Ryanair incurs wrath of French political before major on-coming election
After Nicolas Sarkozy, Michel Boutant is likely to be the most famous French politician in Ireland. Indeed, the French Senator hit Irish Times headlines last week, in regards to his claims about Ryanair’s desire to raise Angoulême-Cognac Airport’s charges. As the Irish Times reported two weeks ago in an interesting article, the French representative did not accept the way Ryanair tried to negotiate a better deal.
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.
Boutant has also called for the creation of a common front against Ryanair and asked other regional airports to not give in to the airline’s demands, saying it was adept at playing the “competition card” by threatening to move its services elsewhere.
Boutant clearly guessed right… Indeed, at the same time, Ryanair sent a request to Pau Airport (a French city located in the southwest of France), which also had an agreement with Ryanair. This time, Ryanair asked to quadruple subsidies on the route, to €1.4 million, and threatened to move its services to Tarbes.
Angouleme stood up to Ryanair while Pau caved in
After three months where the two clans were fighting through a mediatised war of words, Boutant “said he will refuse to pay” and, as a result, Ryanair will probably retire from Angouleme Airport. On the other hand, Pau Airport announced, last week, the opening of a new route between Pau and Beauvais (Ryanair’s closest airport to Paris). This new route simply means that Pau has in fact decided to give the 1.4 million extra, without almost any compensation, except of course, the Pau-Beauvais route…..
Less than one month before the French regional election, the state of public finance remains one of the major issues. Politicians definitely have to face important challenges as the economic downturn has weakened their credit lines. Ryanair, on the other hand, is asking for very important amounts compared to what public budgets can allow. This explains why others politician have started to wonder if Ryanair is really such a good investment. Since a French Union revealed Ryanair could have received around 35 million in public grants (from France alone) in 2008, a debate over grants given by public authorities to Ryanair has now taken center stage in the media arena. Several other politicians such as Alain Claeyes, Poitier’s mayor, or Tours representatives’ also pointed out unfair and inefficient contracts between Ryanair and public authorities.
