Saw this article in the Sud Ouest today. Ryanair is to cease operating flights out of Bordeaux airport, following the breakdown in negotiations between the airline and the airport.
I hope the staff affected find replacement jobs quickly. I see Ryanair is offering them roles at other airports, but by my reckoning the nearest one is Bergerac which is over 100KMs from Bordeaux, so commuting is presumably not feasible for part time employees.
It’s also one less operator out of Bordeaux flying to the UK - although I seem to recall Ryanair not having too many routes, or them only flying on the 3rd Tuesday of a month containing the letter A.
Thanks for this info although thats a real shame, although I had to grit my teeth and book a ryanair flight they were the only alternative to Aer Lingus from Dublin. And now I had hacked the no luggage thing, the midnight flight back to Dublin gave me an extra day at my house.
I couldn’t see how they could make it work when I d booked return flights virtually last minute for €48!
As you say its the crew that suffer- but I still think they re on a bonus if they can find a way to charge for a bag that was only to wide because a bobble hat made it bend out of that ff metal cage! Giving me no time to take it out at check in desk hours before take off…rant over! Lol
Last time I looked Aer Lingus was nearly 400 euros one way in july! Over a barrel or what! No other airline flies there from Dublin.
Oh, that’s weird. I wasn’t sure if the original site (Sud Ouest) was behind a paywall, as I have a few plugins that bypass them, so I used a site that archives sites. Not sure why any captcha was in Arabic… Sorry about that.
Ryanair isn’t averse to playing hardball when they’re negotiating deals with airports and it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve declared a closure to pressure the other side into a deal.
I had a feeling Toulouse Airport tried something similar on Easyjet quite recently, as the airport had begun an expensive terminal expansion.
Presumably they wanted to spread some costs onto the airlines according to slots. Easyjet quite suddenly was flying far fewer flights out of Toulouse and I think still so.
Ryanair fly daily to Morocco and back from here in Perp. The UK route is summer only from end March to Oct and I just used it for the first time wondering how on earth they can keep a plane in the air for two hours on such cheap fares but the plane was full and it wasn’t holidays either nor were there many british voices to be heard. They also do Leeds regularly because of the Dragons playing north of England teams and ocassionally Manchester whenthere is a league fixture so fans can come or go. Other than that its a Transavia commuter hub for Paris with three flights daily there and back. Anywhere exotic or further afield, Barcelona is nearest,with Gerona for Bristol and then Montpellier. If the regions want to attract visitors/business then I am afraid they need to play ball as Ryanair show they can call all the shots and not many other low costs are willing to come into same airport.
I believe the low-cost airlines use the fares as a loss-leader and make it up in add-on fees for baggage, seat choice, and of course the old favourite, duty-free booze and smells.
Couldn’t make out what was being said half the time as the tannoy system was not at all very clear and with all the passengers coughing and talking as well. They were trying to flog whisky and gin at prices that were still higher than I can go get in La Jonquera. All in all, its a bus service basically and you pays and takes your choice. They were also trying to get passengers to order food/drinks via their mobile phones on the Ryanair app as well instead of stopping at each row to ask if anyone wanted anything. I’ve never understood why people can’t go for a couple of hours without eating and drinking!
It’s what the airlines prefer. While passengers are eating and drinking, they are less likely to be making other potentially more difficult demands or moving around the cabin.
Finally spoke with a friend of mine who lives just outside Bordeaux, they do not use Ryanair themselves, but have a small tourist business and rely on as many routes into the city as possible.
they, along with many others are of course furious and lay the blame squarely with the airport management, saying oit was inevitable as they are small minded and typically French who think that everything automatically goes their way because it always has.
Again I feel sorry for the people affected, and again say that when you are negotiating with O’Leary, who it is now documented, has built up the largest airline in the world, you tread with caution and look at the bigger picture - especially when he has no compunction in shutting down the hub and walking away.
Not surprised - one only has to look at “Billy” and the airport accommodation for low-cost airlines and then wander into the two massive (often quite empty) halls for the national airlines.
OH is finding this, preferring to fly back to the UK these days via BA.
