• Property for Sale
  • To Rent
  • Holidays
  • Directory
  • Articles
  • Jobs
    • € EUR
    • Professionals/Advertiser Login
    • Advertise your Property on thinkSPAIN
    • Sell your property with an estate agent
    • Add your Business to the Directory
    • Advertising with thinkSPAIN
    • List a job vacancy on thinkSPAIN
    • By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.

      Looking for the Professionals/Advertiser Login?
      or

      Don't have an account?  

      • Follow us:

By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.

Looking for the Professionals/Advertiser Login?
or

Don't have an account?  

Sign up

By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.
or

Already have a thinkSPAIN account?

Sign in/Register

By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.
or

Don't have an account?

Forgot your password?

thinkSPAIN Logo

Ryanair may stop flights to and from UK in 'worst-case scenario' if Brexit uncertainty continues

 

Ryanair may stop flights to and from UK in 'worst-case scenario' if Brexit uncertainty continues

thinkSPAIN Team 07/04/2017

Ryanair may stop flights to and from UK in 'worst-case scenario' if Brexit uncertainty continues
BAD news for expats in Spain who make regular trips back to the family nest: Ryanair has threatened to stop running flights in the UK post-Brexit.

Admittedly, this is a last resort and worst-case scenario, but the low-cost Irish airline is very concerned about the impact on its operations in Britain once it leaves the EU.

The oft-quoted uncertainty around the divorce has led to the carrier shrinking its growth forecast for the UK market for 2017 from an initial 15% down to 6% - a drastic drop which the firm says is 'inevitable'.

“Unavoidably, Brexit will cause a fall in growth,” said Ryanair's financial director Neil Sorahan.

“We haven't seen it yet, but we believe it will generate a slowdown in economic growth both in the UK and the EU, since both parties will have to face up to a completely new scenario.”

The airline has been pushing the British government for greater clarity on its negotiating strategies with the remaining EU-27 over the two years up to the 'Brexit' deadline.

Companies do not have two years to sit around and wait – especially airlines, since the majority schedule their flights 12 years in advance, so Ryanair is one of many which will have to work out its plan of action by March 2018 at the latest.

So if there is no concrete plan by then, Ryanair flights to and from the UK may have to stop 'for a while'.

“We're diverting our growth away from the UK,” said Sorahan during a presentation in London of Ryanair's new customer service programme, 'Always Improving'.

Set up four years ago to tackle what was then its weakest area, the new, friendly and much more flexible attitude has led to an upturn in profits.

Anecdotal evidence claimed Ryanair lost tens of millions of euros when passengers began to decide almost en masse that they would rather pay more to travel with another carrier and get better service.

Now, Ryanair's hand-luggage allowance is one of the most generous for a budget airline, allowing a standard cabin bag plus a smaller 'personal' bag of 20 x 20 x 35 centimetres, meaning passengers can generally pack enough for a couple of weeks away without having to check in a suitcase.

The airline has once again become popular with British expats, who know they will not be compromising on service by paying some of the lowest fares.

And they may still be able to do so in spite of Brexit, but Ryanair needs to decide quickly what to do.

Flights within the EU enjoy a so-called 'open skies' scenario where permits are not needed to cross between member States, but post-Brexit, the UK government will have to negotiate bilateral agreements which could be bureaucratic, costly and pose restrictions.

Ryanair's internal UK flights will also be affected – as an Irish company operating in another EU country, it does not need a special licence to run intra-national routes, which for the Irish carrier make up around 2% of the total.

Sorahan says Ryanair will decide within the next year whether or not to request a permit from the UK government or simply stop running most or all of its national flights.

At present, international flights to and from the UK with Ryanair are affected mostly by the uncertainty surrounding the future, since if answers are not given by next March, it may have no option but to ground these routes until it knows what is going to happen.

 

 

Related Topics

  • Travel/Tourism

Advertisement

Advertisement

More News & Information

Holiday plans for 2024: Up to €1,500, staycations or Europe, and DIY bookings most popular
Travel/Tourism 06/04/2024
Holiday plans for 2024: Up to €1,500, staycations or Europe, and DIY bookings most...

THE average Spanish resident will spend between €500 and €1,500 on their holidays this year, with three in 10 set to increase their budget from last year and 16% reducing it.

View
Spain's post office launches nationwide luggage locker service
Economy 02/04/2024
Spain's post office launches nationwide luggage locker service

SPAIN'S State post office has launched a new solution for passing travellers who do not want to lug their suitcases around: Lockers for bags are now provided, with prices depending upon weight.

View
How to get the best out of Valencia's Fallas festival, according to the experts
Culture 16/03/2024
How to get the best out of Valencia's Fallas festival, according to the experts

IF YOU'RE in the Comunidad Valenciana any time between now and the early hours of March 20, you may notice an awful lot of noise and colour on the streets. It's the season for the region's biggest festival,...

View
Vueling to 'multiply' low-cost flights ahead of Olympics, Euros and America's Cup
Travel/Tourism 01/02/2024
Vueling to 'multiply' low-cost flights ahead of Olympics, Euros and America's Cup

SPANISH national low-cost airline Vueling has announced numerous extra flights this summer, increasing frequency and destination choice for 2024.

View

Advertisement

  1. Spain
  2. Ryanair may stop flights to and from UK in 'worst-case scenario' if Brexit uncertainty continues