Ryanair has announced its largest ever summer schedule from Dublin Airport, with 120 destinations and over 900 weekly flights available for its Irish customers this summer.

This record-breaking schedule, which includes fantastic sun getaways to Spain, Portugal, Italy, including Sardinia and Sicily as well as exciting destinations in the Greek islands, Croatia and regional France.  Ryanair will also increase its investment with the basing of a 33^rd aircraft at Dublin Airport this summer, representing a further $100m investment and bringing its total investment at Dublin Airport to $3.3 billion. Ryanair also confirmed today that it will create 30 direct jobs as a result of this additional aircraft based in Dublin.

With an additional 22 routes compared with Summer 2019 and over 900 flights departing to over 120 destinations every week, this increased connectivity will delivery much needed inbound tourism while also giving Irish holiday makers an abundance of travel choices to top European destinations like Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia and Portugal.

After 2 years of stop\start ineffective travel restrictions, the daa have finally been given the tools to incentivise travel with its Traffic Recovery Support Scheme (TRSS) which was recommended by the Aviation Task Force in their report of July 2020.

This investment by Ryanair in its largest ever Dublin schedule is a direct result of the recently launched Traffic Recovery Scheme by the daa. With many airlines cutting capacity and routes this summer, Ireland must lower access costs as it competes with regions and airports in other EU countries for a diminished pool of airline carriers in Europe which will shrink total short haul seats in Europe by up to 15% this summer.

Ryanair is the only airline in Europe adding capacity in significant volume with the delivery of 67 new Gamechanger Aircraft (delivering -40% noise emissions, -16% fuel emissions, +4% seats) before the start of summer 2022. If Ireland is to hold on to this capacity and connectivity then the TRSS scheme must at a minimum be extended by the Government into the winter ‘22/23 season to ensure that Irish inbound tourism, particularly post summer, secures the capacity, connectivity and tourists which are vital to the growth of the Irish economy.

Ryanair made this announcement:

Ryanair has called on the European Commission to ignore Lufthansa’s false claims about operating “ghost flights” just so they can “block” their slots and protect themselves from competition from low fare airlines. The solution is simple, Lufthansa should sell the seats on these flights at low fares, and reward EU consumers many of whom have funded the €12 billion of State Aid that Lufthansa and their subsidiaries in Belgium, Austria and Switzerland have already received from hard pressed taxpayers over the last 2 years of the Covid crisis.

Lufthansa complains about “ghost flights”, not because of concerns about the environment, but rather so they can further save the slot regime to protect their slots, which they aren’t using, while eliminating competition and consumer choice.

Ryanair’s Group CEO Michael O’Leary said:

“The solution to Lufthansa’s “ghost flights” problem is a simple one – just sell these seats to consumers. If Lufthansa really needs to operate these flights (solely to prevent the release of these slots to competitor airlines), then they should be required to sell these seats to the public at low fares. The German and EU public have already bailed out Lufthansa with billions of State Aid to Lufthansa and their subsidiaries, Brussels Airlines, Swiss and Austrian, and instead of operating empty flights just so they can block slots, Lufthansa should release the seats on these flights for sale at low fares to reward the German and European taxpayers who have subsidized it with €billions during the Covid crisis.

Lufthansa loves crying crocodile tears about the environment when doing everything possible to protect its slots. Slots are the way it blocks competition and limits choice at big hub airports like Frankfurt, Brussels Zaventem, Vienna, among others. If Lufthansa doesn’t want to operate “ghost flights” to protect its slots, then simply sell these seats at low fares, and help accelerate the recovery of short and long haul air travel to and from Europe.

In the meantime, Ryanair again calls on the European Commission to force Lufthansa and other State subsidized airlines to release slots that they do not wish to use, so that low fare GHOSTBUSTERS like Ryanair, among others, can offer choice, competition, and lower fares at these hub airports. The EU should ignore Lufthansa’s disingenuous claims about “ghost flights” when the solution is simple – sell the seats on these flights and then they will no longer need to be ‘afraid of no ghost’ flights”.

Ryanair Holdings plc has released its December traffic statistics as follows:

Ryanair operated over 62,200 flights in December with an 81% load factor.

The Board of Ryanair Holdings plc have announced that it was lowering its full Year Guidance from a previous Net Loss range of between €100m to €200m, as the Omicron Covid variant and recent Government travel restrictions across Europe have notably weakened close-in Christmas & New Year bookings. This sudden downturn has also caused Ryanair this week to cut its planned January schedule capacity by 33%.

The impact of these recent Government travel restrictions, in particular last weekend’s ban on UK arrivals into France and Germany, and the suspension of all EU flights to/from Morocco has lowered Ryanair’s expected December traffic from between 10m-11m, to a lower range of between 9.0m-9.5m. In responding to these restrictions, Ryanair has now cut its January capacity by 33%, reducing its expected January traffic from approx. 10m to between 6m-7m. In light of the current uncertainty about the Omicron variant, and intra Europe travel restrictions, no schedule cutbacks have yet been decided for February or March 2022. These schedules will be revisited in January as more scientific information becomes available on the Omicron variant, its impact on hospitalizations, European population and/or travel restrictions in February or March.

