Ryanair offers 14 more routes at a price

RYANAIR is offering to add around 14 more routes at Shannon if the airport agrees to pay the airline for new passengers.

The airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary said the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) which owns Shannon “doesn’t give a shit” about the airport.

He said he is now offering to add one million passengers there after seeing figures that showed just 92,000 passengers passed through Shannon airport last month, a 37% fall on a year earlier.

In return Mr O’Leary is demanding the airport offers him a scheme over five years that he says Aer Lingus avails of at Dublin airport. It would essentially result in the DAA initially paying Ryanair around €4 for every new passenger.

Ryanair’s traffic at Shannon currently stands at around 300,000 passengers a year. It has submitted a written proposal to the DAA promising the passengers if Ryanair is granted the discount scheme.

Mr O’Leary said: “Ryanair has already proven that it can deliver dramatic new route and traffic growth at Shannon, when it has a low cost base. Eventually even the DAA monopoly, or the Government, must realise that the way forward for Shannon is low-cost access, and Ryanair.”

Ryanair has given the DAA until March 5 to accept its offer. It said if the offer is rejected it will not pull more routes from Shannon but will not expand there either. Mr O’Leary also said they will not be writing to Cork Airport looking for the same offer. He said should Cork and Shannon gain independence from the DAA, the airport debt should stay with Dublin.

Mr O’Leary pointed out Ryanair is getting a delivery of 45 aircraft which “can go anywhere” including, he said Cork and Shannon.

The DAA meanwhile said it finds the timing and content of the letter to be “rather peculiar”.

It said it would question why Ryanair chose to release selective details in relation to this issue on the eve of the General Election and more than a week in advance of the airline’s deadline for a response.

Mr O’Leary disputed this saying if they released this information last week it would have been a political issue but it’s a business issue.

The DAA said on initial review of the offer it believes a significant number of elements within the Ryanair letter are unsustainable.

The DAA said on top of being paid €4.70 for passengers, Ryanair has also asked the DAA to provide the airline with free offices, free check-in desks, a free crew room, free communications and other unspecified free facilities at Shannon.

The DAA said Ryanair has also stated in its letter that DAA would have to pay back a €3.7 million legal settlement that Ryanair paid the DAA less than six weeks ago in relation to passenger charges.

It said Ryanair’s claim the terms it has sought are the same as those available to Aer Lingus in Dublin is “completely untrue”.