RYANAIR INVESTS $280M IN ITS BIGGEST EVER EXPANSION FROM BARCELONA
4 NEW AIRCRAFT AND 17 NEW ROUTES FROM MARCH 2007
Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline today (28 th Sept) announced its biggest ever expansion from Barcelona Girona. From March 2007, Ryanair will invest $280M in 4 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft and 17 new routes that will deliver 1M additional passengers p.a. This expansion brings to 40 the number of Ryanair routes from Barcelona.
Destination
Frequency
Start date
Altenburg
3 x wk
1 Mar
Brescia
3 x wk
9 Mar
Fuerteventura
3 x wk
8 Mar
Gothenburg
3 x wk
27 Mar
Marrakech
3 x wk
27 Mar
Pescara
3 x wk
27 Mar
Teesside
3 x wk
12 Feb
Trapani
3 x wk
27 Mar
Aarhus
4 x wk
25 Mar
Bologna
4 x wk
9 Mar
Bristol
4 x wk
25 Mar
Faro
4 x wk
2 Mar
Malmo
4 x wk
25 Mar
Newcastle
4 x wk
25 Mar
Oslo
4 x wk
25 Mar
Tenerife
4 x wk
9 Mar
Porto
1 x daily
2 Mar
Announcing this expansion in Barcelona, Michael Cawley, Ryanair’s Deputy CEO said;
“Ryanair’s Barcelona base has performed very strongly this summer and has firmly established itself as an important driver of both tourism and business in the region. Today’s 17 new route announcements will allow Catalan passengers to enjoy the lowest fares and best punctuality to even more destinations. Ryanair now connects Barcelona to 40 destinations, delivering 4M passengers p.a. and sustaining 4,000 Catalan jobs.
“As part of this expansion, Ryanair will also add a 3 rd daily flight on its routes to Paris, Milan and Rome which will increase to 1M passengers per annum the number of passengers travelling from Barcelona with Ryanair to these cities alone.
“Ryanair’s 17 new routes will significantly expand the Catalan region’s catchment area and our low fares and no fuel surcharge guarantee will deliver millions of additional visitors who were previously put off coming to the region by the prohibitively high fares charged by Iberia.
“These new routes are available for booking today from just €10 on www.ryanair.com and we advise passengers to book early as demand will be very strong”.
Mr Manel Nadal, Secretary General for Transport of the Catalan region said:
“Ryanair’s decision to add 4 aircraft and 17 routes to its base in Girona is great news and will act as a powerful catalyst to drive tourism and business in the whole area of influence covered by Girona airport”.
Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind. - A. Einstein
Asturias From Spain, joined Apr 2006, 1933 posts, RR: 17 Reply 1, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 3150 times:
Girona is Barcelona as Murcia is Alicante.
It may be cheaper to fly Clickair straight to El Prat, to get to and from Barcelona that to take a similarily priced flight with Ryanair and have to add travel from Girona to Barcelona.
The price of the ticket is only half the story, but we shall see.
Rdwootty From United Kingdom, joined Sep 2005, 900 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 3085 times:
Well thats like calling Manchester -Leeds....Whatever Girona is it is NOT Barcelona...The train takes for ever and the bus even longer....So Fly to the real airport and give Ryanair the heave . I do not understand the ryanair idea of claiming the airports are what they are not. Why not admit that they are low cost airports and you are saving money on the flight ( Maybe)
Cwldude From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 691 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 2992 times:
Wow that's one big expansion! More Canaries flights in there too Interesting that they choose BRS, NCL, and MME though!
easyJet do a daily BCN service from both BRS and NCL, Topjet also offer flights from CWL to GRO, and MME is close enough to NCL for the flights to clash with each other!
