UK
- September 13, 2008
Ryanair drops services from Cork and Derry
Ryanair has confirmed that it is axing four services currently operated out of Cork and Derry.
The low-cost carrier’s City of Derry connection to Bristol had carried more than 3,000 passengers each month but will now cease flying on October 1.
An additional service operating between Derry and East Midlands is being replaced with a Birmingham link, while two routes from Cork are also being dropped.
Passengers flying from the southern city will no longer be able to connect to East Midlands or Glasgow Prestwick airports, though Aer Lingus has said it plans to replace the latter route.
Commenting on the cancellations, Ryanair chairman Michael O’Leary explained that a 20 per cent surge in the operator’s fuel costs had make the services unprofitable.
Derry Airport added that it will seek out a replacement carrier for the axed services, noting that between them the two routes had ferried more than 70,000 passengers.
Its confidence in the routes was echoed by Derry City Council’s Airport Authority, which said deploying smaller aircraft is one possible way of maintaining the links.
