Ryanair may cut services in landing charges row

Ryanair has given Aer Rianta until the end of this week to "reconsider" its position on a row over landing fees at Shannon.

If Aer Rianta does not move on the issue, Ryanair will severely curtail its service between Shannon and Hahn in Germany by operating one weekly flight on the route, down from seven per week at present.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Aer Rianta is in talks with another "low-fares" airline with a view to commencing operations between Shannon and Germany. The company declined to comment on this yesterday.

Ryanair has, in the past, shown its reluctance to operate the same route as a low-fares competitor.

The ultimatum from Ryanair came in response to a letter sent by Aer Rianta yesterday, in which the company defended its decision to impose landing charges on the airline. Ryanair has paid no airport charges on the Hahn route over the past three years as part of an incentive arrangement that is due to expire in May.

The airline has rejected Aer Rianta's offer of discounted charges for a further three years and has threatened to cut back on services from Shannon to Beauvais near Paris and Charleroi near Brussels in the future.

An Aer Rianta spokesman said the letter represented the airport operator's "final offer".

Aer Rianta, which claims to have provided Ryanair with support worth €1.75 million over the past three years, has offered to reduce landing fees by 60 per cent this year, 40 per cent next year and 20 per cent in 2005.

To continue with the status quo would be "unacceptable", according to the spokesman.

It is believed that the threatened reduction in scheduled flights, likely to begin in April, could see the number of passengers carried between Shannon and Hahn fall by up to 90 per cent.

Aer Rianta has urged Ryanair to continue operating the route "in the interests of tourism in the west of Ireland".

Last year, Ryanair sold about 108,000 seats on the service. The airline's website is currently not accepting midweek bookings beyond April for the route.

The airline approached a number of airports, including Cork and airports near Barcelona and Rome, with a view to transferring the Hahn service to another location.

Aer Rianta would be unlikely to view a route between Cork and Hahn as a "new route" and, therefore, would be reluctant to offer the same no-fee conditions as apply in Shannon.

"It is this monopoly price gouging by Aer Rianta that highlights yet again the urgent need for Shannon and Cork Airport to be split from the Aer Rianta monopoly and for competitive second and third terminals to be built at Dublin airport," said Mr Paul Fitzsimmons, Ryanair's head of communications.