Ryanair today (22 Feb) launched rescue fares from just £24.99 for UK passengers affected by Wizz Air’s sudden cancellation of its London – Dubrovnik route. This latest route cut follows Wizz Air’s sudden cancellation of over 80 routes across Europe in the past 6 weeks, including routes to/from Albania, Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, and Slovenia.

While Wizz Air continues to cut routes across Europe, Ryanair – Europe’s most reliable and low fare airline – is saving the day yet again, with rescue fares from just £24.99 on the airline’s 14x weekly flights between London and Dubrovnik available to book now at ryanair.com.

Ryanair’s Head of Comms, Jade Kirwan said:

“While Wizz Air continues to shrink, cutting both routes and aircraft across Europe, Ryanair – Europe’s most reliable and low fare airline – is saving the day yet again with rescue fares from just £24.99 available for Wizz Air passengers affected by this sudden London – Dubrovnik route cut. Ryanair’s low rescue fares are available to book now at ryanair.com.”

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, announced today (20 Feb) 6 new routes to Frankfurt, Faro, Milan, Skiathos, Trieste and Tirana, in a record S24 schedule for Hungary, with 66 routes in total.

Ryanair’s Hungary S24 schedule will deliver:

• 6 new routes (66 total)
• 2 new B737 based aircraft (10 total) – a $1 billion invest. in Budapest
• 5m passengers (22% growth)
• Supporting over 4,000 jobs, including 300 high paid Ryanair pilot and cabin crew jobs

Despite the damage caused by the Hungarian Govt’s bogus “enviro tax” and Wizz Air’s fleet and route cuts (incl. 5 cancelled routes), Ryanair remains committed to low fares growth in Hungary. Ryanair is launching its biggest ever summer schedule from Budapest, opening 6 new routes to Frankfurt, Faro, Milan, Skiathos, Trieste and Tirana, with 2 new based a/c (10 a/c total). Increased frequencies on 20 other routes including Alicante, Bari, and Rome are part of this expansion, allowing Ryanair to grow its traffic by 22% in 2024, carry 5m passengers and support over 4,000 jobs in Budapest.

Ryanair again calls on the Hungarian Govt to abolish its damaging “enviro tax”. Under the guise of “environmental protection”, this tax imposes higher fees on ordinary Hungarian citizens / visitors. Such unfair taxes undermine competition, harm traffic growth and limit choices for Hungarian citizens/visitors, by raising fares. While Hungary raises taxes, most other European states are cutting fees and taxes to recover pre-Covid traffic and attract more visitors. Hungarian citizens/visitors can now book a well-deserved summer break to any one of 66 exciting routes from Budapest including 6 new routes to Frankfurt, Faro, Milan, Skiathos, Trieste and Tirana.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“While Wizz reduces its based a/c and cuts routes (Castellón, Cologne, Edinburgh, Malmo, Stockholm) and traffic, Ryanair is investing and growing in Hungary. In 2024 Ryanair will once again overtake Wizz to become Hungary’s No1 airline. As Hungary’s No. 1 airline, we are pleased to launch our record S24 schedule in Budapest, with 6 new routes, Frankfurt, Trieste, Faro, Milan, Skiathos and Tirana, and 2 new a/c (10 total). These new a/c enable Ryanair to open 6 new routes and bring 22% more traffic at lower fares, as Ryanair strengthens its No.1 position in Hungary.

As Ryanair grows and invests in Budapest, we call on the Hungarian Government to scrap its stupid ‘enviro tax’. Instead of imposing unfair taxes on Hungarian citizens / visitors, the government should cut fees, scrap taxes and support airlines like Ryanair to grow traffic and jobs in Hungary while operating environmentally efficient fleets. We look forward to welcoming millions of Hungarian customers/visitors on board Ryanair’s low-fare flights to/from Budapest this summer.”

INCLUDING ALBANIA, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, POLAND, & PORTUGAL ROUTES

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (16 Feb) launched rescue fares from just €24.99 for passengers affected by Wizz Air’s latest cancellation of even more routes to/from Albania, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

These latest cuts follow Wizz Air’s sudden cancellation of 21 routes to/from Hungary, Romania, Luxembourg, Serbia and Slovenia, and removal of 5 Poland-based aircraft and cancellation of 19 Polish routes in recent weeks, as the airline’s operation continues to shrink.

Ryanair’s Head of Comms, Jade Kirwan said:

“While Wizz Air continues to shrink, cutting both routes and aircraft across Europe, Ryanair – Europe’s most reliable and low fare airline – is saving the day yet again, offering rescue fares from just €24.99 for Wizz Air passengers affected by this latest round of sudden cancellations. Ryanair’s rescue fares are available to book now at ryanair.com.”

