10000 Ryanair cut back on winter routes

Ancona has been reduced to 4 flights a week (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) - surprising, as whenever we have flown the plane has always been at full or near full capacity. Forli has also been reduced and I think Pescara has as well so I suspect most routes have been affected. Lets hope it picks up again in the summer.

The lack of a Saturday Ancona flight will have a big impact on holiday home rentals, especially if it continues into the Summer 2009 timetable - most seem to run Sat to Sat so they will have to rearrange things to be Fri to Fri or Sun to Sun!

Winter timetable starts on 27th October

Of course those of us not from the South East suffered when the Liverpool Ancona flight was pulled last winter and not reinstated.

I guess if Saturday permanently goes then the changeover day will move as well.

Chris

The cutbacks according to Yahoo yesterday are from late November and do not affect Italian routes. It's nothing to do with the normal winter schedules. There is always a decrease in flights to say Ancona and Pescara in winter.

Here's the article - [url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080717/ap_on_re_eu/ireland_ryanair_cutbacks]Ireland's Ryanair cuts back winter flights - Yahoo! News[/url]

[quote=Sally Donaldson;93130]The cutbacks according to Yahoo yesterday are from late November and do not affect Italian routes. It's nothing to do with the normal winter schedules. There is always a decrease in flights to say Ancona and Pescara in winter.[/quote]

There is usually a decrease in winter flights to Pescara. However, Ancona has ALWAYS had a daily service throughout the year - certainly for at least the last 6 years!
No Italian routes are being completely withdrawn for a month or so from 4 Nov as with some others.

According to the Ryanair press release (which is probably more reliable than news reports, hence my linking to it rather than any of the press in my original post [url=http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/news.php?yr=08&month=jul&story=rte-en-170708]Ryanair.com - News : Ryanair Unveils 14% Capacity Reductions[/url]) Rome is given as one of the examples of a reduced service so I would expect that if they are cutting Rome there WILL be other cuts to Italian airports.

Yes we see this every year with changes to winter schedules (so they can use planes for the ski routes for example) but they have said in their press release that the price of oil and costs at airports are what is driving this. Medium & long term forecasts for oil prices are as much as $200 in the next year or so, so if that is what is driving it I can't see them reinstating everything (esp if people are cutting back on weekend breaks if we move into recession as is being forecast). The are also very focussed on eastern Europe to bring migrant workers (or their friends/family visiting) to the UK

Chris

I was idly speculating about airlines cutting down a week or so back, and the friend I was chatting with looked horrified. His take was that the arlines have spent so much money recently on their fleets that "what are they going to do - park them in a field?"

Seems Mr O'Leary needs to hire some fields, since this is what he does intend to do!

When planes are no longer needed the airlines tend to park them in the Mojave or Sonoran Deserts in SW America - some are as a result of airlines going bankrupt, others are obsolete - so maybe then will park them there - has the advantage of being a hot dry climate so little damage to them (unlike cold, wet England)

Chris

David has had a good look at the schedules for pescara, perugia and ancona from november, and it appears that the three airports are covering every day of the week. ancona is reduced to 4 flights with three to pescara and perugia. So it could be worse.

The big problem for ryanair is the fuel cost.It has only hedged about 10% of its fuel needs for the next year compared to carriers like BA who have hedged around 70%.So ,assuming the oil price keeps rising we may see many more cuts in routes.

[quote=villa sibillini;93232]David has had a good look at the schedules for pescara, perugia and ancona from november, and it appears that the three airports are covering every day of the week. ancona is reduced to 4 flights with three to pescara and perugia. So it could be worse.[/quote]

Don't forget there is also Rimini - for many, much easier to reach than Perugia. Rimini are down to 3x a week I think.

Again only any good if you want to fly to the South of England as the East Midlands flight isn't there. Luckily my brother lives 5mins down the road from Birmingham so I guess I'm off to Forli this year

Winter flights to Lamezia seem to have stopped completely so that poses problems, but with Easyjet flying in to Milan and onward to Lamezia it will be a lot more travelling.