Ryanair may reopen Alghero, Sardinia base – reports
Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) has declined to comment on Italian media speculation that it plans to re-open a seasonal base at Alghero in Sardinia in the Summer of 2022.
“Ryanair does not comment on rumour or speculation,” the carrier said in an emailed response to a query from ch-aviation. This followed several news reports that the Irish budget carrier was negotiating with the management company of Alghero Airport (Società di Gestione Aeroporto di Alghero – SOGEAAL) about re-opening its operational base there, after a five-year absence.
La Nuova Sardegna reported that while neither the airline nor SOGEAAL had officially confirmed the move, off-the-record there had been “several and concordant admissions”. While he gave nothing away, SOGEAAL chief financial officer and business development director, Fabio Gallo, had observed that Ryanair’s winter season schedule suggested “that there is renewed attention to Alghero”, the report said. Gallo did not respond to a request for comment from ch-aviation.
Observers noted that some Ryanair flights already loaded for next summer from Vienna (Austria), Milan Bergamo and Bologna (Italy) on some days would be operated at times that the aircraft would have to overnight in Alghero. “This means, in my opinion, that the return of the base is being prepared,” speculated former mayor of Alghero, Mario Bruno.
Reports said Ryanair in the past summer season had strengthened its network at Alghero airport using the airport as a launchpad to jumpstart leisure traffic in the region post COVID-19.
According to the ch-aviation ch-aviation schedules module, it currently operates 69 return flights to 22 destinations from Alghero, including to:
Italy: Bari, Bologna, Catania, Bergamo, Naples Capodichino, Palermo, Pescara, Pisa, and Venice Treviso;
Spain: Barcelona El Prat, Madrid Barajas, and Seville;
Slovakia: Bratislava;
Belgium: Brussels Charleroi;
Austria: Vienna;
Romania: Bucharest Otopeni;
Germany: Frankfurt Hahn and Memmingen;
France: Marseilles;
UK: London Stansted; and
Poland: Katowice.
A new route to Lisbon (Portugal) will be introduced on November 1, 2021.
Ryanair already holds more than 76% market share in terms of weekly seat capacity at Alghero, according to ch-aviation capacities data, with Alitalia at around 18% and Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) having captured a 5% share.