oh well if the rumour is true ,then this is maybe another casualty of the crazy rules imposed on foreigners by the cataloonyans ,everybody baling out home for good and holidaying elsewhere instead,
maybe catalunya should take note and stop penalising potential investors to their area,if more people had the power of mr oleary then maybe things might change there for the better,or maybe they like to stay in the dark ages,

I agree lets hope it doesn't happen, good to hear people who appreciate Ryanair and the service they provide, cause in the past some members of the Forum have done nothing but complain about not getting 1st class service at budget cost.

Has anyone heard anything about Castellon airport lately?

The latest date is "late summer" 2011, there are no airlines signed up yet and they are still waiting for Government approval / Licence to operate. They now have an agreement for air traffic control and an airport operator.

Ryanair and Veuling are said to have been negotiating........

Nothing is certain yet but it could happen. There is a planned conference on the future strategy of Reus airport probably to be held in September to include opinions of civil society, governments ,institutions & businesses, they will consider revising the charges of the airport. The president of the chamber of commerce of Reus, Sanroma Isaac & Albert Abello feel it was a mistake allowing Ryanair to go to El Prat as they would loose interest  in Reus.  Surely it would be a good idea for people who really use Reus airport & who need it for their livelyhood and readers of the Tortosa forum to make sure they are represented at this conference.

Yes but what about businesses that rely on this airport?  It is an awful drag to go into Barcelona central from El Prat & then have to catch one of the very slow trains to Salou, L'Aldea ,Mora etc .Enough to put any visitor of a short break  off that many small businesses rely on.  What about Port Aventura they would loose out.  This should be well publicised.

The most important department of any airline is a little known one called yield control.  This is run by actuarists who work with algorithms to calculate the highest revenue production based on (such as) lead time to flight, special events occuring near the flight, historic seat occupancy for that period.......to cut it short, the earlier you book the seat the cheaper it is, providing no one else wants to fly that day.   If you leave it late then you're desperate and they can hit you with a high price that you'll pay.   All flights have a break even load factor (ie. some scheduled airlines need 65% occupancy just to pay the direct operating costs).  Low cost carriers (LCCs) such as FR and EZY have far more complex algorithms based on for example the amount of money the local council or airport has paid into their coffers to attract them in the first place, the amount of time they hold your money earning interest....these funds will skew the charges they need to make to the passengers.   All in all, fellow forumites, FR has bled as much out of the region as they can get and now they're off.  Tough luck on all those who have set up homes in the catchment area, they are of little consequence to the shareholders of the company.  So do not bleat.  You have had advantage of the cheapest airfares since fleas started riding on the backs of ducks.  Go now and find alternative airports because this is the time of the fat getting fatter and tough luck to the rest.  It's called capitalism.

I agree too. Ryanair have pulled out of airports before in France leaving expats in similar situations to us now. We will just have to learn to deal with it. I sympathize with people whose business's rely on customers getting cheap flights in. But short of a revolution and the smashing of the corrupt capitalist system what can we do? Might be an idea for everyone to share rides to El Prat and travel at the same times in future?
Ho hum.
Bruixot