Hamburg
Ryanair is closing a German base
The Irish low-cost airline is cutting back in Germany. Ryanair's base in Hamburg will be closed in January.
Boeing 737 of Ryanair.
Boeing 737 of Ryanair.
The invitation is from Declan Ryan, but not from the founder and former ceo of Ryanair, but from the head of base operations. For Thursday (October 17) he has invited all pilots of the airline stationed in Hamburg to a meeting. The topic: An update on the base in the Hanseatic city.
According to internal sources, Ryanair will close its Hamburg base on 8 January. Two Boeing 737s are currently stationed there. The flights will then be operated from the Hanseatic city of Lauda or by crews stationed elsewhere in Europe, for example in Palma.
Problems with 737 Max as reason
Ryanair confirms the closure. «Due to the late delivery of up to 30 Boeing 737 Max, a number of bases will be abandoned or closed in winter,» said a spokeswoman for the low-cost airline. They are working hard to «minimize the impact on employees and passengers».
«The aviation market is evolving and airlines are on a consolidation course. We regret that Ryanair is closing numerous bases in Europe and Hamburg is also affected», says Michael Eggenschwiler, CEO of Hamburg Airport, to aeroTELEGRAPH. Nevertheless, Ryanair remains a partner of the airport, in summer the airline will fly to 14 destinations from Hamburg, according to Eggenschwiler. «Of the cancelled connections, only two non-stop routes will be completely removed from the Hamburg timetable, and all other destinations have one or two more airlines in their schedules.»
Two routes will not be served anymore
The two destinations that will be completely omitted are Krakow and Verona. The destinations which Ryanair is cancelling but which are served by other airlines are Faro, Lisbon, Gran Canaria, Oslo-Torp and Zadar. Already in winter, the Irish low-cost airline no longer flies from Hamburg to Madrid, Thessaloniki and Venice.