finance and Business, Travel News | No Comments »

More budget carriers predicted to crash following SkyEurope

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

The collapse of the Slovakian budget carrier SkyEurope may just be the tip of the iceberg as smaller airlines find it difficult to stay afloat amongst one of the worst slumps ever recorded.

Nick Cunningham of Evolution Securities said that at the end of summer or in early autumn, it is likely that more airlines would shut down.

He went on to say that would be extremely difficult due to weak traffic and even weaker yields.

He said that if airlines are not going to be viable, there is no point continuing to run it and it should be shut down.

Last week, Bratislava-based SkyEurope said that a court-appointed trustee had decided that bankruptcy was the only way forward due to the lack of sufficient funding to finance ongoing operations.

The airline had shown signs of trouble for some months prior, not operating on the same scale as major players EasyJet or Ryanair, which have the financial capacity to weather the biggest downturn in travel since the 1930s.

Analysts say that SkyEurope would not be an isolated case and that other carriers were going to find it hard to reach winter.

SkyEurope was formed in 2002 as the market began to recover from the shock of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, but the airline only had limited funding and hoped to cash in on the boom in following years, like many of its rivals.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Travel News | No Comments »

Aer Lingus to keep long haul services

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Ireland’s flagship airline Aer Lingus announced on Sunday that it doesn’t plan to cull its long haul services as part of plans to reverse increasing losses.

A newspaper report said senior management believed cutting back routes to the US was a possibility in the medium term, however an airline spokesman said the former state carrier would remain in the sector.

“We’re not getting out of long-haul but we have to make long-haul work,” the spokesman said.

The report also said the airline was contemplating shifting its focus away from major European hubs and moving towards using “secondary” airports, a key strategy for major competitor Ryanair in order reduce costs.

“That has yet to be decided,” the Aer Lingus spokesman said in response, without elaborating.

The article in The Sunday Tribune says plans were being considered by management would still include keeping routes from London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle, but move out of other expensive airports in smaller cities.

Aer Lingus recorded a first-half operating loss last Thursday and said that no bank was prepared to lend the money for the airline to order new aircraft because of its cash burn rate, pledging a massive cost-cutting scheme to make the business profitable again.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Travel News | No Comments »

Aer-Lingus and Ryanair in war of words

Monday, August 31st, 2009

A war of words between Aer Lingus and major shareholder in the struggling airline, Ryanair, has escalated with both sides accusing each other of damaging the struggling airline.

Aer Lingus, which last week reported a loss of £65 million, has accused Ryanair of ‘doing a lot of damage’ to its share price.

Aer Lingus chairman, Colm Barrington, said on Irish radio that Ryanair had adversely affected the company’s share price as it launched two takeover bids.  He also said that job and pay cuts were imminent to help the airline survive.

Europe’s largest low cost carrier hit back at the claims, insisting that the Aer Lingus board was alone to blame for the poorly performing share price.

“The person who has damaged Aer Lingus is Colm Barrington, who as chairman eight months ago recommended rejection of Ryanair’s offer of €1.40 per share, only to preside over a share price collapse to less than 50 cents in August,” a Ryanair spokesman said.

“Mr. Barrington promised shareholders in December that Aer Lingus ‘is and will continue to be profitable’ only to announce substantial losses for 2008, and increased losses in 2009. Without Ryanair’s 30pc shareholding, we believe Aer Lingus’s shares would have collapsed even further.”

Aer Lingus claims it would not be surprised by yet another takeover bid from Ryanair.

Thanks to the Telegraph for the above quotes.  For more information visit their website.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Travel News | No Comments »

Ryanair scraps services from Robin Hood Airport

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Ryanair plan to cut services to and from Robin Hood airport this winter due to increased taxes.

The move to cull flights comes as the airline announced a new base at Leeds Bradford airport offering services to 14 destinations.

Earlier this month Ryanair announced that nine out of 10 services to and from Manchester will be ceased following a dispute over airport charges.  The one route remaining at the airport will be Dublin to Manchester.

Other services that have been scrapped include Dublin to Doncaster, as well as dozens of services from London Stansted and Dublin, due to an increase in taxes imposed by the British and Irish governments.

Air Passenger Duty on short haul flights will increase by 10 percent from November 1 this year as tax on medium and long haul flights double.

“Unfortunately, increased travel taxes are affecting our ability to offer the lowest fares,” said a Ryanair spokesman.

He added that passengers who are affected by the alterations would receive a full refund.

Despite the cut back in services, Ryanair have announced plans of a new base at Leeds Bradford in March 2010, offering mainland services to Ibiza, Malaga and Malta, which will also create about 1,000 jobs.

Over the last year 140 routes have been cut from Britain to mainland Europe due to rising costs and declining passenger numbers.

Many routes are also being cut back in frequency.

Thanks to The Telegraph for the above quotes.  For more information on this article visit their website.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Travel News | No Comments »

Luton could lose EasyJet

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

In further changes in the airline industry over landing fees, EasyJet could leave Luton Airport and move their hub elsewhere.

The low-cost carrier calls Luton its ‘Spiritual Home’, but is understood to be refusing to pay higher landing charges planned by the airport.

If an agreement couldn’t be reached the carrier would possibly move its aircraft to London Stansted or Gatwick airports.

The negotiations follow Ryanair’s decision to axe 90 percent of flights from Manchester airport over high airport fees.

The difficult climate and competition within the market is said to be the cause of many airlines attempting to cut as many costs as possible, with many regional British airports losing out.  This could lead to passengers with less choice of budget airports from their nearest airport.

Britain could also lose airlines to European destinations which have scrapped tourist taxes or reduced airport charges.

Sources close to EasyJet say that airport fees already make up 10 percent of the fair from Luton, and the proposed fare increase would mean the airline has to raise ticket prices.

EasyJet spokesman Andrew McConnell said: “Talks are still continuing between EasyJet and the airport about airport costs and the future growth strategy, which would allow us to invest at the airport to create much needed jobs.”

A Luton Airport spokesperson said: “Luton Airport maintains a constant dialogue with all of the airlines that operate from the airport over contracts, new routes and growth and our established practice is to conduct these sensitive commercial negotiations in private.”

Thanks to the Daily Mail for the above quotes.  For more information visit their website.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Travel News | No Comments »

Ryanair to launch 8 new routes

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget carrier, has announced the launch eight new services, bringing the total to 27 flights from Edinburgh, up from 19 at the same time last year.

The airline will be focussing its efforts on routes popular in winter like Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife, as well as city break locations such as Brussels, Munich, Gdansk and Oslo.

Ryanair hope to increase passenger numbers up to 2 million at Edinburgh airport and sustain 2,000 local jobs.

The services will open from October until March 2010.

Ryanair’s announcement comes just days after the airline had decided to cull many of it’s Manchester routes in a dispute over airport charges.

Managing director of Edinburgh Airport, Gordon Dewar, said: “We are delighted that Ryanair have once again committed to expanding their operation out of Edinburgh Airport, now the fastest growing airport anywhere in the UK.

“These are exciting new destinations, which will give our increasing numbers of passengers an even greater choice of places to jet off to this winter.

“We are particularly pleased to see new routes to Germany, Spain and Norway, key tourism markets for Scotland, particularly over the Christmas and New Year period.”

Thanks to BBC News for the above quotes.  For more information on this article please visit bbcnews.com

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Travel News | No Comments »

« Older Entries