Lo dice il Financial Times :
Ryanair goes on the attack in Spain
By Kevin Done in London
Published: August 5 2007 19:31 | Last updated: August 5 2007 19:31
Ryanair, the leading European low-cost airline, is establishing two more operating bases in Spain.
The Irish carrier, which has the broadest spread of operations across Europe of any airline, with 20 bases in eight countries, is thought to be close to finalising deals in Valencia and Alicante.
The expected moves will intensify the battle for the Spanish market, the main focus for the expansion of low-cost carriers in Europe after the UK and Germany.
Ryanair has a base in Barcelona-Girona with nine aircraft and 49 routes and, in late November, opened in Madrid, which has five aircraft and 15 routes to date. The Spanish network was forecast to rise to 9m passengers a year including the Madrid base.
Rival EasyJet opened its first base in Spain in February in Madrid, with Barajas airport doubling the number of runways to four and opening a fourth terminal.
The ferocity of the competition in the Spanish airline market was underlined on Friday when Vueling, a Spanish start-up low-cost carrier that began flying three years ago, alarmed investors by announcing net losses in the first six months of this year had jumped from €6.5m to €33.7m (£22.8m).
Vueling was only floated in December and its share price plunged about 30 per cent on Friday, closing €6.89 lower at €15.80.
It blamed the losses on the price war, as its average fares fell 23.4 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter from €51.85 to €39.71.
Vueling said much of the pressure on its Barcelona and Madrid bases was coming from Clickair, a low-cost airline launched by Iberia, the Spanish flag carrier, and from Spanair, a subsidiary of SAS Scandinavian Airlines, which is up for sale.
Ryanair has said it would ground seven of its 40 aircraft based at London Stansted for four months this winter, to reduce lossmaking routes and protest at a doubling of airport charges since April. The airline has not taken any action to slow the flow of new aircraft it has ordered from Boeing.
Ryanair goes on the attack in Spain
By Kevin Done in London
Published: August 5 2007 19:31 | Last updated: August 5 2007 19:31
Ryanair, the leading European low-cost airline, is establishing two more operating bases in Spain.
The Irish carrier, which has the broadest spread of operations across Europe of any airline, with 20 bases in eight countries, is thought to be close to finalising deals in Valencia and Alicante.
The expected moves will intensify the battle for the Spanish market, the main focus for the expansion of low-cost carriers in Europe after the UK and Germany.
Ryanair has a base in Barcelona-Girona with nine aircraft and 49 routes and, in late November, opened in Madrid, which has five aircraft and 15 routes to date. The Spanish network was forecast to rise to 9m passengers a year including the Madrid base.
Rival EasyJet opened its first base in Spain in February in Madrid, with Barajas airport doubling the number of runways to four and opening a fourth terminal.
The ferocity of the competition in the Spanish airline market was underlined on Friday when Vueling, a Spanish start-up low-cost carrier that began flying three years ago, alarmed investors by announcing net losses in the first six months of this year had jumped from €6.5m to €33.7m (£22.8m).
Vueling was only floated in December and its share price plunged about 30 per cent on Friday, closing €6.89 lower at €15.80.
It blamed the losses on the price war, as its average fares fell 23.4 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter from €51.85 to €39.71.
Vueling said much of the pressure on its Barcelona and Madrid bases was coming from Clickair, a low-cost airline launched by Iberia, the Spanish flag carrier, and from Spanair, a subsidiary of SAS Scandinavian Airlines, which is up for sale.
Ryanair has said it would ground seven of its 40 aircraft based at London Stansted for four months this winter, to reduce lossmaking routes and protest at a doubling of airport charges since April. The airline has not taken any action to slow the flow of new aircraft it has ordered from Boeing.
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