When you're an airport, there's always a risk in linking up with Ryanair. The Irish airline is certainly an undeniable factor for growth and passenger traffic development. Many regional airports are courting the low-cost carrier with large subsidies. The latest is Trieste airport in Italy, a new Ryanair base which has just added 7 new destinations (including Paris Beauvais). This is also the case at Béziers-Cap d'Agde, which is offering a tax of just 5.5 euros per passenger for the creation of any new route. In fact, the Occitan airport is 99.6% dependent of low-cost traffic and therefore of Ryanair, the only operator on the hub.
Nevertheless, the Irish airline is also a destabilising factor when problems emerge. For Ryanair, the "emerging problem" is an increase in passenger tax. And so it is, the increase in airport taxes in Germany has recently resulted in a reduction in Ryanair's presence in the country. This includes the closure of its Frankfurt-Hahn and Berlin bases. However, these two airports will continue to be served from other Ryanair bases. In 2011, the airline closed its only base in France, in Marseille, when airport taxes were increased. It has since reopened.
In addition to Marseille, Ryanair bases aircraft at Beauvais, Toulouse and Bordeaux. It is on the latter that the grievances of Ryanair's fiery CEO, Michael O'Leary, are now focused. " The airport wants to double our charges, and we don't want to payMichael O'Leary told AFP a few days ago. There is a real risk that we will close our base in Bordeaux, perhaps at the end of the summer season. ".
Ryanair, the dominant player in Bordeaux
What does this mean for Bordeaux airport? If we analyse Ryanair's activity at the Bordeaux hub, this summer the airline is offering 39 destinations. That's 42% of total supply of 93 destinations for summer 2024. Ryanair is the leading operator in terms of number of routes, ahead of easyJet (33 routes) and Volotea (29 routes). For business travellers, Ryanair offers 5 to 7 weekly frequencies from Bordeaux to Bergamo, Brussels-Charleroi, Dublin, London, Marseille, Porto, Rome and Seville.
Of the 39 Ryanair destinations, only 15 of them are in competition with other carriers. These are Figari, Ibiza, Lisbon, London (Stansted for Ryanair, Luton and Gatwick for easyJet), Malaga, Manchester, Marrakech, Marseille, Menorca, Naples, Palma, Porto, Rome, Tenerife and Venice.
The departure of the three Ryanair aircraft based in Bordeaux would therefore result in the elimination of around fifteen destinations. Ryanair will not disappear completely from the Bordeaux landscape. Aircraft from other bases would continue to link Bordeaux to a number of destinations, including Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
Bordeaux remains heavily dependent on low-cost services. In 2023, out of a total of 6.58 million passengers, 4.71 million flew low-cost airlines. Let 71.6% of total traffic. Although the airport does not give figures for each airline, it can be estimated that around two million passengers use Ryanair flights.
Ryanair's bluff?
The airport has so far made no comment on the possibility of increasing its airport taxes. But the airport management is trying to defuse the controversy. In a statement to AFP, it declared " regret[r] that Ryanair has informed its employees, without prior consultation with Bordeaux airportIt is also regrettable that Ryanair and its management are making public statements that are totally inaccurate about the level of airport charges at the airport. Just as regrettable is the fact that Ryanair and its directors are taking the liberty of making totally erroneous public statements about the level of airport charges at the airport". Negotiations are certainly already underway...
