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Ryanair halts growth in UK over tourist tax
23.06.09
The collapse in UK air travel has seen Ryanair announce it is to scrap any plans for new services in and out of Britain.
Announcing what it called a "freeze on growth" at the nine UK airports from which it operates - headed by Stansted - Ryanair has blamed the fall in passenger numbers on Labour's £10-a-time, £2billion air-fare duty.
"Gordon Brown's £10 tourist tax will see Britain lose over 10 million passengers, 10,000 airport jobs and more than £2.5 billion in tourism spend in the UK this year alone," said Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary.
He said Ryanair will continue to grow at 15% this year but none of that growth will come from UK airports.
"Tourism responds quickly to price changes and while the UK keeps taxing tourists Ryanair will switch its growth to other EU countries where low cost airports are growing and where governments are welcoming tourists not taxing them," said O'Leary.
Reader views (27)
60% of unemployment in the last 18 months is down to Browns taxes, only 40% is from the credit crunch.
The EIB funded BBC is trying to over blow the credit crunch while Brown's scorched earth policy destroys the British economy for years to come.
Unemployment for generations is the future.
The 50% tax will create more unemployment than the credit crunch ever did.
- Dashingprince, UK
Henry (or Ryanair employee pehaps...?)
Ryanair are a very clever, efficient, horrible company with no care at all for their customers. They treat their passangers with utter contempt based on the view that said passengers paid very little for a ticket.
This is just not the case as mostly flying to most destinations costs £100+ when you factor that you need to bring a bag, pay using a popular credit card and want to go after 9 am and come back before 9pm.
The planes are generally good and the time keeping is ok but the so called cheap prices are just not the case.
Customer service is non existant and there is no way of contacting them to complain / find out information on anything. This is a clever tactic by them becuase they know most people will give up and leave it.
They treat the customer as the enemy and I for one would love to see this company go by the way side.
Please easyjet, start flying from luton to dublin and you'll have a customer for life....!
- Mark, St Albans
Limiting movement is one of the central pillars of an Orwellian state. First it was airlines made unaffordable and cars are not far behind. Soon we will be forced to walk everywhere on the premise of saving the plant and the only way you will learn about the outside world is what the state tells you.
- Stuz Graz, Wimbledon, England
Every entreprise in Britain is planning to leave. Tax problems caused by the Brown "government" have become epidemic. I don't like Ryanair either but what if we cannot fly everywhere anymore without being taxed. What if there are less and less airlines in Britain what will happen to prices?!
- Georgie, Islington, London
It is the one thing in all this World that makes me ashamed to be Irish, Ryanair - a truly horrible airline that has no respect for it's customers - charging for everything they can get away with.
- Alan, London
For anon of London whose Ryanair flight from Milan to East Midlands was a shocking 10 minutes late and "the staff still claimed it was on-time!",'On time' is defined as either early or less than 15 minutes late.
So not a lie at all.
- Henry, London, UK
Bad news. I've always found Ryanair to provide an excellent service enabling many people to travel who otherwise would not have had the opportunity.
I have travelled many times with Ryanair and have never once had a problem, never once been late. Unlike some of the smug and silly commentators on here I understand what it means to travel with a "no frills" airline. It means no frills. You DON'T have to buy anything on the plane. You really ought to go to the toilet BEFORE a flight which usually lasts no more than a couple of hours.
I love the outspoken style of Michael O'Leary and the way he's kept his airline consistently in profit unlike that "nice Irishman" Willie Walsh who has just presided over a £400 million loss at BA and where 40,000 employees have been asked to work for a month for no pay.
- Henry, London, UK
Despite having to pay a ridiculous fee for my luggage to be put in the hold on a flight to Berlin recently, RyanAir managed to achieve the feat of losing the suitcase and not bothering to look for it. So much for a duty of care. I was given the choice of calling a premium rate phone number or sending a letter to their office in Dublin! The attitude was one of complete indifference. I find it incredible that a company which does all it can to persuade customers to use the internet cannot be bothered to provide an email address for passengers to use.
- Bethany Williams, London
Bye bye, Ryanair. No doubt other airlines will fill the void. Airlines that actually give a stuff about passengers.
- Steve, London
I'd rather travel a thousand miles on a pushbike with no saddle than fly with Ryanair.
- Julian, London
May I ask Steveo why he says un elected Gordon Brown,I have voted in General Elections for the past 55 years for several different partys,and not once have I voted for an individual to becomr Prime Minister,I vote for a partys policies,if I agree with their programme I could not care less who will lead the party?
- Brinley Clements, London
Thank you Ryanair, with love from BA
- Ba, Hounslow, London
Ryanair is provided the worst travel experience I have had in 50 years of travel. They are an absolute joke. They rate 0 out of 10 in the customer service department. The sooner O'Leary leaves the travel industry the better.
- David Ross, London
Typical luddite comments from the smug self satisfied Brit peanut gallery. You don't have to like O'Leary, but surely his stand against increased taxation is the right one. Oh, of course, most of you would rather support our honourable and high integrity politicians in their quest to tax every last penny from us. How foolish do you people have to be...?
- Andrew, london, uk
Whatever Ryanair is doing, makes them money where others fail. SOME PEOPLE must like this company.
- Ruck, Myrtle Beach USA
I flew ryanair from milan to east midlands two weeks ago and was truly shocked by the appalling level of service. The check-in staff had an shouting argument with a passenger, the toilets looked like they had been broken and the airline seems you try and sell you everything from raffle tickets to cigarette substitutes every few minutes. The flight was 10 minutes late landing but the staff still claimed it was on-time! ANOTHER RYANAIR LIE. Thank you Mr O'leary for leaving the UK, you will NOT be missed and nor will your awful airline.
- Anon, london
Good - any chance you'll leave the Uk sector in disgust at our taste in not considering your airline worth using ?
- Graham, Fleet, Hampshire
good news for once, lol
- James Fennessey, london
Good. Your airline was rubbish & you won't be missed so don't come back
- Ratcatcher, London
Best news so far this week. When are you going, O'Leary?
- Ron, Guildford, UK
Oh Joy. A move towards a World without O'Leary and his vulgar outpourings & neanderthal service attitudes, if only in the UK. Now those are what I call green shoots of recovery.
- Gerry Hodes, Marlow UK
Good move to Ireland with your bad service
- Dave, Madrid
What wonderful news!
Bad news for Ryanair is good news for those of us who wish to treated nicely when we fly as we are by British Airways which is run by a really nice Irishman, Willie Walsh.
Mr. O'Leary is the Basil Fawlty of air travel.
- John Jones, Westminster
Well we will continue to see more and more taxes as long as Crash Gordon remains in his (un-elected) office. A lot of industries are dying here in Britain. Private enterprise is having a terrible time here.
- Steveo, London NW1
We cannot keep chasing to the bottom of the market - the future of the environment suggests no growth is a good thing.
- Jay, London
Perhaps it is Brown's Tourist Tax that is frightening off Ryanair's passengers and perhaps it is their dreadful standards of service, horrible and uncomfortable planes and utter contempt towards their passengers that has done it. In the light of O'Leary's threat to charge for using the toilet perhaps customers are just voting with their wallets and going back to proper airlines that value their business.
- Matt, London, UK
So the falling numbers of passengers at Ryan Air has nothing do with poor service and high charges for every possible aspect of the journey? Not sure what I would be thinking if I was a Ryan Air shareholder and being asked to believe this nonsense.
- Simon Ellis, London
