The number of passengers flying out of British airports with Ryanair is set to fall for the first time in the airline’s history. Europe’s biggest no-frills carrier is cutting capacity at Stansted by 14% year-on-year this winter – a 40% drop from summer levels.
It said that because airport operator BAA had rejected its demand for deep cuts in airport charges and government plans to raise passenger duty, it was moving planes to cheaper continental airports in protest. Chief executive Michael O’Leary lambasted the “decision of the goons Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling to tax tourists instead of welcoming them. People have to pay £10 just for the privilege of getting on and off this rain-sodden and weather-beaten island.”
What the commentators said It’s a bit rich for Michael O’Leary to moan about higher taxes and fees, said David Prosser in The Independent; “if anyone knows about making a few bob from extra charges”, it’s Ryanair. At least the increase in air-passenger duty from £10 to £11 isn’t hidden in the small print. What’s more, it’s hard to see the charges and the tax doing much damage to Ryanair’s business.
The move is a “negotiating ploy”, said David Millward on Telegraph.co.uk, aimed at “putting pressure on both BAA and the government”. O’Leary “has an opportunity to use Europe’s economic difficulties to screw the best deals out of the most desperate airports and governments”, said David Wighton in The Times. The aviation sector is changing fast and is increasingly resembling “the grubby world of commercial haggling”. This is “a buyer’s market” – note that Spain and Greece have axed landing charges recently, for instance. O’Leary may well get his way in the end.