I think we all know who I'd choose
Thomson Airways - The UKs premier charter airline // now flown : BY -AA -AJ -AE -AT; OO -AX -AU -RA -BG; BRIG; OBYD
Planesarecool From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 4088 posts, RR: 13 Reply 4, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 2955 times:
Quoting Rdwootty (Reply 2): Why not admit that they are low cost airports and you are saving money on the flight
Why should they? Take PIK for example, it's official name is Glasgow Prestwick International Airport, so why shouldn't they advertise it as Glasgow? And as I've said many times, it's not being advertised as Barcelona. The fact that it's advertised as Girona (Barcelona), just means that they are advertising a flight to Girona, and are saying that the closest major city to Girona is Barcelona (in case somebody doesn't know it's location), the same way Alghero is advertised as Alghero (Sardinia). Joe Public goes onto www.ryanair.com and sees Alghero as a destination and thinks 'where's Alghero?' Well the (Sardinia) bit answers that question.
If Ryanair were advertising it as Barcelona (Girona), that would mean that they are advertising a flight to Barcelona, but to Girona airport, the same way Gatwick is advertised as London (Gatwick). However, they are not.
Also, remember that not everybody flying into Catalonia wants to go to Barcelona. Somebody heading to the Pyrenees would be better of flying into Girona than into Barcelona. Also, the Girona area is popular for holidaymakers. It's obviously reasonably popular, or FR wouldn't be making this expansion.
PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 11109 posts, RR: 63 Reply 5, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 2944 times:
This would be ideal for me, most of the time when I fly UK - Balearic's I take a day in Barcelona each way, so now I could fly into Girona and travel through the city before leaving from BCN.
As Planesarecool said, there are many tens of thousands of people living in Girona who will be please with this new array of service, its not just people going to Barca who use the flights.
Sv2008 From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2006, 622 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 2937 times:
Quoting Asturias (Reply 1): Girona is Barcelona as Murcia is Alicante.
I fly this route fairly often (I'm going in 1 week). Ryanair Used to fly to ALC AND MJV but from England there is a strong demand for people going to Murcia.
It's not really surprising they dropped Alicante, as both airports were a bit close.
ALC is too far for people going to southern Murica but MJV is not too far really for people going to Alicante (it's sort of central to those two areas almost).
Right now FR fly MJV from both STN and LTN. If they flew to ALC as well they'd probably have dropped either the LTN-MJV or STN-MJV route already (I'd guess the LTN route). I go from LTN which is much closer to me.
MJV of ocurse is tiny and is better for FR for costs, but it is also a very convieniently located airport.
Bullpitt From Spain, joined Mar 2004, 871 posts, RR: 9 Reply 7, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 2845 times:
what will be the next thing they will advertise. A flight to Morocco as tenerife east?
Girona is about 101 km from bcn, that's about a 1 and a half hour drive by car going through a toll way (5,66 euros) add that plus the price of car hire and fuel and then you can work out if you save money. Don't know what the bus or train fare is.
These are my principles but if you don't like them I have others
Joost From Netherlands, joined Apr 2005, 3128 posts, RR: 4 Reply 8, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 2738 times:
Quoting Bullpitt (Reply 7): Girona is about 101 km from bcn, that's about a 1 and a half hour drive by car going through a toll way (5,66 euros) add that plus the price of car hire and fuel and then you can work out if you save money.
Well, if you already plan to hire a car anyways, situation is different. Let's say you rent a VW Golf-size car, it will cost maximum 15 euros for the gas each way, plus the toll will make it 40 euros. If you're a family of 4, than a 10 euro fare difference per person makes out the difference.
Yesterday a friend asked me some advice for a visit to Barcelona; my first question was: do you plan to rent a car. The answer was no (he only wanted to visit the city and so take the metro everywhere), so I adviced him to check the fares on AMS-BCN at KL, IB, HV and Vueling as it's comfortable to El Prat. If his answer were yes, I'd advice him to check FR on EIN-GRO and HV on RTM-GRO to find out whether he'd save money.
RAFVC10 From Spain, joined Sep 2005, 1980 posts, RR: 8 Reply 10, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 2516 times:
Sounds interesting that Ryanair will start domestic flights in Spain flying from Girona to Fuerteventura and Tenerife. Will continue Lanzarote an Santa Cruz de la Palma?? How about the Balearic Islands??
Quoting Sv2008 (Reply 9): Is Reus closer to Barcelona than Girona?
I've been there on a day visit from Barcelona (to Port Adventura) and the train only took an hour.
No but there are more connections and best timetables...
