Ryanair Boeing (200)
LOW-COST airline Ryanair has scrapped three routes out of Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport because of lack of demand.
From November, the Irish carrier will stop three-times weekly flights to Aberdeen, Inverness, and Kuanas in Lithuania.
Last night, officials at JLA said they were disappointed with the development but minor setbacks could only be expected in an expanding airport, where new routes were being tried out.
It comes just weeks after Belgian airline VLM scrapped its route between JLA and London’s City airport, and Scottish company flyglobespan announced its New York route will end in October.
Ryanair continues to be the largest operator from the Speke airport, its 30 routes making up about half of the total from the airport.
The company said the three had been axed because they were “weak” performers.
Head of communications at Ryanair Peter Sherrard said the Scottish routes’ problems were compounded when the Government introduced a £10 air user duty tax. He said that, as this was payable on both legs of the journey, the routes had been hit particularly hard.
“Liverpool is a great airport. There will be occasions when routes do not work. We are not going to sit on our hands and do nothing.”
The Scottish routes had been operating for 18 months and the Kuanas one for about a year.
Mr Sherrard said the routes carried a combined 80,000 to 90,000 passengers from JLA each year.
“Ryanair have taken this decision for commercial reasons, the passenger numbers clearly were not there,” said JLA’s general manager of corporate affairs, Robin Tudor.
“We never like to lose any routes, but it is not a major concern.
“This is inevitable as the airport grows, there will always be routes that don’t prove so successful.”
