Europe’s largest low-cost carrier Ryanair flies around 149 million passengers each year. To operate on such a large scale, it has established more than 75 bases across Europe and North Africa. Of those, the top 10 are particularly significant, accounting for nearly six in ten of the carrier’s total seat capacity in 2021. And one of the most crucial to Ryanair’s operations, of course, is its largest base – London Stansted.
Growth at Stansted
Ryanair’s journey at Stansted began in May 1991, when it switched its main London base from London Luton. This was around the time when the airline was relaunched as Europe’s first low-cost carrier after years of losing money competing with other flag carriers. The move to a low-cost model and Stansted marked a change in the carrier’s finances when it registered a profit for the first time in 1992.
Over the years, as Ryanair became Stansted’s largest airline, the carrier also added to the airport’s growth story through important deals. Between 2007 and 2012, Stansted lost more than 6 million passengers (a 26% slump) due to high airport charges. Then, in 2013, the airport entered into a 10-year agreement with Ryanair over reduced airport charges and growth in traffic.
The deal worked quite well for Stanstead, and within the next three years, the airport had recovered around 5 million annual passengers. By November 2015, Stansted saw a total passenger movement of 23 million.
While Ryanair continues to be the biggest player at Stansted, the airport has evolved over the years in an attempt to reduce its dependency on the LCC. Before the pandemic, it had started wooing other airlines such as Primera Air, Emirates, and WOW air. Recently, startup long-haul airline Norse Atlantic also applied for and received slots at Stansted for next summer.
But Ryanair still sits quite comfortably at the top at Stansted, increasing its presence every year. Between 2011 and 2019, it added nearly 8.5 million seats at the airport, increasing its Stansted network from 116 to 151 routes. In 2021, it operated more than 130 routes out of the Essex airport.
Maintaining strong presence
As airlines reduced pace during the pandemic, Ryanair seized some of the opportunities that came its way. In 2020, when easyJet announced it was closing its Stansted base, Ryanair swooped in with a slot swap request for more than 300 of easyJet’s weekly slots for the summer schedule.
In 2021, the carrier again snapped 296 of easyJet’s slots at Stansted for its winter schedule. With a firm hold on both summer and winter slots, Ryanair is likely to retain them by virtue of historical rights for coming years.
Future commitment
Ryanair has already embarked on further consolidating its Stansted operations. In August 2021, the carrier revealed 14 new routes from London, half of which were from Stansted. The airport has also been one of the carrier’s top picks for deploying its new 737 MAX aircraft. In November last year, Stanstead saw the second-highest Ryanair MAX departures, behind only its Milan Bergamo base in Italy.
In February 2021, the LCC announced the conclusion of a four-year extension of its low-cost growth deal at Stanstead, stretching it to 2028. This was soon followed by Stansted getting permission to increase its passenger numbers to 43 million for overall future expansion.
It sure looks like Ryanair and London Stansted are likely to continue their mutual love for the foreseeable future.
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