Ryanair slashes Liverpool flights
Ryanair has blamed Air Passenger Duty and the slump in the value for sterling for cutbacks this summer at Liverpool airport.
Ten destinations are being cut from the airline’s network from the Merseyside airport with the loss of 50 pilot, cabin crew and engineering jobs.
Ryanair is pulling one aircraft out of Liverpool to leave six, resulting in an anticipated eight per cent drop in passengers from 2.7 million last year to 2.5 million in 2009.
Further cuts in the winter schedule at Liverpool will be announced later, the carrier warned.
Destinations to go include Paris, Budapest, Valencia, Faro and Lodz.
Deputy chief executive Michael Cawley said: “The combination of the high cost government APD and falls in sterling has already created a traffic collapse at Liverpool Airport.
“The decision by the UK Government to continue to impose high APD charges and increase them over the next two years is completely unacceptable given the current economic climate.
“Ryanair has repeatedly called for this tax to be scrapped by highlighting that such travel taxes have failed in both the UK and Dutch markets, where they immediately resulted in traffic declines and sadly these declines look set to continue.
“This government must realise you can only promote tourism by welcoming visitors, not taxing them.
“These cuts can and will be reversed if the government’s greedy APD is scrapped – only then can we grow passenger traffic at Liverpool and throughout the UK.”
by Phil Davies
(Travelmole)
