Ryanair is making capacity cutbacks for its winter schedule at Stansted, reducing the number of aircraft from 36 to 28 and the number of weekly flights from over 1,850 per week to just under 1,600 this year. It says London Stansted is the most expensive of Ryanair’s 28 bases and that BAA has increased airport charges by 15 per cent this year, on top of a 100 per cent increase last year. It also points to a ‘total failure’ of the inadequate CAA regulatory regime to control unjustified cost increases and rising oil prices.
A BAA Stansted spokesperson said: “The dynamic nature of the budget airline industry means that routes and flight schedules change all the time – and at times like this, more so. Many airlines, including Ryanair, always reduce services in the winter season. Surely, this is a time for our industry to pull together, not spat with each other by press release.”
