Ryanair, Europe’s only ultra-less costly carrier (ULCC), has presented a Greek tourism rescue plan to the Transport Minister Kostas Chatzidakis that could see Ryanair grow its Greek traffic to 10m passengers p.a. by 2016, at the day Ryanair opened its 1st Greek base (and 57th in total) at Chania.
Ryanair has carried over 2m passengers to/from Greece in not up to 3 years since its first flight arrived to Kos from Frankfurt Hahn in May 2010. Ryanair’s summer 2013 schedule will offer 85 Greek routes from 10 airports (including 2 new airports at Kalamata and Zakynthos), delivering over 1.4m passengers p.a. and supporting 1,400* Greek jobs.
Unfortunately, Athens continues to overlook out on Ryanair’s traffic growth and the tourism jobs it brings a result of airport operator’s refusal to have interaction with Ryanair, at a time when Athens’ passenger traffic has fallen by 22%, from 16.4m in 2008 to only 12.8m in 2012, its lowest figure in a decade. Ryanair could deliver as much as 4m passengers p.a. if a pragmatic low-cost deal were made available at Athens Airport, with one other 2m passengers at Thessaloniki and 4m passengers across Ryanair’s 10 other Greek airports.
To celebrate our biggest-ever Greek summer schedule, Ryanair is launching a 100,000 seat sale across its entire European network, with prices ranging from just €15.99 for travel in May and June, that are available for booking until midnight (24:00hrs) Mon (29 Apr).
In Athens, Ryanair’s Michael Cawley said:
“In 2013, Ryanair will carry over 1.4m passengers through Greek airports, sustaining 1,400* jobs and underlining Ryanair’s commitment to Greece’s tourism industry. Today, Ryanair presented its Greek rescue plan, that could deliver over 10m passengers and €4.5bn tourism revenue p.a. by 2016 and support 10,000* Greek jobs.
Tourism is among the few industries that could quickly provide the industrial boost that Greece so badly needs with new jobs and high-spending international tourists. Ryanair has carried over 2m passengers to/from Greece with these passengers saving over €140m by switching to Ryanair’s low fares. However, while our 10 Greek airports keep growing, traffic at Athens continues to say no because it misses out on Ryanair’s traffic and tourism jobs growth, in addition to Ryanair’s low fares, while its management refuses to have interaction with Ryanair.
To celebrate the launch of our biggest-ever Greek summer schedule, the hole of our first Greek base at Chania, and the launch of 2 new Greek airports, at Kalamata and Zakynthos, we’re releasing a 100,000 seat sale with fares ranging from €15.99 for travel across Europe in May and June, that are available for booking until midnight Monday (29 Apr). Since seats at these crazy low prices might be snapped up quickly, we urge passengers to book them immediately on www.ryanair.com.”