Ryanair launches new winter routes to Canary Islands, Prestwick, but cuts flights at Stansted and Dublin

Ryanair, the budget airline based in Dublin, Ireland, will start new routes to Canary Islands in Spain and to Prestwick Airport in Scotland in the winter of 2009, but has decided to cut its flights at London’s Stansted Airport and at Dublin Airport during the same period. In a statement, Ryanair – which has its biggest operational bases at Dublin Airport and Stansted Airport – said it will launch 39 routes in October 2009 linking the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and Ireland to the three major resort islands in the Canary Islands – Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Lanzarote.

The new routes also will link Portugal and mainland Spain to the Canary Islands.

Ryanair will start flights from  Prestwick airport to Alicante, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, and Palma in Majorca, from October 2009, and to Ibiza from March 10, 2009.

Ryanair will also increase the frequency of flights from Prestwick to Faro in Portugal, Malaga in Spain and Tenerife.

However, it will do away with flights from Prestwick Airport in Scotland to Frankfurt in Germany and to Stockholm in Sweden.

The airline has already abolished flights from Prestwick Airport to Krakow in Poland and to the coastal resort town of Bournemouth in England.

According to aviation analysts, the move by Ryanair to launch new routes amounts to a “challenge” to the operators of package holidays and chartered airlines, which used to dominate tourist transportation to Canary Islands that is located off the west coast of Morocco.

What is more, Ryanair seems to be seeking to compete with operators of package holidays by offering its own online booking services for hotels as well as rental cars, they say.

According to Ryanair, most of the 39 new routes will link the Canary Islands to Britain and Ireland – with 20 routes to Britain, and 4 more routes to Ireland.

Ryanair had earlier announced that it was pulling out 16 of its 40 aircraft over the winter of 2009 from London’s Stansted Airport, its largest base, and is planning to make reductions at Dublin Airport, its number two base. The airline has blamed taxes in British and Ireland for reductions at both airports.

The carrier is cutting its flights from London’s Stansted Airport by 30 per cent and from Dublin Airport by 20 per cent for the winter schedule.

It has already filed a formal complaint to the competition authorities of the European Union (EU) against the Irish government over its tax amounting to 10 euros ($14) on passengers.

Ryanair argues that the tax amounts to “illegal” state aid to its two main Ireland-based competitors – Aer Lingus and Aer Arann.

While tax has not been imposed on Aer Lingus passengers who use Irish airports to transit between flights, the government of Ireland levies a lower tax, 2 euros ($2.80), on the passengers using the internal flights of Aer Arann that originate from Ireland.