Ryanair Scraps Plans to Use Eindhoven As Hub

Ryanair scraps plans to use Eindhoven as hub

BRUSSELS, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) — Irish budget airline Ryanair will not develop a second hub at Eindhoven airport in the Netherlands due to the Dutch cabinet plans to impose an extra environmental charge on air tickets, Dutch news agency ANP reported Tuesday.

Ryanair commercial director David Gering told Dutch news radio BNR that passengers would opt for nearby airports in Belgium and Germany because of the extra tax of 11.25 euros per ticket, the report said.

The surcharge will be introduced in July 2008. Six months latera differentiation will be made and flights on quiet, energy efficient aircraft will be taxed less.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, is expected to carry around 1 million passengers via Eindhoven this year and could double that by making the airport a main base.

That move would create an estimated 1,000 new jobs, the airportauthority said.

Joost Meijs, commercial director of the Eindhoven Airport, shares Ryanair’s concerns. But he is still optimistic, saying it will be a temporary setback.

At the time when the Dutch government announced the new tax, the European airline association warned that jobs would be at riskand the tax would contribute “absolutely nothing” to reducing greenhouse gases.

Meijs told ANP that the airport is still in talks with the surrounding local authorities about extending the operating times.

Ryanair had made it a condition for setting up a home base at Eindhoven that it be able to fly earlier in the morning, later in the evening, and more on the weekends.

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