Ryanair ‘disinvests’ from Athens airport: It closes its winter base

By Fotis Fotinos

Ryanair is proceeding with its decision to close the winter base of “El. Venizelos” airport, with the release of 2 aircraft.

The company, which is asking for more attractive fees and incentives for the winter season, will operate only 10 out of 29 routes in Athens, reducing the available capacity by almost 60%.

The Irish company, closing its Athens base from October 29 until the end of March, argues that Athens Airport and Fraport Greece do not offer strong incentives to boost passenger traffic in the winter season and to develop off-peak tourism .

“At a time when other governments and airports are reducing fees and introducing tourism recovery programs, the Greek government continues to apply high fees, making Greek access fees uncompetitive,” the company’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, told Capital.gr .

“While this winter we will grow in Portugal by 21%, in Italy by 19% and in Spain by 17%, in Greece the capacity on offer will be reduced by 40%,” commented Mr Wilson, arguing that Ryanair, although it had submitted several proposals to the Greek government, from November 2021, in which it is committed to doubling passenger traffic over a period of 5 years, to 10 million passengers per year, however, it did not receive any response.

“Greece is a wonderful and top travel destination, with excellent performance in the summer, as a result of which many airports are saturated and there is a lack of slots. However, for the development of the winter season, it is considered necessary, among other things, to adopt incentives so that the Greece and Athens not to be a seasonal destination,” commented Mr. Wilson.

“Ryanair is growing significantly in Europe. With more than 150 new aircraft deliveries over the next 4 years, it is in a position to deliver rapid passenger growth, improving the connectivity and accessibility needed to boost the Greek tourism market throughout year”, added the CEO of the company.

Ryanair reduces by 40% the available capacity in Greece in winter

As mentioned above, in the winter period Ryanair will operate 10 routes from Athens, which will be to Dublin, London, Brussels, Milan, Bologna, Rome (Fiumicino), Budapest, Katowice, Vienna and Malta, no longer parking any aircraft in “El. Venizelos” airport compared to 2 last year and 4 in 2019.

Also, the company will run routes to and from Chania and to and from Thessaloniki, which it maintains as a base.

In summary, executives of the Irish company, which is estimated to hold the 3rd place in Greece in terms of market share (7%), behind AEGEAN (38%) and SKY express (15%), emphasized that, while other European airports and governments in Portugal, Croatia and Ireland have reduced air charges and successfully implemented tourism recovery programs in the winter season, Athens airport and in general, the Greek government maintained non-competitive airport charges.

“The Greek government must address the seasonality of its tourism product, as the Greek islands lack connectivity during the winter (-45% compared to the summer). In fact, tour operators represent less than 5% of the winter traffic of Greek airports, so the loss of capacity of Europe’s largest airline is detrimental to the Greek economy,” they said indicatively.