The CEO of Ryanair, Eddie Wilson, has criticized that the Spanish Government continues to allocate public money to save airlines such as Air Europa that "have proven to be unsuccessful."
instead of dedicating these funds to lower airport charges in order to recover air traffic as soon as possible and favor the recovery of tourism.
The first executive of the Irish airline, thus referred to the rescue for 475 million euros that the State Society for Industrial Participations (SEPI), through the fund to support the solvency of strategic companies, injected into Air Europa, and that the airline of the Hidalgo family has already admitted that it will be insufficient and will therefore require new public aid to survive.
At the same time, Aena, the airport manager participated by the State by 51%, intends to increase the airport fees charged to companies by 5% until 2026, in addition to making them bear the health costs derived from the coronavirus pandemic.
The rise is pending approval by the Council of Ministers.
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"Why does the Government create a fund of 10,000 million to rescue companies whose businesses have failed and cannot lower Aena's rates, which is an accessible measure for all airlines?" Wilson said at a press conference held this year. Wednesday in Madrid.
The manager explained that the logical thing would have been for the Government to use the 10 billion euros from the aid fund to encourage air traffic, which would help generate capacity for companies such as Easyjet or Ryanair itself, as other countries such as Greece or Sweden, and regretted that aid is given to airlines that were already going through problems before the pandemic while others such as the Irish company are denied "despite the fact that it is the only one that has maintained its investment in Spain, because it does not have its tax headquarters here . The General Court of the European Union (CJEU) has endorsed the fund created by the Spanish Government and rejected Ryanair's complaint last May.
Ryanair has also requested that, in the event that Iberia's purchase of Air Europa is finally closed, the slots (take-off and landing permits) be released at airports such as A Coruña, Gran Canaria or Vigo, which are currently operated by the airline company. Globalia group so that they can switch to airlines that offer more competitive prices.
Route recovery
Ryanair expects to fully recover pre-crisis capacity in Spain during the 2021 winter season, although it acknowledges that occupancy is still below 2019 levels, at 80%, compared to the 95% it was then.
In winter, the airline will operate 523 routes to or from Spain, 52 of them at Madrid-Barajas airport, seven of them new, among others to La Palma in the Canary Islands.
In August, Ryanair has already exceeded 600 routes in Spain, recovering 80% of its capacity from the summer before the pandemic.
The forecast of the
Irish
low cost
airline
is to close this fiscal year next March with 100 million travelers throughout its network, compared to 150 million prior to the pandemic, its goal being to reach 200 million in 2026.
Wilson recalled that Ryanair has a fleet of Boeing 737s that will exceed 600 personnel (capacity to transport more than 200 million passengers per year), after acquiring 210 new 737 Max10s that will be delivered between now and 2025. The company announced last Monday that broke the negotiations with Boeing to buy another 230 additional aircraft for its high price.
Regarding labor disputes, Wilson has clarified that the company has reached agreements in all countries, except Spain, and believes that it is the interlocutors who make agreements difficult. According to Ryanair, "the ball is in Spain's court" and it is not the company's problem, although there are "good relations" and they will continue working to reach an agreement. For example, the airline has given an example of the requests of the Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), which requested a salary increase that for Ryanair would translate into a 167% increase in labor costs, and recalled that, unlike other companies (like Iberia or Air Europa which it did not name), the airline already removed all its crew members in Spain from the ERTE last July.
