Ryanair said today it is to close two of the seven routes it operates from Cork airport from the end of October following what it claimed was a 20 per cent increase in charges imposed on the routes.
However, Cork Airport rejected Ryanair's claim and said the airline had, in fact, reneged on its commitment to a discount scheme that operates on a sliding scale.
Ryanair's daily flight from Cork to East Midlands will end on October 2nd while the daily service to Glasgow (Prestwick) will close two days later.
The route cancellations are expected to result in a loss of 100,000 passengers at Cork this winter, equivalent to a 6 per cent drop in traffic using Cork Airport.
Ryanair said the decline in passenger traffic will result in up to 200 local jobs being lost.
“We regret that we have to close these two daily routes to/from Cork. However, a 20 per cent increase in airport charges on these routes reduces our ability to offer really low fares at a time of higher oil prices and these higher costs will make these two new routes loss-making this winter," said Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary.
“The loss of these flights, 200,000 passengers, €20,000,000 in tourism revenue and 200 jobs could have been avoided if Cork Airport had agreed to continue the current low cost agreement on these routes. However, Ryanair can not and will not absorb a 20 per cent increase in costs just to keep loss making routes open at a high cost airport like Cork,” he added.
Rejecting Ryanair's claims, Cork Airport Authority said in a statement: "All airlines are eligible to apply for route support through the Route Support Scheme when introducing new destinations."
"The scheme operates over a five-year period and is based on a sliding scale with a 100 per cent discount in
year one. In the second year of operation, the discount moves to 80 per cent and so on over the five year period of the scheme. The purpose of the sliding scale is to facilitate development of new routes at start-up.
"Having availed of the 100 per cent discount provided by the Route Support Scheme on its East Midlands and Glasgow Prestwick services since December 2007, Ryanair has today reneged on its commitment to the Route Support Scheme."
The airport body said this scheme was "a fully transparent system available to all airlines in order to support and facilitate route development".