[Anonymous]

[TominScotland]

BBC report that Ryanair is to end flights to George Best Belfast City Airport because of delays in planning approval for a runway extension – see
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11659126.

I think this news needs to be seen in in the context of discussion elsewhere in this Forum about Ryanair and its approach to business as well as the failure of most airlines to do more than offer a weak protest about the cancellation of the third runway at Heathrow.

What if BA and other major users had threatened to pull flights out of Heathrow and used their commercial muscle to influence government policy? Moving part or all of BA hub elsewhere in Europe would not be inconceivable in the light of deregulation. OK, Ryanair have many more options in terms of where they fly and they are just talking about five current routes but its an interesting thought all the same.

[NTarrant]

It would be commercial suicide for BA to move most of the operation out of LHR as a protest and most of the other airlines would snap up the slots like a shot. Sadly the commercial muscle would not break government policy on this issue.

Ryanair has hissy fits over a number of airports. It has pulled out of EMA and recently MAN. I wonder whether the real reasons that they pull out of an airport is that they can’t make it pay and then blame the airport.

[Author]

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