Ryanair cut airfares

Country:  UK

27 July 2009

Budget airline Ryanair has said that it intends to continue cutting fares to attract more fliers, making it cheaper for holiday home owners and property investors to visit their homes overseas.

Despite a fall in profits, Ryanair has adopted a cheaper tickets strategy in order to attract more cash-strapped passengers, and this has so far led to an increase in traveler numbers.

The airline says that it reduced fares by an average of 13% between April and June, resulting in an 11% year-on-year growth in passenger numbers.

The carrier has repeated warnings about the impact of air passenger duty - which will increase from £10 to £11 in the UK for short-haul flights from November this year.

"We again call on the Irish and British governments to follow the more sensible leads of the Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish governments, all of whom have recently scrapped tourist taxes and have reduced airport charges, in some cases to zero, in order to stimulate tourism," said Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary.

See Also:   airline, Marc Da-Silva, Ryanair