Quoting Joost (Reply 8): Yesterday a friend asked me some advice for a visit to Barcelona; my first question was: do you plan to rent a car. The answer was no (he only wanted to visit the city and so take the metro everywhere), so I adviced him to check the fares on AMS-BCN at KL, IB, HV and Vueling as it's comfortable to El Prat. If his answer were yes, I'd advice him to check FR on EIN-GRO and HV on RTM-GRO to find out whether he'd save money.
Remember that Vueling and Transavia has prices from just 20.00 Euros (tax included...)
El dia que los gilipollas vuelen, no podremos ver la luz del sol!
Planesarecool From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 4088 posts, RR: 13 Reply 11, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 2432 times:
Quoting Bullpitt (Reply 7): what will be the next thing they will advertise. A flight to Morocco as tenerife east?
Did you read my reply before you made that post? I don't understand why people keep saying that FR keep advertising flights to places that are hours away from the airport they serve. Brackets are insignificant. Take the brackets away and it's advertised as Girona. Add the brackets and it's still advertised as Girona, only it's saying that it's nearest city which everybody is going to recognize is Barcelona, and that it COULD be used to serve this city.
And in the case of airports like STN, LTN, LGW, PIK, GSE, these airports' official names are LONDON Stansted/Luton/Gatwick, GLASGOW Prestwick, GOTHENBURG City, so why shouldn't they advertise them as flights to London Stansted etc? It's like advertising a flight to Manchester as "Ringway"
BestWestern From Ireland, joined Sep 2000, 6417 posts, RR: 58 Reply 12, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 2408 times:
Quoting Asturias (Reply 1): Girona is Barcelona as Murcia is Alicante.
It may be cheaper to fly Clickair straight to El Prat, to get to and from Barcelona that to take a similarily priced flight with Ryanair and have to add travel from Girona to Barcelona.
Quoting Rdwootty (Reply 2): Well thats like calling Manchester -Leeds.
Quoting Bullpitt (Reply 7): what will be the next thing they will advertise. A flight to Morocco as tenerife east?
We have heard these points for the last twenty years in Ireland and the UK. Customers will choose the cheapest flights - ryanair are the lowest low cost carrier.
Quoting RAFVC10 (Reply 10): Remember that Vueling and Transavia has prices from just 20.00 Euros (tax included...)
And are losing money on them - when FR can make money.
Scarebus03 From Ireland, joined Apr 2005, 291 posts, RR: 2 Reply 13, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 2378 times:
To get back on the thread
1. Ryanair do not have to battle Clickair in BCN. Both airlines are aiming at a different market.
2. Girona is a "Ryanair airport" they are recieving new aircraft they have to put them somewhere. Successive market studies have shown that the growth of pax traffic in GIR has not adversly affected growth in El Prat, El Prat continues to grow at a large rate.
3. For the moment Clickair will be primarily aiming to compete with the local locos in BCN ie. VLG.
4. Clickair will not have a significant affect on capacity for at least 2 years as it takes over IB's BCN operation on the "loss making routes". The same cannot be said about FR who continue to expand in their own market from GIR and have had 100% success rate at all of the FR bases when it comes to expansion.
The BCN-AMS routes are anything but lossmakers for both VLG and Transavia although airport costs are higher in El Prat
Joost From Netherlands, joined Apr 2005, 3128 posts, RR: 4 Reply 14, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 2284 times:
Quoting RAFVC10 (Reply 10):
Remember that Vueling and Transavia has prices from just 20.00 Euros (tax included...)
You're right, I'd also say to 'also check'. He ended up on Transavia, for 280 euros r/t... Vueling, KL and IB were even more expensive - well, that's what you get when you take a weekend in the national school holiday week.
Beaucaire From Syria, joined Sep 2003, 5252 posts, RR: 26 Reply 15, posted (6 years 7 months 3 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 2274 times:
Clickair target -at least in Germany- airports that are already served by competion-e.a. Tegel,Düsseldorf,Frankfurt and Munich.
A very hazardous policy-rather than targeting airports that are less served but have potential-like HAJ,NUE or LEJ...
