The strike hit European low-cost-high-fee airline Ryanair has confirmed today that it will splash a vast amount of cash to set up two new bases in France.
The carrier says it will invest $400 million in France establishing the two hubs, one at Bordeaux and the other at Marseille. Ryanair will base two aircraft at each of the bases and introduce 27 new routes (connecting 12 countries), which will cater for around 3.5milion customers each year.
From Ryanair’s Bordeaux new base:
16 new routes: Bari (2 wk), Cologne Bonn (3), Copenhagen (3), Dublin (2), Fez (2), Krakow (2), Manchester (2), Marrakesh (2), Marseille (daily), Mykonos (1), Nantes (4), Naples (2), Ouarzazate (2), Tangier (2),Valencia (2) & Venice Treviso (3)
24 routes for summer 2019
70 weekly flights
60 new Ryanair jobs
From Ryanair’s new Marseille base:
11 new routes: Agadir (2 wk), Alicante (2), Bologna (3), Bordeaux (daily), Bucharest (2), Budapest (2), Manchester (2), Naples (2), Ouarzazate (2) Prague (2) & Warsaw (2)
40 routes for summer 2019
150 weekly flights
60 new Ryanair jobs
“We are pleased to open two new French bases in Bordeaux and Marseille, as we base 4 aircraft and invest $400m at the airports. Our growth will deliver 1.1m customers p.a. at Bordeaux Airport and 2.4m customers at Marseille Aiport, while creating 120 Ryanair jobs across both bases and supporting over 2,500* ancillary jobs in the regions." Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer, David O’Brien said on Thursday.
The chairman of the Executive Board of SA Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport, Pascal Personne welcomed the news of Ryanair's new bases, “Ryanair’s decision to base two aircraft at Bordeaux Airport is excellent news for the airport and for our region. This new base will undeniably increase the attractivity of New Aquitaine and represents the opportunity to develop a large number of new destinations."
Ryanair has cancelled a number of flights, at least 190 so far for Friday as staff at a number of bases in Spain, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Italy and Germany. It is the latest in a series of strikes and walkouts by Ryanair staff in various European countries over terms, conditions and pay.
One of the major issues that has caused unrest and dissatisfaction is that most Ryanair employees are employed under Irish employment contracts and have to have their wages paid into an Irish bank account, regardless of where they are based. Such stipulations have a negative impact on the workers lives in their home countries, such as credit ratings, benefits, tax as well as extra costs in communicating with either the bank or the airline.
Many industry insiders believe it is only a brief matter of time before Ryanair warns striking staff in Germany and Holland that if they don't halt industrial action, it will move flights and jobs to the new French bases.
Ryanair will introduce a new route from Bournemouth to Prague from April next year, that will operate twice a week. Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said: “Ryanair is pleased to announce a new Bournemouth route to Prague, commencing in April 2019, which will operate twice-weekly as part of our Summer 2019 schedule.
The company recently issued more details of its expanded summer schedule for next year from Manchester. The airline will start 6 new routes to Bordeaux, Gothenburg, Marrakech, Marseille, Nantes & Thessaloniki. It will operate to 63 different destinations in total from Manchester on 350 weekly flights.
In other news regarding Ryanair, it says that if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the Dublin based carrier may restrict the voting rights of all non-EU shareholders.
