Another airport is feeling the wrath of Ryanair today as the airline vastly reduces routes and based aircraft in a statement against airport charges and policies.
Alicante is one of Ryanair’s newer bases, and the airline has recently heralded countries such as Spain as being more profitable to operate out of than the likes of the UK and Ireland. However, they are now taking offense to the airport’s fees and policy of making the airline use air bridges to board and de-plane passengers.
As a result, 80% of Ryanair’s operation at Alicante will be cut. This involves cutting 31 routes and reducing the number of based aircraft to 2 (from 11 currently). A number of other routes will also see reductions in frequencies.
Looking deeper into this, it all seems a little like Ryanair’s usual attention-seeking spin. In reality, many of the routes are simply those that are usually dropped seasonally anyway. And it seems a little harsh to blame the enforced airbridge use when it doesn’t seem to be a problem at other bases (Malaga, for example, which is also in Spain). Truth of the matter is that maybe they’re just not making enough profit out of all 62 of Alicante’s routes and they want an excuse to cut them.
So, if you’re a spotter heading to Alicante, expect to see far fewer Ryanair 737-800s. It’s up to you to decide if that’s something to worry about.
Photo (c)Â Gelandet von Pescara
