Ryanair axes Fuerteventura route

Ryanair today confirmed it is closing a popular holiday island route following a dispute with the local tourism group.

The no-frills carrier will cease all services to and from Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands from January 31 2009.

Ryanair flew to the island from a number of airports including Stansted, Birmingham, East Midlands, Dublin and Shannon.

The low-fare airline said local tourism group AIE had “failed to honour” a commercial agreement.

Ryanair began flying to Fuerteventura in 2006 and annual passenger numbers grew to 250,000.

It first announced last month its intention of axing the route and gave AIE 30 days’ notice “to remedy their contract breach”.

Ryanair’s Michael Cawley said today: “This is a very black day for Fuerteventura and one which will have a severe impact on tourism and the livelihoods of its islanders.”