Ryanair for Paris Charles-de-Gaulle
Budget airline goes head to head with easyJet and Air France with permission for 15 services a day
RYANAIR could be flying out of Paris Charles-de-Gaulle next summer after reports that it has received permission for 15 services a day with flights to Barcelona, Bergamo, Rome, Dublin, Lisbon, Madrid, Porto and Berlin Schönefeld.
The move comes after boss Michael O’Leary said it plans to target more business passengers – while taking on easyJet directly in its main airports. Both easyJet and Spanish low-cost airline Vueling have bases at Charles-de-Gaulle and the slots Ryanair has requested are at present used by Air France.
Although there was no response to calls to Ryanair’s Dublin HQ this morning to comment, the airport coordination agency Cohor has confirmed it to other media adding that the Irish firm had asked for, and been refused, early-morning flight slots at Roissy.
This could change as airlines must inform Cohor of any unused slots by the end of January.
Ryanair’s commitment to Paris Beauvais, where it has operated for 18 years, is still solid, however, and in September it announced the airport would also have 43 summer services with the aim of carrying 3.5million passengers.
It also has limited flights from Paris Orly but slots here are reduced due to take-off and landing restrictions.
In coming weeks Ryanair will carry more than 5million passengers to 200 European destinations in the Christmas period from December 18 to January 7, with flights until 16.00 on Christmas Eve and first flights on Boxing Day at 7.50. It recently announced a 21% increase in passengers in November to 7.71m. Before you go, check our warning on carrying Christmas presents and crackers.
The company, which has flights to 31 French airports, has already added services to Amsterdam Schiphol and Milan Malpensa in the past few months and the Charles-de-Gaulle move will put pressure on easyJet as it moves into other primary airports.
