Ryanair is to reduce the number of flights into and out of Dublin Airport this winter. The airline is blaming the high price of oil, the costs of doing business at Dublin Airport and increases in charges for check-in desks.
Ryanair will operate 18 aircraft out of Dublin this winter, down from 22 last winter. It says it will have 1,200 weekly flights compared with 1,350 last year. This represents an 18% reduction in aircraft and a 12% reduction in weekly flights.
But the Dublin Airport Authority has hit back, saying it believed Ryanair's own business environment, in particular high oil prices, had influenced its decision. It said airport charges, in this context, were of marginal significance.
Earlier, Ryanair announced four new routes from its base in Stockholm from October, along with an increased frequency on four other routes.
Speaking at a press briefing in Dublin today, Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary said that 10% of the airline's fuel is hedged for the third quarter of this year at $70 a barrel. He added that the high price of oil provides opportunities for the airline, as its competitors increase their fuel surcharges and the ticket fares.
Michael O'Leary said this would result in 500,000 fewer passengers going through Dublin airport this winter, which in turn would mean 500 jobs losses at the airport. He predicted that the DAA will see its first fall in passenger numbers since 1991.
Ryanair also said it would cut some routes at Stansted in the UK, which it will detail later this week. All in all, it expects to ground just over 10% of its fleet for the winter. Mr O'Leary said he expects Ryanair to carry about 58 million passengers in the year, one million fewer than an earlier forecast.
Ryanair said it had written to Dublin Airport seeking a reduction in the costs of flights for the winter months, but the idea was dismissed by the DAA.
The DAA said Ryanair had sought support 'on a seemingly exclusive and non-commercial basis' for some winter services, but it said any support had to be transparent and available to all airlines. But it said it would respond to a Ryanair request for support under current schemes for routes it planned to launch this winter.
The DAA also said its maximum airport charge per journey was less than half the cost of checking in one bag on a Ryanair flight.
