Ryanair to Open New Base in Sofia

The largest low cost airline in Europe - Ryanair, is opening its center in Sofia. From 30 October 2016  at the airport in the Bulgarian capital will be based on 3 aircraft of the carrier. From the same date the company will fly to 21 destinations. This was announced by Chief Commercial Officer of Irish airline David O'Brien at a press conference.

Up to half of destinations have current  flies from Sofia Airport by other carriers, which are key European capitals and cities. The other half, however, are completely new, summed O'Brien. With this schedule Ryanair will have 90 flights a week. In year 2016 will transport 700 000 passengers, and in 2017 - more than 1.5 million passengers  from and to Sofia city.

Large-scale entry of the airline into Sofia airport  at the end of 2016 will place it at first or second largest airlines operation in Sofia based  on the number of passengers. At the moment the leading airline form Sofia airport based on number of passengers is Wizz Air, said O'Brien.  Third place will remain the national flag carrier "Bulgaria Air". For Bulgarian travelers, this means a much better connectivity and greater competition between carriers. According to  O'Brien current prices of flights to and from the airport are nearly doubled compare with those from Bucharest airport.

 From Ireland to the East

The Irish airline presents itself as the largest low-cost airline in Europe ,which  will transport 106 million passengers this year alone, has 83 bases and flights to 200 airports in 31 countries, supporting more than 16 000 routes ,has 330 aircrafts Boeing 737 and is in process of ordering for another 350. The company is strongly focused on large markets such as Britain, Spain and Italy, and more recently on Germany. Its large scale of operations allows it to expand its markets and to look also at smaller airports as Sofia, said O'Brien. The total number of  passengers will grow from 106 million this year to 180 million passengers in 2024

The company is known as the most efficient  among all low-cost companies. O'Brien himself says that the price of its competitor Wizz Air were 28% higher than those of Ryanair, and those of EasyJet 79% .In average prices of the Irish airline are 47 euros. This was result from the lower operating cost compare with its competitors, and major investment which the company made of 800 million Euros.

Until now Ryanair was operating  just from Plovdiv airport with flights to London and Frankfurt. Low cost carriers entered the airport in Plovdiv in 2010, after the municipalities in the region have created a "Development Fund for Plovdiv Airport - south door of Bulgaria." That fund consisted of   10 local  municipalities which initially invested 50 cents per capita, and at later stage  1 lev per capita, thus indirectly subsidized carrier. In order to avoid unauthorized assistance to the airline, the amount going to a subsidiary of Ryanair was shaped as advertisement of  the region to the airline passengers. Over the years there were problems with payment by the Fund, and the airline in turn delayed payments to the airport. In mid-2015 it became clear that the carrier has an interest in the capital. Its first line to Pisa will be released in early April 2016, and by the end of April 2016 will begin flying  to London. The remaining 19 destinations  will be opened in late October 2016, when the base is in operation.

Location

The carrier calculated that entering the Bulgarian capital market  will provide 1,100 jobs.The three aircraft that will be based here cost 300 million USD, O'Brien said, describing the company's investment.

It is still not clear whether passengers of the airline will be served on the old or the new terminal of Sofia Airport, said O'Brien. Ryanair's ground handling will be done by "Swissport Bulgaria", the local unit of Swiss handling company Swissport,

The flights from Plovdiv Airport will not be stopped, "unless you do something stupid like raising prices," said O'Brien. For the airports in Varna and Burgas he said that the operator  - Fraport does not offer suitable prices for Ryanair yet.

 Sofia airport is about to be given on  concession soon. O'Brien gave examples of bad concessions such as those in airports in Athens, Belgrade, Tirana and Tbilisi. According to O'Brien airports in Athens and Tirana are expensive as "Charles de Gaulle", as a result, Athens makes 14 million passengers a year, instead of potentially 25 million passengers ,as many asDublin Airport, he said. Asked how will Ryanair react if Fraport takes also the concession and the capital, O'Brien said that everything has its consequences, if someone decides to introduce additional fees and gave the example  Oslo airport, where the company is possible to shut the base because of new environmental tax of 8 euro.

See more at:

http://www.capital.bg/biznes/kompanii/2016/03/30/2733515_ryanair_

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