Ryanair has announced its next base at Turin, which becomes its 16th base across Italy. Its 15th base, at Venice Treviso, launched earlier this month. The ultra-low-cost-carrier (ULCC) will station two B737-800s at Turin from October 31st with 15 additional routes. It’ll compete head-to-head with another carrier on four of these.
This announcement comes shortly after Wizz Air revealed its sixth base in Italy since the pandemic struck (at Naples). It is the latest development in what has been an undeniably hugely transformative year for ULCCs and Italy.
This year, ULCCs have 58% of Italy’s total seats, up from half in pre-coronavirus 2019, analysis of OAG data reveals. This will make the arrival of ‘new’ Alitalia even more challenging than it would have been. Speaking of the new base, Ryanair’s Chief Executive, Eddie Wilson, said:
“As vaccination rollout continues throughout the coming months, we want to continue supporting the economic recovery as well as regional and international connectivity across the country and position Turin as a leading winter destination – both as a charming city break and a gateway to some of the best Italian ski resorts.”
Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests.
15 additional Turin routes – not all are new
Ryanair will have 31 routes from Turin this coming winter, with its 15 additional routes, detailed below, complementing 16 already in service or previously announced. Quite a contrast to 2004, when the ULCC had just two routes from the airport: London Stansted and Gerona.
- Budapest: starting November 2nd; twice-weekly
- Copenhagen: October 31st; twice-weekly
- Edinburgh: Nov. 6th; once-weekly; head-to-head (HTH) with Jet2; once-weekly (from Dec.)
- Krakow: Nov. 1st; twice-weekly
- Kyiv Boryspil: Oct. 31st; three-weekly
- Lanzarote: Nov. 2nd; twice-weekly
- London Luton: Nov. 6th; once-weekly; HTH with easyJet; once-weekly (from Dec.)
- Madrid: Nov. 1st; twice-weekly; HTH with Iberia; five-weekly
- Malaga: Nov. 1st; twice-weekly
- Marrakesh: Nov. 2nd; twice-weekly
- Paris Beauvais: Nov. 1st; three-weekly
- Seville: Oct. 31st; twice-weekly
- Shannon: Dec. 18th; once-weekly
- Tel Aviv: Oct. 31st; three-weekly
- Trapani: Nov. 2nd; three-weekly; HTH with Blue Air; twice-weekly
Why these routes?
You might wonder why some of these routes are beginning. Typically, ULCCs in Europe launch new routes that have around 5,000 indirect passengers, for instance those flying via a hub to get to their destination. While this volume is meager, it almost misses the point. By offering very low (average) fares, they stimulate demand greatly, so very much growing the market. This crucial to their existence.
Unserved and previously served routes
Looking at some samples, Shannon had around 6,000 indirect round-trip passengers in 2019, booking data obtained from OAG Traffic Analyzer shows, while it was just under 7,000 for both Budapest and Copenhagen and about 10,000 for Tel Aviv.
ULCCs also keenly survey routes that have been cut and decide whether it’s worth jumping into a readymade market or not. For example, Turin-Krakow was served by Blue Air between 2018-2019 and Wizz Air from 2019-2020. In 2019, over 30,000 flew it, including those flying indirectly, together with over 8,000 to nearby Katowice.
Ryanair is Italy’s largest airline
Italy is fundamentally important to Ryanair. This year, it serves 29 airports across the country, of which Turin was to be its 15th-largest (by seat capacity) before it was revealed as a base. Its largest airport in Italy is Milan Bergamo, which is also its third-largest across its whole network.
Ryanair has been Italy’s largest airline since 2012. It is Italy’s biggest carrier internationally, while second to Alitalia for domestic services. Three in ten of Ryanair’s seats touched Italy in 2019, behind only the UK and Spain.
Will you be visiting Italy this year? Let us know in the comments.
from Simple Flying https://ift.tt/3q7fJPp
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment