XMAS BLOW
Ryanair boss in new ‘much higher’ summer fares warning after €500 Christmas alert over airline seats cut
The airline has also sent a message to the Government
RYANAIR boss Michael O'Leary has warned flight prices could be "much higher" next summer - while Christmas fares could "TRIPLE" due to caps at Dublin Airport.
O'Leary said a number of airlines applied for extra flight slots at the airport for the busy winter season - but were refused permission by the Irish Aviation Authority.
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Passengers now face fares of up to €500 to fly to London this Christmas, with the cap also set to affect those heading to rugby or Premier League matches.
Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, O'Leary warned: "None of those extra slots have been approved.
"We can't run slots at Christmas, nobody's going to be allowed to run extra flights, and therefore the fares this Christmas will be probably double or triple what they have been in recent years - there won't be enough capacity to fulfill the demand.
"We think the fares will be about €500 one-way."
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O'Leary said he also received a letter from the Irish Aviation Authority to inform him that passenger numbers may be reduced by one million next summer.
He said: "They have written to all the airlines at the airport and the daa inviting us to submit proposals as to how such a reduction would be implemented in practice and to ensure that any such reduction would be optimally implemented."
O'Leary has said flights next summer will be "much higher" if passenger numbers are reduced.
He added: "Any such cuts will do real damage to Irish tourism and Irish jobs and will result in much higher air fares for Irish citizens and their families going abroad in summer 2025."
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The Irish Aviation Authority has said they will publish a "draft decision" next month.
A spokesperson told Morning Ireland: "At the end of August, the Coordination Committee will finalise its advice for the IAA on this proposal, and on the other coordination parameters for Summer 2025.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary calls for action due to French ATC strike
"The IAA will consider this advice and expects to then publish a draft decision in early September, which will be the first time that the IAA will make any suggestion or proposal in relation to capacity for Summer 2025."
However, O'Leary has labelled the Irish Aviation Authority's response as "bureaucratic waffle”.
He added: "The problem here is that we have a ridiculous traffic cap of 32 million passengers on the main gateway airport in Ireland.
"It was imposed in 2007 because there were serious concerns about road access to the airport. Those fears no longer apply.
MIDTERM CHAOS FEARS
Ryanair previously warned how festive fares will go “through the roof” amid an ongoing row over passenger caps at Ireland’s main airport.
In May, the airline’s CEO Eddie Wilson said it would have normally added 300,000 additional seats between Dublin and London over the Christmas period, but cannot do that now.
Eddie Wilson said: “This artificial cap is now starting to bite with a ban on additional extra flights that are required to meet customer demand.”
He added that the “enforced reduction in seats will only lead to consumers having to pay higher air fares and may well result in the return of pricing that was last seen in the 1980s”.
He warned: “With those 300,000 seats not on sale, price on the Dublin to London route is going to go through the roof this Christmas.
“They’re going to go through the roof in the midterm and to a lesser extent for sporting events.
“We won’t be able to put on extra flights for Lapland and it’s not just Ryanair, nobody will be able to do this in Dublin, all because of the passenger cap.”
Wilson continued: “The high fares that are coming is at Eamon Ryan’s door this Christmas. People at the last minute will be paying up to €500, we estimate, because of an artificial cap.
“It’s going to bite this winter and it’s going to get worse. We want to grow. This needs urgent action right.
“The big ones that are going to be affected by air fares this winter are the midterm break, Christmas and Paddy’s Day.”
"Fingal County Council don't even respect the cap because they have issued planning approval for a second runway which takes passengers in Dublin Airport up to 60 million passengers."
He also repeated his call to the Government to scrap the cap for good.
O'Leary said: "It is clear that this concern is no longer valid and since road traffic is not an issue, Minister Ryan should instruct the IAA to ignore this 17-year-old cap."
Ryanair has also warned of "delays across the network" due to ATC staff shortages in Europe today.
A notice on their website reads: "Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, on Fri (16 Aug) apologised to its passengers for the excessive flight delays caused by European ATC staff shortages today Friday 16 Aug which is affecting all European airlines.
"ATC services, which have had the benefit of no French ATC strike disruption this summer, continue to underperform (despite flight volumes being 5 per cent behind 2019 levels) with repeated “staff shortages”.
"On Fri 16 Aug, 14 per cent of Ryanair’s first wave departures (78 of 574 aircraft) were delayed due to ATC 'staff shortages'.
"These repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable.
"We apologise to our passengers for these repeated ATC flight delays which are deeply regrettable but beyond Ryanair’s control."
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