RYANAIR BOSS WARNS HUGELY POPULAR HOUR FLIGHT FROM UK WILL COST £420 EACH WAY THIS CHRISTMAS

People heading home for Christmas face paying £420 each way for a short and very popular flight route.

Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary has claimed that the London to Dublin flight will hit 500 euros (£420) each way during the festive period. While ticket fares tend to go up around Christmas due to the dynamic pricing model used by airlines, that is an extraordinary hike - given a return ticket next week can be bought for £30.

The budget airline boss made the claim while telling customers who need to make the journey this Christmas to book their tickets early. Mr O'Leary has blamed Dublin Airport for the price rises, arguing that its passenger cap should have been increased with the opening of its second runway.

He said: “We urge passengers intending to travel home to Dublin for Christmas to book their flights early as cheap seats are selling out quickly. Currently today in late August, our lowest fares from London to Dublin on 20, 21 or 22 December are rapidly approaching €100 one-way due to this Government’s failure to allow airlines to run extra flights to/from Dublin this Christmas.

"Once again, Ireland’s Green Transport Minister has failed to act. Not alone is Dublin the world’s 2nd most congested city for road traffic, but Dublin Airport is Europe’s only capital city that has opened a 2nd runway, but due to a 17-year-old traffic cap, we are not allowed to use it. The sooner this failed Green Minister is removed from office, the better it will be for Ireland’s infrastructure, Ireland’s air access and Irish families travelling home for Christmas.

"We believe air fares to Dublin this Christmas will hit €500 one-way as Christmas approaches and reduced seat capacity fills, and therefore we urge passengers intending to travel home to family at Christmas to book their travel early and avoid what will be record high air fares due to Eamon Ryan’s failure to scrap a 17-year-old outdated and irrelevant (road) traffic cap.”

Dublin Airport recently opened a 2nd runway taking capacity to 60m passengers. However, its 2007-implemented traffic cap of 32m passengers remains in place.

Ryanair's boss claims the airline has been prevented from adding extra flights to Dublin this year, due to the traffic cap. The airline is pushing to run an additional 270,000 extra seats to/from the Irish capital this Christmas. Instead, the airline will run an extra 50,000 seats from London to Belfast.

The airport's bosses also seem keen to have the cap raised. This week Kenny Jacobs, chief executive of Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), told the Financial Times that Ireland risks losing 1,000 aviation jobs and €500mn in tourist spend if the cap remained at 32million.

His comments came as the airport announced it would exceed the 32million passenger annual limit imposed in 2007 for the first time this year, overshooting by one million. “This has gone beyond a transport issue. This is now an Ireland issue,” Mr Jacobs said, adding that the DAA had made “extensive efforts” to reduce passenger numbers to comply with the cap. The group has applied for permission to raise the annual limit to 40million passengers.

2024-09-06T08:50:24Z dg43tfdfdgfd