Ryanair warns BAA monopoly could harm London tourism

Ryanair today warned that the BAA monopoly could jeopardise the future of London’s tourism and employment as figures released today confirm that traffic has fallen by 6% at London Stansted airport in 2008 compared to 2007.

Ryanair said that the fall in traffic was expected as Stansted’s high costs forced airlines such as Ryanair to reduce capacity and ground aircraft at Stansted this winter.

Ryanair said today that the people of London and London tourism will benefit from the immediate sale of Stansted airport and that it looked forward to the increased competition this sale will bring to London’s airports.

Speaking today, Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“Ryanair was forced to cut the number of aircraft based at London Stansted as a result of BAA’s increased costs. We warned that these costs made the airport less attractive to passengers and today’s passenger figures emphatically show that we were right. Ryanair continues to grow passenger traffic across its network in general and particularly at low cost efficient airports. However BAA’s mismanagement at Stansted has resulted in that airport losing out on the opportunity to increase passenger numbers.

“Today’s figures once again prove that the BAA monopoly is bad for passengers, competition, tourism and especially for employment, as declining passenger traffic results in job losses at the airport and in the industries which are dependent on it. Ryanair looks forward to the earliest possible sale of the airport, increased competition and the opportunity to work with the new airport owner in order to turn Stansted airport fortunes around and return it to positive growth”.