A new case of Ryanair blackmail at Angouleme Airport
I heard another case of Ryanair’s blackmailing. This time, Ryanair is threatening Angouleme Airport, a small secondary airport between La Rochelle and Limoge. After the Poitiers Airport case, here’s another interesting one for the books. As in Poitiers’case, the Irish budget airline is now asking more money to continue its operation.
The Angouleme Airport, and other local authorities involved, already coughed up 700 000€ to support Ryanair’s web communication, and will have to pay another 225 000€ in the next 3 years. Indeed, the contract has started in 2007 and runs through 2012, with three due installments: one of 400,000€, a second of 300,000€ and a last one worth 225,000€. In the meantime, Ryanair sent a letter asking local authorities to increase their financial support towards Ryanair’s communication campaign. Ryanair also asked the Angouleme Airport to lower its fees. According to a French website, Ryanair is violated the previously signed contract by asking for an additional €175 000, or 400 000€ instead of the 225 000€ previously agreed upon.
Why?
The first thing that I would like to know is why is Ryanair asking for more? Unfortunately, there is no official answer to this question. Ryanair is not going to ground more planes at Angouleme Airport or even open news routes. Moreover, they are no additional costs that could explain this demand. Ryanair’s load factor on the main routes from Angouleme to Stansted has now reached 83%. If all the prerequisites for a successful business partnership have been met, why the greed?
Angouleme is not the only airport concerned with Ryanair’s blackmailing. Actually, all airports linked to Ryanair are in a similar case. Poitiers and La Rochelle airports have already seen Ryanair pull its planes before they accepted to give more money.
A common front against Ryanair
Michel Boutant, a local responsible, has called for the creation of a common front against Ryanair. His goal is to gather several airports in order to be stronger against Ryanair. He believes that if airports speak as one, they will have more power to negotiate. Interesting initiave even through Ryanair, as the main operating airline of all these airports, will still have the opportunity to impose its conditions.
My conclusion? All minor airports that deal with Ryanair have to know that they will never be able to overpower Ryanair’s negotiating power.
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[...] to pull 75% of its routes out of Shannon, if the airport disagreed. (Sounds familiar to me: Angouleme, Alghero, Poitiers, and Granada [...]
If ryanair has signed a contract with the airports to deliver at the agreed rates, then ryanair should be taken to court for breaking said contracts. That or the contracts were worthless in the first place…..
Many of you will know that I have been spearheading a campaign to try and save Ryanair flights into Angouleme ( although I am no supporter of Ryanair, or its tactics, The 5000 or so British Citizens living in the Charente in SW France need this route kept alive)
Just to let you all know that I was approached yesterday by the “Direction” of the Airport at Angouleme, and also the marketing executive at the Chamber of Commerce in Angouleme on the future of international flights out of the Airport.
There is an alternative being considered as we speak ( and its not apparently XO airlines ! ! ) and they have said will be issuing me with a statement in the next few days which I have agreed to forward on to anyone seriously interested in flights to London in the coming season.
If this deal comes off, they would want serious enquiries ( with guaranteed refundable bookings in the event of a non start) asap …so the service can ‘hit the ground running’ .. please excuse the un-intended pun !
Naturally all those who have signed the petition
http://www.charentegems.com/openletter2
will receive a news-update shortly containing this information.
However, as I know there are some of you who have publically disagreed with some of the wording on the original petition, and thus will not sign , I will be adding a separate ‘opt in’ form on our website petition page that doesn’t ‘sign you up’ to agreeing to the petition itself .. but will still send you the updates/ flight offers etc .. to your personal email ( again this is kept totally confidential .. as required by EU directives .. and will not be passed/sold to anyone.)
I hope that will satisfy everybody that this is not about getting ‘signatures for the petition’ .. but is actually there to help you get cheap flights out of Angouleme !
Kind regards
John West