RYANAIR CALLS ON OSSIAN SMYTH TO CORRECT HIS FALSE STATEMENT ABOUT RYANAIR PRICING

Ryanair, No.1 airline, today (15 Feb) called on Green Minister, Ossian Smyth, to correct the absurd and false claims he made this week that Ryanair’s air fares to London and Paris were “more expensive” than competitor airlines. As with other Green Ministers (for Transport and for Tourism), it seems that Ossian Smyth can’t add, can’t subtract, and can’t find a Ryanair low fare flight either!

Ryanair today published a table of air fares for the dates quoted by this silly Green Minister (15^th, 16^th and 17^th Feb) which shows that Ryanair offers lower fares than Aer Lingus to both London and Paris on these 3 days. In fact, competitor air fares are in some cases more than double those of Ryanair.

Ryanair called on silly Green Minister Ossian Smyth to correct his false and inaccurate claims. Ryanair is forwarding a “Basic Maths for Dummies” book to Minister Smyth so he can improve his sums and are also sending him a €50 Ryanair travel voucher as he clearly needs a short break, since he appears to have lost touch with reality.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“Minster Ossian Smyth’s false claims this week show that he is just another Green Minister who can’t add, can’t subtract, and hasn’t a clue about air travel on/off the island of Ireland. It’s hard to believe that this Green Minister can’t find a cheaper Ryanair fare, when millions of Irish consumers can on a daily basis. He should snap up one of Ryanair’s low fares quickly while his colleague Transport Minister Eamon Ryan presides over a traffic cap at Dublin Airport, which means that Dublin cannot grow in 2024, and as demand increases, air fares under these silly Green Ministers will rise.

Ryanair had hoped to base more aircraft in Dublin, offering lower fares to Irish citizens/visitors, but failed Green Ministers – who cannot deliver their own Aviation Policy which is to grow traffic and tourism, means that Dublin capacity is capped, aircraft and growth are being lost to other EU airports, and air fares to/from Dublin are rising. If Minister Smyth is worried about higher air fares, perhaps he should talk to Green Minister Ryan and Green Minister Martin, and lift the Dublin Airport cap, which would allow Ryanair to grow traffic, lower fares, and grow tourism at Dublin Airport and for Ireland.

Ryanair strongly recommends the book “Basic Maths for Dummies” to Green Minister Smyth. We think his time would be better spent improving his addition and subtraction instead of making silly and false claims about Ryanair air fares or Ryanair’s growth in Ireland when everyone – except silly Green Ministers – knows that Ryanair offers the lowest fares on every route, every day, which is why this year Ryanair expects to grow from 184m to 200m passengers, but Eamon Ryan has ensured that none of this growth is being delivered in Ireland.”  

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (15 Feb) announced its latest partnership with leading travel company, TUI, who will now be authorised to offer Ryanair flights, seats, and bags to their customers as part of their holiday packages on the condition that they do not overcharge customers for Ryanair products. The deal will also guarantee TUI customers that their correct contact and payment info is provided to Ryanair, ensuring that they have direct access to their myRyanair account and receive important flight information straight to their email.

This deal puts TUI in stark contrast to the unauthorised OTA Pirates who continue to scam and overcharge customers with hidden mark-ups and provide fake customer contact and payment information to Ryanair. TUI customers will now not only benefit from TUI displaying Ryanair’s real low prices, without hidden mark-ups and providing correct customer contact and payment details to Ryanair but will continue to benefit from flexible payment plans and ATOL protection and will no longer need to complete Ryanair’s customer verification process which unauthorised OTA Pirates’ customers must continue to do.

TUI is Ryanair’s third approved OTA partner, alongside loveholidays and Kiwi, as the airline continues to demonstrate how OTAs can work transparently with airlines without scamming or duping customer with hidden mark-up, overcharges, and invented “service” fees.

Ryanair’s Dara Brady said:

“We are pleased to announce this partnership with TUI, which will enable TUI customers to now book Ryanair flights, seats, and bags as part of their holiday package with the guarantee that they will have full price transparency of Ryanair products, and that they will receive any information regarding their flight directly from Ryanair as well as having direct access to their booking through their myRyanair account. This deal separates TUI from the OTA Pirates who continue to dupe and scam consumers by unlawfully screenscraping Ryanair’s website and mis-selling our flights with egregious hidden mark-ups and overcharges.”

