Ryanair ditches routes

Jun 26 2009

RYANAIR have ditched two of their Prestwick routes.

Flights to Bournemouth and Krakow will end next month after the company cancelled them midway through the summer programme.

Passengers booked on flights after July 15 received text messages and emails informing them of the news.

South Ayrshire councillor Robin Reid and his wife Lorna were among them.

He revealed that he was stunned to receive an email telling him that his planned trip to visit friends near Bournemouth in August had been cancelled.

He said: “I was pretty astounded to say the least.

“We’d been looking forward to visiting friends down south.

“We were given no explanation. Just an email saying that our flights had been cancelled and there were no more available.

“It’s just luck that I check my emails, as there was no person to person contact to make sure that we got the message.”

The decision to drop the route comes just months after Ryanair reduced its former twice daily route to just once.

And Councillor Reid explained how he became concerned about the company’s long term future at Prestwick after learning that they had also pulled their route from Prestwick to Krakow.

Councillor Reid said: “Our youngest son is a pupil at Belmont and we went to a meeting about a trip to Auschwitz.

“The teacher explained that the only problem they were having was the journey because the route to Krakow is only available from Edinburgh now.

“After our own experience with the Bournemouth flights it set alarm bells ringing.

“We’re all aware of the benefits of having Ryanair at Prestwick. A lot of jobs depend on them.

“Obviously it’s a concern when they start withdrawing routes.”

Ryanair confirmed that flights to the two destinations will stop on July 15.

However, they refused to comment on speculation that they are scaling down their operation at Prestwick.

Stephen McNamara from the company said: “Ryanair has a policy of never commenting on rumour or speculation.

“Ryanair currently offers flights to Krakow from Edinburgh and Glasgow Prestwick.

“From mid-July, Krakow flights will all operate from Edinburgh only.

“Ryanair is currently finalising its winter schedule which will run until March 2010.

“The Bournemouth service stops on July 15 and has been replaced with additional services to Barcelona (Girona), Faro, London Stansted and Malaga.”