Ryanair acquires easyJet’s winter slots at Stansted

Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) has acquired 296 weekly slots at London Stansted from easyJet (U2, London Luton) for the Winter 2021/22 season, having already completed a similar swap, but for summer slots, last year.

ACL disclosures indicate the exchange will become effective November 1, 2021. Due to the seasonal character of slot allocations, the previous swap of summer slots will not, by itself, affect the apportionment of winter slots. However, now that Ryanair has acquired both summer and winter slots, it will retain them based on historical rights for future seasons.

The Irish low-cost carrier has so far filed a placeholder schedule with no indication as to its planned Stansted winter network.

easyJet announced in 2020 that it would close its base at Stansted to focus on London Luton and London Gatwick in the London agglomeration (both bases are operated by easyJet UK). However, the airline continues to serve Stansted from other bases.

easyJet had 326 weekly slots allocated in the initial Winter 2021/22 season plan. It will retain 30 weekly slots at Stansted while easyJet Europe has a further 28. Even before the swap, Ryanair had 2,515 weekly slots allocated at Stansted, 77.8% of Stansted’s total capacity.

According to the ch-aviation capacities module, Ryanair (together with Ryanair UK) controls the Stansted market with an 80.2% market share by capacity. By comparison, easyJet has a 4.9% market share.