As a result of these new Covid developments, it is now likely that Ryanair’s full year traffic forecast will be just under 100m passengers (previously guided at just over 100m), and the expected Net Loss for the full year (end on March 31, 2022) is likely to be within a new range of €250m to €450m. However, these figures are hugely sensitive to any further positive or negative Covid news flow. Ryanair hopes to have more clarity, especially on the impact of Omicron on intra Europe travel restrictions, in time for its Q3 results on January 31, 2022.

Ryanair has announced its latest partnership with Junta de Andalucía in a bid to further boost tourism recovery across the Spanish region. Central to the partnership is an exciting and innovative joint communications campaign aimed at strengthening Spain’s position as an attractive tourist destination and spurring visitors from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Norway and Sweden.

As the most southern region in Spain, Andalucía is famous for its Moorish architecture, autonomous region of hills, clear-blue rivers, and mouth-watering food.

Ryanair Holdings plc released its November traffic statistics as follows:

Ryanair operated over 62,300 flights in November with an 86% load factor.

Ryanair has announced the opening of its fifth base in Portugal with 2 new based aircraft.

NEW SUMMER 2022 ROUTES TO MADEIRA

Ryanair’s CEO Eddie Wilson said:

“We are delighted to announce the opening of our new base in Madeira, which will deliver increased connectivity with 2 based aircraft and 40 weekly flights across 10 new routes, connecting Madeira with cities such as London, Paris, Dublin, Milan and Manchester on a year round basis. This $200m investment will not only boost Portugal’s economy by driving vital tourism but will also create more than 60 direct jobs in the region and over 400 on-site jobs in Madeira.  

Efficient operations and competitive airport charges provide the foundation from which Ryanair can deliver long-term traffic growth and increased connectivity. We worked closely with our partners in Madeira airport, Tourism de Portugal and APM to secure this growth and improve the services for those that live, work, or wish to visit the region.

At a time when other airlines are reducing their fleets and closing bases, we are delighted to continue to invest in both our people and airports in Portugal. We urge the Portuguese Govt. to do likewise by opening Lisbon-Montijo, scrapping the ill-timed aviation tax (which is a direct tax on tourism) and introducing a non-discriminatory traffic recovery scheme.  All of which could be easily funded with the €3.2bn of wasteful state aid granted to the small zombie airline TAP, by the Portuguese Govt. 

Ryanair will operate over 160 Portuguese routes next Summer (over twice as many as TAP), to 15 countries, making Ryanair Portugal’s number one carrier for choice, fares and on time performance.  To celebrate, we are launching a seat sale with fares available from €29.99 for travel next Summer, which must be booked by Thursday 25^th November. Since these amazing low fares will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto http://www.ryanair.com now to avoid missing out.”

Ryanair celebrated the opening of its new Turin base and launched its Summer 2022 schedule. With two based aircraft, representing an investment of $200m alongside the introduction of 19 new routes, Ryanair significantly enhances Turin and Piemonte region connectivity.

Ryanair’s new Turin base will deliver:

• 2 based aircraft (a $200m investment)
• 60 direct jobs
• over 100 departing flights per week
• 19 new routes

Ryanair’s new base in Turin represents our commitment to the Piemonte region and further demonstrates Ryanair’s ability to rebuild the Italian tourism industry.

With 40 routes to choose from at Turin, passengers can now book a well-deserved getaway, flying at the lowest fares to exciting destinations such as Cagliari, Edinburgh, Malaga, and Seville.

TURIN – W21 SCHEDULE RECAP

TURIN – S22 SCHEDULE RECAP

In other news, the airline celebrated the opening of its new Agadir base and the launch of its Summer 2022 schedule. With two based aircraft, representing an investment of $200m, this new base at Agadir signifies Ryanair’s commitment to Morocco and further demonstrates its ability to rebuild the Moroccan tourism industry, playing a key role in the recovery of jobs and the local economy.

Ryanair’s new Agadir base will deliver:

• Two based aircraft (a $200m investment)
• 60 direct jobs
• 30 total routes (20 new routes)
• Connections to popular European destinations such as Alicante, Barcelona, Bologna, Turin & Valencia
• Over 65 departing flights per week

With 30 routes to choose from at Agadir, passengers can now book a well-deserved getaway, flying at the lowest fares to exciting destinations such as Bologna, Lisbon, Madrid, Pisa, Turin & Valencia. To celebrate the opening of its new Agadir base and its Summer 2022 schedule announcement, Ryanair has launched a seat sale with fares available from just 219 MAD, which must be booked by Friday 12^th November, only on the Ryanair.com website.