Ryanair is to drop five routes from Edinburgh, with the loss of 300 jobs, after failing to persuade the airport’s owner BAA to reduce its fees.
The airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary announced at a press conference in the Scottish capital today that from summer 2012 the airline will drop flights from Edinburgh to Berlin, Malmo, Murcia, Ibiza and Tallin.
At the same time it will withdraw one of its seven aircraft from the airport, from where it will carry 300,000 fewer passengers this summer than last. The airline will continue to fly to 35 destinations from Edinburgh, but O’Leary warned that it may drop other routes unless it is able to secure "more competitive terms" by the time its five-year contract with the airport is renewed in October.
The news will come as a blow to BAA which is in the process of finding buyers for Edinburgh, having been forced into a sale by the Competition Commission which ordered it to dispose of one of its three Scottish airports. Final offers are expected by April.
Ryanair accounts for about a fifth of Edinburgh’s passengers. O’Leary said: "While Ryanair remains committed to Edinburgh Airport (and with 1.5m passengers and 35 routes, we continue to be one of the largest airlines operating to/from Edinburgh), BAA Edinburgh cannot continue to ignore the competitive marketplace, where airports all over the UK and Europe have been reducing costs and lowering charges in return for traffic growth.
"We hope even at this late stage that BAA Edinburgh will realise that the way to grow traffic and jobs is by working with Ryanair to lower passengers fares, not raise them."
By Linsey McNeill
