Flights to Fuerteventura under threat
[November 19th 2008]
Flights to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands could be axed from the end of January unless the local tourism group honours a contract.
Budget airline Ryanair is threatening to cancel all its flights to Fuerteventura unless tourism group AIE honours a commercial agreement it entered into with Ryanair to promote Fuerteventura as a tourist destination.
Since it began flights to Fuerteventura in 2006 Ryanair says flights to the popular winter sun destination have increased from just under 2,000 to more than 250,000. The low cost airline has already cancelled one of its Dublin flights to the island from November 6th because of the alleged breach of contract.
Now Ryanair says it will cancel all flights to and from Fuerteventura from January 31st if agreement is not reached with AIE by December 6th. Ryanair operates flights to Fuerteventura from Birmingham, East Midlands, Liverpool and Luton airports in the UK, as well as from Shannon airport in Ireland and Bremen, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt in Germany.
“Ryanair again calls on the AIE to honor its contractual agreement or lose Ryanair’s flights and traffic to/from Fuerteventura from 31st January 2009. Ryanair’s lowest fares and no fuel surcharge have delivered huge tourism revenues and over 250,000 annual passengers may now be lost to/from Fuerteventura,” says Ryanair’s Michael Cawley.
“At a time when Spanish tourism numbers are falling Ryanair’s numbers continues to grow. However, the AIE continues to threaten the livelihoods of the local tourism industry by blatantly reneging on its contractual commitments,” continues Cawley.
Ryanair has served 30 days notice on the AIE to comply with its contractual agreements. “If they refuse to do so then we will have no choice sadly but to end all Ryanair flights to Fuerteventura from 31st January,” Cawley concludes.
Other airlines operating flights to Fuerteventura from the UK include First Choice Airways, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomsonfly, My Travel Airways, and Flyglobespan.
Last month Ryanair decided to close its base at Valencia airport because of a disagreement with the local tourism authority there.
Written by: Nick Purdom
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