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Ryanair planes in Frankfurt am Main: deadline for discounts has expired
Photo: Andreas Arnold / DPA
After five years, Europe's largest low-cost airline, Ryanair, is giving up its base at Frankfurt Airport.
The five planes still stationed there would be relocated to more cost-effective airports for the flight plan change on March 31 of this year, the Irish company announced on Friday.
Nuremberg was given as an example, where two aircraft are to be stationed again.
However, Frankfurt remains as a destination for the Irish in the summer flight schedule published so far.
The company did not initially comment on the scope of the future offer with aircraft from other bases.
The company cited the increased take-off and landing fees at the largest German airport at the turn of the year as the reason for the withdrawal.
The airline's upset can hardly be overheard: "Instead of giving Ryanair an incentive to stay and grow, Frankfurt has decided to drive traffic and jobs away by increasing airport charges," the statement said.
The German government accused Ryanair manager Jason McGuiness of having distorted competition with the billions in aid for Lufthansa.
Tickets will be refunded
Passengers with already booked tickets will be notified in the coming days and will receive refunds, the company said.
For the Frankfurt crews, Ryanair offers alternative jobs in its rapidly growing European network.
Ryanair first came to Germany's largest airport for the 2017 summer flight schedule, which as an international hub wanted to expand its range of European flights.
Ryanair benefited from an incentive program run by the operator Fraport with reduced flight fees for new providers at the location.
According to a Fraport spokesman, these incentives expired in 2020 for Ryanair.
The airport operator rejected the Irish criticism. With an approved price increase of 4.3 percent, it would be very low in a European comparison of the turnstiles, said a spokesman. The MDax group, which is supported by the state of Hesse and the city of Frankfurt am Main, has to think about the utilization of Pier G, which is almost completed, and which is explicitly tailored to the needs of direct flight providers such as Ryanair. Due to the corona crisis, however, an opening was only planned for the entire Terminal 3 in 2026.
The actually highly profitable Ryanair has lowered its forecast for the current financial year with reference to the ongoing corona crisis.
The company is now calculating with a deficit for the financial year running until the end of March 2022 of 250 million to 450 million euros, after the airline had recently assumed a loss of 100 to 200 million euros.
In terms of passenger volume, the group now expects less than 100 million passengers instead of more than 100 million.
mik / dpa-AFX
