Ryanair confirms closure of 9 Fuerteventura routes

Ryanair has confirmed that it will close all of its routes to/from Fuerteventura from 31st January, claiming that local tourism group AIE failed to honour the commercial agreement it entered into with Ryanair to promote Fuerteventura as a tourist destination.

Ryanair will close all services to/from Fuerteventura including Birmingham, Bremen, Dublin, Dusseldorf (Weeze), East Midlands, Frankfurt, Liverpool, London and Shannon from 31st January.

Ryanair confirmed legal action, for breach of the agreement, will continue against AIE and its individual members.

Speaking yesterday, Ryanair’s Michael Cawley, said:

“This is a very black day for Fuerteventura and one which will have a severe impact on tourism and the livelihoods of its islanders. Ryanair’s lowest fares and no fuel surcharge have delivered huge tourism revenues and over 250,000 annual passengers will now be lost to/from Fuerteventura. At a time when Spanish tourism numbers are falling Ryanair’s passenger traffic continues to grow as our fares continue to fall. However, the AIE has now taken a huge gamble with the livelihoods of the local tourism industry by blatantly reneging on its contractual commitments and losing Ryanair’s 23 weekly services to the island.

“Ryanair previously called on the AIE to comply with its contractual agreements and provided them with 30 days notice to remedy their contract breach, this notice period has now lapsed with no action having been taken to maintain Ryanair’s presence in Fuerteventura. Therefore, we are faced with no choice but to end all Ryanair flights to Fuerteventura from 31st January”.