Irish low-cost carrier (LCC) Ryanair’s announcement that it plans to start operations from Frankfurt Airport (FRA) next year drew a swift response from Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr, who called for equal treatment on airport fees.
“Lufthansa and Ryanair are the biggest operators on short-haul routes within Europe. For us, it was no surprise the carrier is coming to Frankfurt. However, we at Lufthansa want to have the same conditions that [Ryanair CEO] Michael [O’Leary] has,” Spohr told reporters and analysts during Lufthansa’s third-quarter conference call.
On Nov. 2, the same day that Lufthansa released its Group financial results, Fraport announced Ryanair plans to start operations from Frankfurt from March 2017, making the airport its ninth German base.
The LCC plans to base two Boeing 737-800s in Frankfurt and will launch daily routes to Alicante, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca (Spain) as well as to Faro (Portugal), targeting 400,000 passengers annually. It will become the first LCC to operate from Frankfurt.
Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte said in a statement, “Ryanair’s decision to come to FRA underscores the increasing importance of Frankfurt for low-cost traffic.” Fraport said the cooperation with Ryanair was “predicated on long-term growth of the airline at Frankfurt Airport. The basis of this cooperation will be formed by meeting the special requirements of low-cost airlines via customized processes and operations, which also facilitate short turnaround times. In the medium term, Fraport will also meet the increasing demand for low-cost offerings by adapting passenger and terminal processes accordingly.”
Reports circulated that potential new tariffs could reduce fees for some airlines flying from Frankfurt by as much as 40%.
But Lufthansa’s Spohr said he could not imagine oversight authorities would approve different charges for different airlines at Frankfurt. He pointed out that Lufthansa LCC subsidiary Eurowings did not receive special fees. He also said that most likely other airlines, such as Germany-based leisure carrier Condor or airberlin would also ask for similar benefits if Ryanair gets special treatment.
Ryanair CCO David O’Brien said, “We look forward to working closely with Fraport to deliver industry-leading efficiencies and further growth at Germany’s biggest airport.”
ATW understands LCCs have accounted for only about 4% of passenger traffic at FRA.
Ryanair, which has a total of 85 bases, also has a base at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, which is located 100 km from the city of Frankfurt.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
