Three Ryanair passengers have received 6000 Euro after a court in Dublin as reimbursement for a cancelled flight from the Irish capital to Carcassonne (France) in 2007. This sentence could become a decisive previous in the consumer-air companies relationship regarding airlines in both general and European cases.
source: Avionews
The Irish low-cost airline has today launched its 2010 charity calendar in which it uses airline staff as the models. It hopes that the calendar will raise £100,000 for the charity “KIDS†which provides support to disabled children and their families across Britain.
This the third year that Ryanair has published these calendars, and the airline donates all the proceeds to charity.
source: Telegraph.co.uk
Ryanair Holdings Plc said it will cancel existing aircraft orders with Boeing Co. if the U.S. manufacturer doesn’t cut the asking price for a new batch of planes.
Negotiations with Boeing over a contract for as many as 200 short-haul aircraft are progressing “‘slowly’,” Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary said today at a briefing in Hamburg. Ryanair may respond by shelving the requirement and scrapping and deferring some current contracts.
source: Daily Herald
Ryanair will remove its airport check-in desks from today, with charges for checking in baggage set to rise.
Passengers will be forced to check in for flights online at a cost of £5, with those forgetting to do so facing an emergency check in fee of £40. Anyone checking in luggage will have to use the airline’s new “‘bag drop'” desks.
Ryanair also announced that from today children under 16 will no longer be able to travel unaccompanied, while passports will be the only accepted form of photo identification.
source: telegraph.co.uk
Passengers attempting to travel using only their driving licence as identification will no longer be admissible on domestic Ryanair flights.
From October 1st the company will only accept passports and National Identity Cards as valid forms of identification in a move it says is to “‘reduce confusion’†over what documents passengers can use.
source: Irish Times
Smokeless cigarettes which look like the real thing but do not have to be lit to provide nicotine to the user, are to be introduced by Ryanair.
Smoking on commercial flights has been illegal since the 1990s, but the airline says it will introduce Similar Smokeless Cigarettes, which it says look and feel like a real cigarette and deliver a small amount of nicotine through inhalation – passengers do not light the ‘’cigarette”.
The new Similar Smokeless Cigarettes are available to passengers over 18 years of age and are sold in packs of 10 on board all of the company’s flights for €6.
source: irishtimes.com
Ryanair is to increase the fees it charges to check in bags and sporting equipment from 1 October by up to 50%.
The airline is to increase the fee for checking in a bag to £15 from £10 now if booked in advance online and to £30 from £20 now if you pay at the airport.
Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: “‘These baggage fees are all avoidable by all passengers who choose to travel with carry on luggage only. Over 70% of Ryanair passengers will be totally unaffected by these changes as they already travel with just one carry on bag, which is free of charge.’â€
source: Times Online
Ryanair is to switch or close nine of the 10 routes it currently operates from Manchester Airport, blaming the airport’s refusal to lower its charges.
The nine routes from Manchester that will close are those to Barcelona (Girona), Bremen, Brussels (Charleroi), Cagliari, Dusseldorf (Weeze), Frankfurt (Hahn), Marseille, Milan (Bergamo) and Shannon.
The airline said passengers affected by the changes would be e-mailed and, “‘provided with a full refund, or the alternative of flying to some destinations'” from East Midlands, Leeds Bradford and Liverpool.
source: BBC News
Europe’s leading LCC, Ryanair, looks set to continue its expansion in Italy as LCC capacity share (a good indicator of market share) growth generally in Europe has tailed off during the last three years. Alitalia has meanwhile announced it is considering transforming Air One, the local rival it merged with in Dec-2008, into an LCC, in response to intense competition.
Traditionally ‘big business’ regions for the LCCs such as Poland and the eastern Baltic – boosted by migrant workers – are no longer growing, and even potentially contracting. Slovakia’s SkyEurope, currently in bankruptcy protection, is one airline to have been affected. With its fleet halved early in 2009 (though some new aircraft have since been added on lease agreements) its passenger traffic was down by over 37% in Jul-09.
source: centreforaviation.com
Ryanair is to cut 670 flights a week, close ten routes and reduce frequency on a further 30 routes in the biggest winter shake-up for the airline so far.
The low-cost carrier refused to specify which routes would be affected. It will move some operations from its largest base, at Stansted, Essex, to Spain, which is abolishing airport landing fees this winter to try to keep tourist numbers up. Greece has also eliminated landing fees and airports around Europe are understood to be arranging discounts with airlines to keep services operating.
source: Times Online
