Filenews 1 September 2022
In its decision to close the winter base of the airport "El Venizelos", with the release of 2 aircraft, Ryanair proceeds.
The company, which is asking for more attractive charges and incentives for the winter season, will conduct only 10 out of 29 routes in Athens, reducing the available capacity by almost 60%.
The Irish company, closing the Athens base from October 29 to the end of March, argues that Athens Airport and Fraport Greece do not offer strong incentives to boost passenger traffic in the winter season and to develop tourism outside peak seasons.
"At a time when other governments and airports are reducing charges and introducing tourism recovery programs, the Greek government continues to implement high tariffs, making Greek access fees uncompetitive," the company's CEO, Eddie Wilson, told Capital.gr.
"While this winter we will grow in Portugal 21%, in Italy 19% and in Spain 17%, in Greece the capacity offered will be reduced by 40%", commented Mr. Wilson, arguing that Ryanair, although it has submitted several proposals to the Greek government, since November 2021, in which it pledges to double passenger traffic over 5 years, to 10 million passengers per year, is not enough, however it received no response.
"Greece is a wonderful and top travel destination, with excellent performance in the summer, resulting in many airports being saturated and lacking slots. However, for the development of the winter season, it is considered necessary, among other things, to adopt incentives so that Greece and Athens are not a seasonal destination", commented Mr. Wilson.
"Ryanair is growing significantly in Europe. With more than 150 deliveries of new aircraft over the next 4 years, it is able to offer a rapid rise in passengers, improving the connectivity and accessibility needed to stimulate the Greek tourism market throughout the year," the company's CEO added.
Ryanair reduces by 40% the available capacity in Greece in the winter
As mentioned above, in the winter season Ryanair will operate 10 routes from Athens, which will be to Dublin, London, Brussels, Milan, Bologna, Rome (Fiumicino), Budapest, Katowice, Vienna and Malta, no longer parking any aircraft at the airport "El. Venizelos" compared to 2 last year and 4 in 2019.
Also, the company will conduct routes both from Chania and to and from Thessaloniki, which it maintains as a base.
Summing up, executives of the Irish company, which is estimated to hold the 3rd place in Greece in market share (7%), behind AEGEAN (38%) and SKY express (15%), stressed that, while other European airports and governments in Portugal, Croatia and Ireland have reduced air charges and have successfully implemented tourism recovery programs in the winter season, Athens airport and more generally, the Greek government maintained uncompetitive airport charges.
"The Greek government needs to address the seasonality of its tourism product, as the Greek islands lack connectivity during the winter (-45% vs. summer). In fact, tour operators account for less than 5% of the winter traffic of Greek airports, so the loss of capacity of Europe's largest airline is detrimental to the Greek economy," they said.
Source: Capital.gr
