Ryanair News

News Release

14.05.12

Ryanair Calls For Urgent Sale Of Stansted Airport

Ryanair, the UK’s favourite airline, today (13 May) called for the urgent sale of London Stansted Airport, as advised by the Competition Commission in 2008, after the BAA monopoly confirmed that traffic at Stansted continues to decline, with April’s figures down 5% on April 2011 resulting in a total loss of 400,000 passengers in the first 4 months of 2012. While Stansted traffic declines, Heathrow and Gatwick’s traffic has grown which proves that the BAA monopoly is damaging Stansted.

STANSTED PAX COLLAPSE

	2011	2012	Decline
Jan	1.1m	1.0m	-7%
Feb	1.2m	1.1m	-5%
Mar	1.4m	1.3m	-5%
Apr	1.6m	1.5m	-5%
Avg	1.3m	1.2m	-6%

The reason for Stansted’s traffic declines is the BAA airport monopoly’s policy of increasing passenger charges and providing abject customer services which at Stansted comprises long security queues, frequent baggage belt breakdowns, and excessive passport queues causing delays for British citizens and visitors at Stansted.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“The BAA’s traffic figures show continued declines at Stansted due to its high costs and airport mismanagement. These declining passenger numbers provide further evidence of the urgent need to expedite the BAA’s sale of Stansted airport, as first recommended by the UK Competition Commission back in 2008, over 4 years ago. The sale of Stansted into separate ownership will lead to more competition, lower passenger charges, improved passenger services and the roll out of additional and much needed traffic growth at competitive prices in Stansted.”