Ryanair to cut some Budapest routes

Ryanair is cutting one in three of its routes to Budapest as a result of increases in landing and handling fees imposed by both Budapest Airport, the German-owned airport operator, and the state-controlled Hungarian Civil Aviation Authority.

As a result, Ryanair is understood to be slashing its winter routes from 30 to 20 destinations, deeming, among others, that Baden Baden, Dusseldorf and Munich in Germany, Birmingham in the UK and Malaga in Spain are now uneconomic.

The move will come as a blow to Budapest Airport’s efforts to recover from the collapse of Malev, the national flag carrier, in February this year. The Hungarian airline was responsible for some 40 per cent of the record near-9m passenger movements through the airport in 2011.

The demise of Malev has also badly affected Hungary’s efforts to promote the country as a tourist destination and Budapest as a regional business hub.

Ryanair’s latest decision comes just months after it implemented plans to boost its presence at the Hungarian capital’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport in the wake of the Malev collapse.

It earlier said it hoped to carry 2m passengers annually from Budapest under its expanded route offerings.

Stephen McNamara, Ryanair spokesman, declined to answer questions on the carrrier’s plans to cut its Budapest routes, although he confirmed that Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s colourful chief executive, was to hold a press conference in Budapest on Thursday.

McNamara also reaffirmed earlier statements that Budapest had become a high-cost airport: “I can say it is in our top ten most expensive destinations, and we fly to 171,”.

Budapest Airport failed to answer phoned and email questions on its latest price increase – understood to be in the region of 10 per cent per passenger.

ryanair-announces-40-percent-cuts-at-budapest-as-hochtief-fails-to-lower-costs

These Budapest cuts (effective 10 Jan 2013) will include:
•5 to 3 based aircraft
•30 routes to 20 (down 33%).
•From over 280 weekly flights to less than 170 (down 40%).
•2m to 1.2m pax p.a (down 40%).
•Frequency cuts on 9 of 20 other routes
•The loss of 800,000 pax p.a. and 800 “on-site” jobs at Budapest Airport.
Ryanair confirms that they can be reversed if a competitive cost offer and efficient facilities become available at Budapest Airport.

RYANAIR’S BUDAPEST ROUTE CANCELLATIONS
Baden
Birmingham
Bologna
Dusseldorf
Krakow
Lubeck
Malaga
Munich
Oslo
Thessaloniki

atoutprix wrote:ryanair-announces-40-percent-cuts-at-budapest-as-hochtief-fails-to-lower-costs

These Budapest cuts (effective 10 Jan 2013) will include:
•5 to 3 based aircraft
•30 routes to 20 (down 33%).
•From over 280 weekly flights to less than 170 (down 40%).
•2m to 1.2m pax p.a (down 40%).
•Frequency cuts on 9 of 20 other routes
•The loss of 800,000 pax p.a. and 800 “on-site” jobs at Budapest Airport.
Ryanair confirms that they can be reversed if a competitive cost offer and efficient facilities become available at Budapest Airport.

RYANAIR’S BUDAPEST ROUTE CANCELLATIONS
Baden
Birmingham
Bologna
Dusseldorf
Krakow
Lubeck
Malaga
Munich
Oslo
Thessaloniki

ROUTE REDUCTIONS:
- Barcelona (BCN)
- Brussels-Charleroi (CRL)
- Dublin (DUB)
- Madrid (MAD)
- Paris-Beauvais (BVA)
- Rome-Ciampino (CIA)
- Venice-Treviso (TSF)
- Warsaw-Modlin (WMI)

WRO will welcome those 2 planes with no charges... so... bring them to us!!!

As for the flights to Brussels South Charleroi : there are at present two return flights daily monday to sunday, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. The morning flight will be canceled on monday, wednesday and friday.

The 2 flights per day were great for cheap flights(probably the best on offer at this time.. day trips from CRL to BUD excellent day out for €1 each way sometimes less.