Ryanair Proposes 10m Pax & €4.5bn Tourism Revenue P.A. In A Plan To Rescue Greek Tourism And Aviation

Ryanair, Europe’s only ultra-low cost carrier (ULCC), today (25 Apr) presented a Greek tourism rescue plan to the Transport Minister Kostas Chatzidakis which could see Ryanair grow its Greek traffic to 10m passengers p.a. by 2016, on the day Ryanair opened its 1st Greek base (and 57th in total) at Chania.

Ryanair has carried over 2m passengers to/from Greece in less than 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 miss out on Ryanair’s traffic growth and the tourism jobs it brings because of the airport operator’s refusal to engage with Ryanair, at a time when Athens’ passenger traffic has fallen by 22%, from 16.4m in 2008 to just 12.8m in 2012, its lowest figure in a decade. Ryanair could deliver up to 4m passengers p.a. if a realistic low-cost deal were made available at Athens Airport, with a further 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 starting from just €15.99 for travel in May and June, which 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, which could deliver over 10m passengers and €4.5bn tourism revenue p.a. by 2016 and support 10,000* Greek jobs.

Tourism is one of the few industries that can quickly provide the economic 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 continue to grow, traffic at Athens continues to decline as it misses out on Ryanair’s traffic and tourism jobs growth, as well as Ryanair’s low fares, while its management refuses to engage with Ryanair.”