Peter Krüger, Chief Strategy Officer & Chief Executive Officer Holiday Experiences, TUI Group, said:

“The new agreement follows the Group’s strategy of greater digitalisation of the business segments. The cooperation with Ryanair will now further expand the range of dynamically packaged TUI holidays and at the same time achieve a further milestone in digitalization. In addition, the cooperation also contributes to our growth strategy – the aim is to achieve additional growth through more products and new guests.”

David Schelp, CEO Markets & Airlines, TUI Group, said:

“More hotels, more flight connections, more excursions, and activities while traveling and at home – we are creating even more choice for our guests. The agreement we have now reached will create more travel options for our guests than ever before. In the UK in particular, our guests will be able to choose from an even wider range of flights in future – and furthermore to a strong program with TUI Airline’s own flights.”

DUBLIN AIRPORT LOSES 3 AIRCRAFT, 16 NEW ROUTES, AND OVER 200 JOBS TO SOUTHERN ITALY

Ryanair, Ireland’s favourite airline, today (15 Feb) called on Green Transport Minister, Eamon Ryan, to take urgent action to lift the traffic cap at Dublin Airport or quit and let someone else do the job. Ryanair today announced it has switched 3 aircraft, 16 new routes, and over 200 jobs to Southern Italy. These aircraft would have gone to Dublin but have been blocked by the artificial traffic cap. Ireland is now closed for business due to this artificial traffic cap and Ireland is losing traffic and tourism growth to other EU airports under a Green Transport Minister and a Green Tourism Minister, Catherine Martin.

Irish Transport Minister, Eamon Ryan, wrongly claims that the Dublin Airport traffic cap is a “planning matter” in which he can’t interfere. Yet he has no problem interfering in planning for the Dublin Metro which he claims will be “approved this year”. As always with this Green’s Transport Minister, he has no problem interfering in planning for trains but refuses to take any action when Dublin Airport and Irish tourism are losing aircraft jobs and visitors to other EU airports. Minister Ryan should now instruct Dublin Airport on an interim basis to lift this artificial traffic cap and allow Irish tourism to grow or his Govt. should pass legislation raising this cap until the planning process can be completed, which could take 3 or 4 years. If Minister Ryan is unwilling to act, then Green Tourism Minister, Catherine Martin, should take action instead.

Ryanair’s Michael O’ Leary said:

“Dublin Airport has today lost 3 aircraft, 16 routes and over 200 jobs to Southern Italy as a direct result of Transport Minister Ryan’s inaction and incompetence. His own aviation policy commits him to growing Irish aviation and tourism, but instead of delivering growth, after 4 years as Transport Minister, he has delivered a traffic cap at Dublin Airport which could last for 3 or 4 years if left to a couple of county councillors in Fingal and Ireland’s archaic planning system.

Traffic growth at Dublin Airport cannot be fobbed off by a Green Minister to the planning process. He should intervene to lift this cap on an interim basis or quit. He has no problem intervening in the planning process for the airport metro and he should now do likewise with the Dublin Airport traffic cap.

Dublin Airport is the main gateway to the island of Ireland and our tourism industry, which needs a Transport Minister and a Tourism Minister who are determined to deliver growth, not Green sound bites to cover 4 years of inaction and incompetence. The regions of Southern Italy are today celebrating record traffic and tourism growth which would otherwise have gone to Dublin if it were not for Transport Minister Eamon Ryan’s abject failure to deliver his own aviation growth policy.”

Ryanair called again for NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to resign (or be removed by the UK Govt) as East Midlands Airport is forced to close today (14 Feb) causing hundreds of passengers to suffer unnecessary delays due to further NATS Air Traffic Control (ATC) staff shortages.

Today’s forced closure of East Midlands Airport due to NATS staff shortages follows the NATS system failure in Aug last, which caused cancellations and long delays for hundreds of thousands of UK passengers, as well as repeated NATS staff shortages and a further system collapse at Gatwick on 9^th Dec last, disrupting thousands more UK passengers unnecessarily. These repeated NATS failures are unacceptable and make clear that it is time for overpaid CEO, Martin Rolfe, to quit or be dismissed and let someone competent take over.  

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

“It is inexplicable that despite the major NATS system collapse 6 months ago, which caused cancellations and long delays for hundreds of thousands of UK passengers, and repeated NATS staff shortages, overpaid CEO, Martin Rolfe, has still not taken any action to fix NATS. As a result, more UK passengers are suffering delays today (14 Feb) as East Midlands Airport is forced to close due to further NATS staff shortages.

It is unacceptable that passengers continue to face disruption due to NATS mismanagement. UK passengers need a competent UK ATC service and Martin Rolfe has repeatedly proven that he cannot deliver it. If he cannot do his job, then Martin Rolfe should immediately resign and let someone competent run UK ATC.”