Ryanair to open a two aircraft base in Copenhagen

Ryanair to open a two aircraft base in Copenhagen in US$200m investment

Aug 23, 2023 - 1:55 pm

Image: Ryanair

Ryanair is to open a two aircraft base in Copenhagen from Dec 2023, creating up to 100 direct jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers in a US$200m new aircraft investment.

Ryanair is already Copenhagen’s No. 3 airline operating 20 routes and carrying 2.3m passengers p.a. to/from Copenhagen. This new two aircraft base will allow Ryanair to offer its low fares to Danish citizens/visitors who want early morning departures and late evening arrivals at Copenhagen, but can’t afford the very high air fares being charged by State subsidised high fare airlines SAS and Norwegian.

Copenhagen becomes Ryanair’s second Danish base in addition to Billund. Ryanair’s winter ’23 schedule to/from Copenhagen offers 24 routes, with four new destinations to Dusseldorf, Faro, Paris and Warsaw, and increased frequencies to Gdansk and Krakow.

Ryanair is the only major EU airline which has significantly grown traffic post-Covid. In 2023/24, Ryanair expects to carry 184m passengers rising 24% from its pre Covid traffic of 149m. In Denmark, Ryanair has a two aircraft base in Billund, and also offers flights to 3 other Danish airports, Aalborg, Aarhus and Copenhagen.

Copenhagen’s new two aircraft base from Dec will allow Ryanair to offer low fare competition and choice for early morning departures and late evening arrivals at Copenhagen. The 100 new jobs will be created by Ryanair under its agreed CLA with the Danske Metal Union in Denmark, which already covers Ryanair pay and conditions at its Billund base. Ryanair’s new Copenhagen base complies fully with Danish employment law and these high paid jobs will all pay their taxes in Denmark.

Calls to lower airport charges

Ryanair expects to operate from Copenhagen’s low cost “CPH GO” pier. Ryanair calls on Copenhagen to lower its high airport charges, which continue to hamper Copenhagen’s post-Covid recovery. Copenhagen’s capacity in S23 is only c. 85% of its pre-Covid volumes, and recovery is being delayed by Copenhagen’s high airport fees. Ryanair calls on the Danish Regulator to follow the lead of many other EU airports, who since Covid have lowered airport fees to recover traffic growth.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said: “As Europe’s No. 1 airline, Ryanair is pleased to announce this two aircraft base in Copenhagen from Dec, which will compliment our two aircraft base in Billund. This represents a further US$200m investment by Ryanair in the recovery of air traffic and tourism in Copenhagen, which continues to lag behind its pre-Covid volumes. Ryanair believes this is because the high airport fees and the high fares being charged by NAS and SAS which hampers recovery of Danish traffic and tourism.

“Ryanair’s new Copenhagen base will build on our existing 20 routes which we operate to/from Copenhagen on aircraft based outside Denmark.”

All 100 jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers will be recruited under the national CLA Ryanair.

O’Leary said: “Ryanair looks froward to continued growth and investment in Denmark as soon as the Danish Regulator makes a decision to lower airport fees at Copenhagen Airport. At a time when Copenhagen Airport lags behind the rest of Europe with its high fees and its failure to recover its pre-Covid traffic, Ryanair calls on the Danish Regulator to lower CPH airport fees to enable all airlines to pass on these lower fees in the form of lower air fares, and allow Copenhagen to recover its pre-Covid traffic and tourism.”

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