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.

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.

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.............

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

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.

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/

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

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.