Post by Humberside on Jul 3, 2013 17:16:13 GMT
RYANAIR will run a winter timetable from Bournemouth Airport this winter - three years after they halted the off-season operations.
The low-cost operator, which has been flying from Hurn since May 1996, said they would be running six routes out of the airport to winter sun destinations as a result of high demand from Bournemouth this summer.
These include Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Malaga, Alicante and Barcelona-Girona.
In total there will be nine weekly outbound flights and 3,400 weekly seats flying in and out of the airport, said Ryanair's Lesley Kane.
Back in 2010 the airline stopped flying from Bournemouth Airport over the winter months, citing the government's air passenger duty tax as the problem.
They insisted, after announcing the move nearly three years ago, that the measure was not long-term.
But this year, their winter break was longer than usual, with flights beginning again on March 14 - later than in previous years when they started in February.
The airline blamed the oil prices for the delay in beginning their spring/summer schedule and said they predicted demand for Bournemouth Airport to pick-up around mid-March.
Ms Kane, head of marketing, said: “Since we launched the spring/summer timetable back in March we have seen an increase and a strong demand for the flights.
“We have 16 routes this summer and we have seen a really strong positive demand which gives us a positive outlook for the winter.”
She could not give any long-term commitment to the measure beyond this winter, saying they needed to make sure it was successful for this year first.
“Hopefully it will be (successful) and we will be back on a year-long basis”, she added.
“We enable people to save money. They are moving away from package deals and doing them themselves now.
“Back in 2001 we flew 85,000 passengers in and out of Bournemouth and this year we will fly 466,000-470,000 passengers.
“We want to carry on growing. We have a great relationship with the owners of Bournemouth airport - Manchester Airports Group - and we are loking to work with them to grow passengers.”
The low-cost operator, which has been flying from Hurn since May 1996, said they would be running six routes out of the airport to winter sun destinations as a result of high demand from Bournemouth this summer.
These include Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Malaga, Alicante and Barcelona-Girona.
In total there will be nine weekly outbound flights and 3,400 weekly seats flying in and out of the airport, said Ryanair's Lesley Kane.
Back in 2010 the airline stopped flying from Bournemouth Airport over the winter months, citing the government's air passenger duty tax as the problem.
They insisted, after announcing the move nearly three years ago, that the measure was not long-term.
But this year, their winter break was longer than usual, with flights beginning again on March 14 - later than in previous years when they started in February.
The airline blamed the oil prices for the delay in beginning their spring/summer schedule and said they predicted demand for Bournemouth Airport to pick-up around mid-March.
Ms Kane, head of marketing, said: “Since we launched the spring/summer timetable back in March we have seen an increase and a strong demand for the flights.
“We have 16 routes this summer and we have seen a really strong positive demand which gives us a positive outlook for the winter.”
She could not give any long-term commitment to the measure beyond this winter, saying they needed to make sure it was successful for this year first.
“Hopefully it will be (successful) and we will be back on a year-long basis”, she added.
“We enable people to save money. They are moving away from package deals and doing them themselves now.
“Back in 2001 we flew 85,000 passengers in and out of Bournemouth and this year we will fly 466,000-470,000 passengers.
“We want to carry on growing. We have a great relationship with the owners of Bournemouth airport - Manchester Airports Group - and we are loking to work with them to grow passengers.”
www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/10523329.They_re_back__Ryanair_confirms_new_winter_timetable_for_Bournemouth_Airport/