Ryanair will close the Frankfurt am Main base, which opened just a few years ago, on March 31, 2022. The five aircraft stationed on site will be withdrawn. The low-cost airline accuses airport operator Fraport of increasing the fees.
Ryanair and Wizz Air were lured to Frankfurt am Main with incentives some time ago. That didn't fit top dog Lufthansa at all, they not only raised public opinion against their competitors, but also tried to fight the incentive program legally. Ultimately, both low-cost airlines turned out to be unsustainable, because both said goodbye after a very short time.
With Terminal 3, Fraport AG is building a check-in hall that was specifically intended for low-cost airlines. It therefore remains to be seen whether, for example, Ryanair and / or Wizz Air will change their thinking at a later date. In any case, the Irish will give up the Frankfurt am Main station in the short term.
In a broadcast, Ryanair wrote, among other things, that the airport charges at Germany's largest airport should “no longer be competitive”. The German federal government is assumed to be patronizing Lufthansa, for example, “instead of introducing non-discriminatory traffic recovery programs that are open to all airlines”. The aircraft held in Frankfurt are to be used from other airports in the future.
The staff who work at the subsidiary Malta Air are now faced with the choice of moving to another base. If you don't want to or can't do that, you are threatened with dismissal. Flight tickets that have already been sold will be refunded in the next few days, Ryanair said in a broadcast.
“We are disappointed that we have to announce the closure of our base in Frankfurt am Main for the end of March 2022, but we have no alternative to the decision of the airport to increase airport charges, despite the collapse in traffic and flight prices due to the Covid- 19 pandemic, respond. While Ryanair continues to invest in German airports that understand the need to cut airport charges in order to get traffic back up, competition in the German market has been reduced by the EUR 9 billion state aid pumped into Lufthansa , which is further reducing its fleet, connections and jobs, is massively distorted. Efficient operations and competitive airport charges form the basis on which Ryanair can achieve long-term traffic growth and better connections to airports and regions. This is not possible in Frankfurt after the German government decided to increase passenger taxes and the airport decided to increase its already high and uncompetitive charges, ”said Jason McGuiness, Director of Commercial at Ryanair.
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