Ryanair announced a 40% reduction in its Budapest operations effective 10th January 2013 cutting its base fleet from 5 to 3 Boeing 737-800s closing ten routes and reducing frequency on nine routes ,with the loss of 110 weekly flights and 800,000 passengers after Budapest airport refused to offer a competitive cost base for future growth and efficient facilities, and increased charges.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said “Ryanair regrets Hochtief Budapest Airport’s decision to increase charges, impose inefficient facilities and reject our proposals for a competitive growth offer which would have allowed Ryanair to grow traffic and routes at Budapest.
Ryanair will remain one of the 2 largest airlines operating at Budapest, but Hochtief cannot continue to ignore the competitive marketplace, where airports all over Europe have been reducing costs and offering efficient facilities in return for traffic growth”.
Ryanair will cut routes to Baden, Birmingham,Bologna, Dusseldorf Weeze, Krakow, Lubeck, Malaga, Munich, Oslo Torp and Thessaloniki, also its cutting frequency on nine routes to Barcelona, Bergamo, Charleroi, Dublin, Madrid, Rome, Venice Treviso and Warsaw Modlin. These reductions will see Ryanair’s Budapest traffic will fall by 800,000 passenger passengers per annum from 2 million to 1.2 million.
The Dublin to Budapest route frequency will be reduced from five to three weekly flights from 10th January 2013.
Irish Aviation Research Institute © 22nd November 2012 All Rights Reserved.
