Paul-Roberts.com

“Ryanair is threatening to sack pilots after being criticised by air accident investigators over a series of dangerous approaches to airports. In the latest incident to emerge, an aircraft flew so low over rooftops that it triggered two warnings in the cockpit and sixteen complaints from alarmed residents. It was the third serious incident in…

“EasyJet, the budget airline, has agreed to pay ???€š?‚?£103.5m in cash to buy GB Airways from the privately held Bland Group. The deal means that easyJet will operate 24 per cent of the landing slots at Gatwick airport and make it the airport’s largest carrier. GB Airways operates as a franchise of British Airways, a…

“The OFT has decided that the merger raises no competition concerns in any market. easyJet and GB Airways overlap in the supply of scheduled passenger flights on certain routes from London Gatwick airport to ‘sun and ski’ destinations popular with leisure travellers, such as the Balearics (Ibiza, Palma and Mahon) and Innsbruck. GB Airways operates…

“Starting in spring, 2008, Ryanair will offer seven new routes from Italy’s Pisa airport, Aeroporto Gallei, in Tuscany. Within Italy, flights will go from Pisa to Bari on Italy’s southeast coast. New European flights from Pisa include Birmingham, Edinburgh, Oslo, and Alicante. Pisa is convenient for reaching Florence, Cinque Terre and Tuscany beaches, and other…

“Airlines are devising new ways to levy extra charges on passengers, says a report from Holiday Which? Legal changes in 2007 forced airlines to include compulsory taxes and charges in headline prices. Ryanair is the worst offender, according to the magazine. Last week, the one-bag restriction on hand luggage was lifted at 21 British airports…

“Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair, is examining options to operate regular flights to Israel from Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and center of Europe, the Tourism Ministry said Wednesday, even as El Al announced plans to raise fares by 4%. Ryanair, which operates 516 routes from 26 cities in 23 countries across Europe, determines charges for each destination…

“RYANAIR was the latest budget airline to unveil major expansion plans at Manchester Airport when it announced services to the cities of Milan, Marseille, Girona in Spain and Bremen in Germany would start next year. The Irish carrier will operate a total of 12 services a week to those destinations initially. ” Link: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

“RYANAIR, Europe’s largest budget airline, is set to announce a major expansion of its Manchester services. The move by the Irish carrier comes hours after MEN Business broke the news that easyJet will begin operating out of Manchester early next year.” Link: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

“Ryanair flies once a day from London Stansted to Newquay providing customers an easy way to access Newquay and Cornwall. Ryanair will also be providing flights to Alicante and Girona as of March 2008.” Link: http://www.newquaycornwallairport.com

“A charity calendar sold by Ireland’s low-cost airline Ryanair showing its air hostesses in skimpy bikinis demeans women and breaks the law, a Spanish consumer group said on Tuesday. The Ryanair 2008 calendar called “The Girls of Ryanair” has photos of air hostesses posing in and outside of planes, dressed in bikinis rather than their…

“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.” Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com

“Ryanair has come bottom of an online Irish shopping survey, despite being named one of the most efficient airlines in Europe by the Association of European Airlines. On Friday, the airline topped the European organisation’s newly released league table, which assessed airlines based on punctuality and the number of bags lost. Despite this good performance…