How will the announcement by budget airline Ryanair affect you forthcoming winter skiing holiday? If you had planned to fly with them, then of course you will be affected, but there are plenty of alternatives. They have planned to cut its UK winter capacity by 16% from November, has blamed Air Passenger Duty (APD) for a move which will see it carry over two million fewer passengers this winter compared to the same period last year. Mainly these cuts will concentrate on London Stansted, where the airline will base 22 aircraft instead of 24. This will mean a flight volume decrease of 17% at the airport and a loss of up to 1.5 million passengers between November and March 2011. The cuts will affect some other UK bases but if you are planning to fly from Leeds or from Edinburgh you will still get to Munich or Treviso.
Ryanair pulling out of the winter flight schedule so popular with skiers could leave a hole but we would imagine that there will be other airlines that can fill the gap. Jet2 and EasyJet are examples who fly to French ski resorts and the popular destination of Geneva could become ever more popular this coming winter as we plan our next skiing holiday.