Ryanair to cut Glasgow Airport base with 300 jobs at risk

The airline said it had run out of patience waiting for the Scottish Government to reduce Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax.

Glasgow Airport said it was bitterly disappointed by the move.

Chief commercial officer David O’Brien said 300 indirect jobs could be lost at Glasgow due to the move with a potential fall in around 500,000 passengers.

He said: “Sadly the weaker Scottish market is even weaker still in Glasgow which simply can’t bare the burden of APD at £13.

“This should not come as a surprise to the government, we did say that our growth in Glasgow was based on their promise to abolish APD, which morphed into a promise to half APD which suddenly has disappeared into the ether and quite frankly we don’t have any more patience, there are other markets in the UK and Europe which offer a more compelling proposition.”

Mr O’Brien added: “Passengers mean jobs and around 500,000 passengers will be lost at Glasgow pressurising around 300 jobs which will probably be lost.

“The flipside is that you’re looking at around 700 jobs being introduced to Edinburgh.”

Ryanair said Brexit was also a background factor threatening Scottish tourism and the airline industry.

The airline opened a new base at Glasgow Airport in autumn 2014, one of several new bases opened across Europe that year, but it will only fly to Dublin, Krakow and Wroclaw from Glasgow in its winter 2018 schedule.

It will host 45 routes from Edinburgh including 11 new routes.

Mr O’Brien said APD also disadvantages Edinburgh but that the Scottish capital was a better inbound destination for the airline.

“The sense would be that there is more disposable in the Edinburgh area than there is in the Glasgow area,” he added.

“It’s a more fertile market.”

David O’Brien said 300 indirect jobs could be lost at Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)

A spokesman for Glasgow Airport also hit out at APD.

He said: “Despite clear and repeated warnings from both airports and airlines about the potential impact of this policy not being implemented, we are now faced with a stark scenario that includes the loss of 20 services and a significant number of jobs.

“This is the second example in as many months of an airline cutting capacity in Scotland because of the lack of movement on ADT. The reality is this capacity will be reallocated elsewhere in Europe to countries with more favourable aviation taxation policies to Scotland’s detriment.”

Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said: “I find myself torn between the pleasure of the new routes and the relief really that these cuts being seen at Glasgow are not being suffered in Edinburgh.

“I think that’s a wake up call for the government.

“We’d hoped our growth would be incremental to Scotland but it would appear at last half of this year’s growth is actually at the expense of Glasgow and that can’t be god for the Scottish market and he economic development of our country.”