Ryanair slashes unprofitable routes in Greece
Low-cost giant Ryanair announced on Wednesday that it is significantly curtailing its activity in Greece, removing two aircraft from local hubs to Germany. Besides the airplane flying from Athens International Airport, the other is being taken from Hania, leading to the closure of the Irish carrier’s hub at the Cretan airport.
As a result of the decision, Ryanair will stop operating the flights from Hania to Katowice in Poland, Memmingen in Germany, Venice’s Treviso and Vilnius as of June 1.
In an announcement, Ryanair officially blamed the decision on high airport charges in Greece but experts say the issue is more complicated, as airport charges have not changed recently.
Company officials told Kathimerini that the services slated to be stopped are not sustainable and explained that the yields of those two aircraft at Greek hubs have not been beneficial.
“Domestic network traffic is limited and the seasonal character of the Greek [tourism] product does not lead to the minimum performance we set as a company for our aircraft,” Nikolaos Lardis, Ryanair’s head of sales and marketing for the Eastern Mediterranean, said.
