Ryanair to leave Reus for five months

Low-cost carrier Ryanair will not be operating any flights at Reus airport for five months beginning on November 6, leaving close to 300 people without work, labor union sources at the air facility said on Monday.

With Ryanair's temporary departure, the Reus airport in Tarragona will no longer have any commercial arrivals or departures.

The Spanish airport authority AENA says it is negotiating with 13 other carriers to fill the gap. Ryanair has said that it will suspended its operations for the winter season if the carrier doesn't receive a hike in the more than 3.5 million euros in government subsidies it receives each year.

An estimated 75,000 passengers relied on Ryanair's Reus route to get to the Costa Dorada. AENA contract negotiations, according to sources, are centered on talks with a Russian airline that is interested in the air route to fly in tourists.

Some 88 Ryanair workers will be left without a job but union sources believe it will be more than three times as much counting the indirect jobs.

Lluís Recoder, Tarragona's commissioner for sustainable economy and land administration, criticized AENA for not doing more to keep Ryanair from cutting back its services not only in Reus but also in Girona and Lleida.

Here we go again.
Just like three years ago, with no flights to and from Reus,
during Winter months.

Evidently Ryanair must consider that there would be demand for services to and from Reus in the winter.  The issue seems to be how much subsidy can be achieved.

Pity that Vueling, Easyjet or similar can't take over the route so that Ryanair can be told 'get lost'.  Nothing but blackmailing, money-grabbing b******* who despite their new image don't give a damn about their clients and how it will affect them. 

Ryanair is a business not a service!  A business has to make a profit, otherwise it's no longer a business.
I used a flight last winter from Luton to Reus, there was 5 passengers on it. My ticket cost about €40.
There was 4 steward/esses plus two pilots on board.
Definitely no profit involved there!
There is always Barcelona or Valencia with a cheap train journey, even cheaper if you are over 60
Otherwise drive over. Just see how much that costs you.............

Have you ever considered that the reason that there were so few passengers on your flight is because people are now using Barcelona El Prat with other airlines, having got fed up with the fact that Ryanair are no longer supplying the service to Reus that they used to do.  I rarely bother to look at what Ryanair are providing in the way of flights to and from Reus during the winter months as I know that there will be nothing to meet my needs, and if that applies to me then it applies to others too.  I understand that Ryanair are a business but their business is supposedly supplying an air service !!.

We alwayr fly reus to liverpool ,the flights always stop in early november start again in march this summer all flights from and two liverpool have been reduced to 3 a week , last november we were on one flight with 10 on board this year we have never been on a full plane, easy jet would be a better airline if they charged the same as ryan air

We have lived here for over seven years and every winter Ryanair have suspended or seriously reduced services between Reus and the UK.  It isn't anything other than an inconvenience.  As Cactus Jack said it is a business and if they are to provide the cheap service that they do they can't fly half empty (or worse) planes and still offer €40 fares.

I certainly haven't stopped using Ryanair and if I was going to fly from El Prat I'd still use them as they are cheaper than the others.  If Easyjet were as cheap I'd use them, but they aren't.  Really, really wouldn't use whatever Russian airline AENA are hoping to out into Reus, ever.

Inconvenience for passengers wanting to use Reus,
during Winter months.
But really bad for all the people employed there as will have no work, again.

It's very sad but that's the downside of capitalism.  I don't think that Ryanair or Michael O'Leary are responsible for Reus not attracting more business though and I don't understand how AENA could possibly support a large airport with only one carrier..  Would everyone be happy to pay double for their flights in order to support local employment in the quiet months?

El Prat airport may be a better option now that Hife are running at least 8 Buses from Tortosa (daily,but a few less at weekends) to Terminal 1.About Euros 20 for a one way ticket & Euros 30 for a return.Timetables record that driving time (From & to Tortosa) is about 2 hours as I assume they use the AP7.First stop after leaving Terminal 1 is l'Aldea train station or the AP7 Tortosa peatge.

http://www.hife.es/en/

It only says that they are running between 1st July and 31st August though.  It would certainly be useful if they extended it.

THis does not surprise me.  Ryanair are an appalling oranisation that cares not a jot for its customers.  Please EasyJet, Vueling, Norwegian Air, anybody else start operating flights from Reus

If you ran an airline from the heart instead of from the head you'd be a hasbeen within three weeks.  FR has been operating for more than three decades.  QED.

Later...................

After the rapidly growing airline went public in 1997, the money raised was used to expand the airline into a pan-European carrier. Revenues have risen from €231 million in 1998, to €1,843 million in 2003 and €3,013 million in 2010. Similarly net profits have increased from €48 million to €339 million over the same period.[4]

quoted c/o Wikipedia q.v.

Just wanted to point out that Ryanair are still operating flights from Reus over the winter months.  A much more limited service and I guess people will have been laid off or given reduced hours, but they are flying to Stansted, Eindhoven, Brussels and Frankfurt.

The flights to Stansted in January and February are very cheap and there are some very cheap connecting flights to Prestwick for anyone wanting to get to Scotland.

So there are more people wanting to go to Eindhoven than (say) Manchester from Reus???  Who would have thought it?

Michael,
Lots more Dutch have purchased properties in Southern Catalunya over recent years,maybe this is why Ryanair can make money out of the Eindhoven route?

Well I'll be a Dutchman!