28th Oct 2005 10:53
Ryanair Holdings PLC28 October 2005 RYANAIR WELCOMES LUTON AIRPORT EXPANSION PLANS Ryanair, Europe's largest International Airline, today (Friday, 28th October2005) welcomed the announcement by Luton Airport of its plans to develop asecond runway and two additional terminals to allow the airport to triplepassenger numbers to 30 million a year by 2020. Ryanair supports the developmentof low cost airport facilities in the south east, and will work closely withLuton International Airport to help it achieve these exciting plans for growingpassenger numbers, jobs and investment in the Luton and Bedfordshire region. Ryanair said that the Luton plans highlighted yet again the exorbitant waste bythe BAA airport monopoly at Stansted where similar facilities are being plannedbut at a cost of £4 billion, more than double the Luton budget. Ryanair hasalways supported a low cost second runway at Stansted, but opposes (with thesupport of all other Stansted Airport users) the profligate waste on overspecified facilities proposed by the BAA monopoly as it tries to maximizecapital expenditure in order to jack up charges to the airlines and topassengers for the next 20 years. Ryanair has consistently campaigned for a lowcost second runway and second terminal at Stansted to mirror the low cost natureof the passenger traffic using Stansted Airport. Welcoming this week's development plans by Luton Airport, Ryanair's ChiefExecutive, Michael O'Leary, said: "This week's developments at Luton highlight again the benefit of airport competition in the south east. The fact that a privately owned company can deliver a second runway and two additional terminals at a cost of £1.5 billion proves yet again that the airline users at Stansted are correct in their unanimous opposition to the profligate waste by the BAA who are budgeting to spend £4 billion building similar facilities at Stansted. "The problem with BAA airports in the London region is that they operate as an effective monopoly where the regulator (the CAA) has long failed to provide effective regulation in the reasonable interest of users. The fact that the BAA at Stansted plans to spend 4 times what is necessary for the development of a second runway and second terminal, and yet is looking to the regulator to start increasing charges to the airlines and the passengers some five years before these facilities are put in place highlights the urgent need for the break up of the BAA airport monopoly. "Ryanair believes that air transport in the south east would benefit from the freeing up of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted to compete against each other, as this would lead to the development of efficient low cost facilities and a low cost airport environment to promote low fare air travel to and from London and the south east. What we have at the moment is a high cost airport monopoly in Stansted and an ineffective regulator allowing it to develop over specified and over priced Taj Mahals". Ends. Friday, 28th October 2005 For further information: Peter Sherrard - Ryanair Pauline McAlester - Murray Consultants Tel: 00 353 1 812 1228 Tel: 00 353 1 4980 300 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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