Ryanair to cut flights at Stansted Airport, Edinburgh Airport

Ryanair, the budget carrier based at Dublin, Ireland, is reducing the number of flights at Stansted Airport in London as well as at Edinburgh Airport in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In a statement, Ryanair, the biggest low-cost airline in Europe, said it was cutting capacity by 14% in the winter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008.

The airline will operate 24 aircraft out of London Stansted Airport from October 2009, compared to 28 aircraft in the winter of 2008, and 40 aircraft in the summer of 2009.

Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, told reporters that, as a result of the cut incapacity, 2.5 million fewer passengers will use Stansted Airport during the period, which would badly hit sales at the airport’s restaurants and shops.

The reduction in capacity, according to O’Leary, could lead to a loss of 2,500 jobs, at Stansted Airport the airport.

O’Leary blamed the British government’s action of increasing air passenger duty, by £1 to £11 for European flights in November 2008, for Ryanair’s decision to cut flights at London Stansted Airport. He also threatened to move Ryanair’s aircraft to other countries in Europe which have scrapped passenger duty.

In the statement, Ryanair said that flights on 8 of its routes from Edinburgh Airport, the busiest airport in Scotland, will be eliminated from October 2009.

Flights from Edinburgh Airport on another 11 routes, where booking for winter flights is not available, are likely to be cut, the statement added. These routes, according to media reports are: Altenburg, Cagliari, Bologna, Carcassonne, Limoges, Haugesund, Marseille, Palma, Poitiers, Zadar, and Wroclaw.

The routes from Edinburgh Airport on which flight frequencies have been reduced are: Dublin, Alicante, Bratislava, Dusseldorf, Bremen, Malaga, Shannon, and Pisa.

Aviation analysts say that Ryanair may cut capacity for the winter schedule at Prestwick Airport, the carrier’s main airport in Scotland after Edinburgh Airport.

Ryanair, which at present operates on 29 routes from Edinburgh Airport, said it expects to fly 1.8 million passengers on flights to and from Edinburgh in 2009.