Ryanair and Aer Lingus in war of words over new Belfast - Heathrow route
15.01.08
Ryanair and Aer Lingus have launched a bitter war of words over passenger numbers on the Irish flag carriers maiden voyage from Belfast International Airport to Heathrow yesterday. Ryanair, which owns 30% of Aer Lingus, also sent staff to Belfast International yesterday to offer free flights to all Belfast - Heathrow passengers who might have 'mistakenly thought that Aer Lingus was a low fares airline.'
The two Irish airlines have clashed regularly on the decision by Aer Lingus to scrap its flights from Shannon to Heathrow in order to use the slots at the busy London hub for a shuttle service to Belfast. Ryanair even attempt to force Aer Lingus to hold an extraordinary general meeting to vote on the decision to axe the Shannon route twice.
Yesterday, as Aer Lingus officials gathered in Belfast to celebrate the first Heathrow flights, Ryanair issued a press statement highlighting Aer Lingus' alleged failure to fill seats on their Heathrow-bound planes. According to Ryanair, just 39 seats were filled on the plane, meaning more than three quarters of the 174-seater plane was empty.
The statement said: 'This was not just Aer Lingus' inaugural London flight, but also the peak Monday morning business flight from Belfast to London. This tiny load is a disaster.' However, Aer Lingus corporate affairs director, Enda Corneille, rejected Ryanair's figures as 'completely inaccurate.'
She said: 'The first plane was packed to the rafters and the later ones were virtually full as well. The rest is just total baloney from Ryanair. We must really be hitting Ryanair or they wouldn't be coming out with this kind of stuff.'
Ryanair's head of communications Peter Sherrard later clarified that Ryanair's numbers were based on the number of passengers it had observed checking in at the airport. Asked whether additional passengers could have checked-in online, he admitted that 'possibly a few passengers would have.'
Meanwhile the Shannon region is nursing another blow to connectivity after Ryanair quietly cancelled its Shannon to Dublin flights yesterday. A Ryanair spokesman said: 'We cancelled it because passenger numbers were below the network average, it's as simple as that.' Who was it competing with on the route? Aer Lingus.
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