Ryanair to reopen Shannon base in early 2Q21

Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) has said that reopening its base at Shannon in 2021 will provide an opportunity for it to rebuild its presence in Ireland’s Mid-West Region. It plans to position a single aircraft there from April. The carrier will operate 32 weekly frequencies to 14 destinations in Portugal, Spain, the UK, Lithuania, and Poland, Ryanair Designated Activity Company (DAC) chief executive Eddie Wilson outlined at a press conference at what the Irish Times described as a largely deserted Shannon Airport. Mary Considine, chief executive of airport operator Shannon Group, described the move as “an early Christmas present” and “a very positive end to what has been an extremely tough year.” Wilson said that the deal it had struck with the airport meant it would target 450,000 passengers at Shannon next year. He listed Faro, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Manchester Int’l, London, Kaunas, Warsaw Modlin, and Wroclaw as potential destinations. Ryanair based two aircraft there in 2019, but in October 2020, at the end of the Summer 2020 season, it suspended operations at four of the five airports in its Irish home market, namely Shannon, Cork, Kerry, and Knock. “The airport has worked tirelessly with Ryanair over the last number of months to secure capacity ahead of next summer, and we’re delighted that this reopening of the Ryanair base will restore Shannon’s connectivity and support the economic recovery of the Mid-West next year,” Wilson said. He added, however, that “without recovery incentives, passenger capacity at Dublin Int’l will fall, and Cork as a Ryanair base may not reopen for summer 2021.” He called on Ireland’s transport minister, Eamon Ryan, to urgently allow incentives on airport charges. “There will be significantly reduced capacity in Europe next summer, and unless the Irish government secures that connectivity now, unfortunately, it will go elsewhere in Europe where governments, regions, and airports are actively engaged in securing this vital infrastructure, along with the much-needed employment it will generate.” State-run Cork and Dublin airport operator DAA, previously the Dublin Airport Authority, promised earlier in December to give airlines discounts on its charges as long as they were linked to performance on passenger numbers.