I don't see the compatition between Ryanair and Clickair-markets and airports served are different-Clickair are more an Easyjet-type model.
regarding Ryanair-only point I don't see is why no flights to Nîmes -there is not any flight from the Languedoc Roussillon into Spain-neither Madrid,Seville or Alicante.Although the percentage of spanish-ethnic french living in the area is very big.There is a very stron "corrida connection" between Nîmes and Andalucia -which would justify a direct air-link.
StationManager From Spain, joined Sep 2006, 86 posts, RR: 2 Reply 16, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 2064 times:
Quoting Sv2008 (Reply 6): I fly this route fairly often (I'm going in 1 week). Ryanair Used to fly to ALC AND MJV but from England there is a strong demand for people going to Murcia.
FR as a Low cost carrier never flown to ALC, FR used to fly on Sundays to Alicante from DUB many years ago when FR was a charter airline.
Quoting Sv2008 (Reply 6): It's not really surprising they dropped Alicante, as both airports were a bit close.
FR never dropped ALC as a LCC cause never launched it.FR flies to MJV cause is cheaper and has slots available. Remind FR sell in the web site "Murcia(Alicante)" like they sell "Girona(Barcelona)".
Quoting Sv2008 (Reply 6): ALC is too far for people going to southern Murica but MJV is not too far really for people going to Alicante (it's sort of central to those two areas almost).
Right now FR fly MJV from both STN and LTN. If they flew to ALC as well they'd probably have dropped either the LTN-MJV or STN-MJVrnroute already (I'd guess the LTN route). I go from LTN which is muchrncloser to me.
MJV of ocurse is tiny and is better for FR for costs, but it is also a very convieniently located airport.
Yes, It is true tourism in Murcia is booming now and MJV is well located (near Southern Alicante) but there is a higher demand in ALC and most of it in the north (Benidorm).
MJV is growing fast since ALC is collapsed and stopped growing.
Pe@rson From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 18817 posts, RR: 54 Reply 17, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 2028 times:
Quoting StationManager (Reply 16): Remind FR sell in the web site "Murcia(Alicante)" like they sell "Girona(Barcelona)".
Purely to aid recognition. I think it's grand. It's just like every airline advertising Gatwick as London (Gatwick) - it is done to aid recognition. Why can't they simply put Gatwick? Oh, because a lot of people wouldn't realise it was the second airport for London. It's the same as a lot of people not realising that Girona isn't far from Barcelona. If, however, it were Alicante (Murcia), then that would be misleading.
[Edited 2006-10-02 14:14:34]
"Everyone writing for the Telegraph knows that the way to grab eyeballs is with Ryanair and/or sex."
Vfw614 From Germany, joined Dec 2001, 3582 posts, RR: 5 Reply 18, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 2014 times:
Does this mean that Gerona will become Ryanair's thrid largest base after STN and DUB, thus replacing HHN ? The number of routes and based aircraft sounds more than HHN has.
Pe@rson From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 18817 posts, RR: 54 Reply 19, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 2002 times:
Quoting Vfw614 (Reply 18): Does this mean that Gerona will become Ryanair's thrid largest base after STN and DUB, thus replacing HHN ? The number of routes and based aircraft sounds more than HHN has.
Including all announced routes, GRO presently has 40 routes and HHN has 43.
GRO has a long-term aircraft potential of 20 738s and HHN 18 738s.
So, there won't be much in it.
"Everyone writing for the Telegraph knows that the way to grab eyeballs is with Ryanair and/or sex."
Stirling From Italy, joined Jun 2004, 3943 posts, RR: 27 Reply 21, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 1800 times:
Quoting StationManager (Reply 16): Remind FR sell in the web site "Murcia(Alicante)" like they sell "Girona(Barcelona)".
And, when looking at the route map on their website, "Girona" is in bigger and bolder letters than "Barcelona".
No foul here, even though people have a microscope to everything they do, yet, they still haul more cash to the bank than virtually any other airline in Europe. Go figure.
I would like to know a ranking of the Ryanair destinations in terms of daily departures. Anyone have a list like that? What are the Top 10 destinations in terms of flights? Or more if available!
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Interesting that they choose BRS, NCL, and MME though!
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