Ryanair comes back to Alghero - More flights to Sardinia in 2010

Ryanair will not abandon Alghero (Italy). It will instead increase its presence on the "Riviera del Corallo" airport, as stated by the president of Sardinia's regional government Ugo Cappellacci after a meeting in Dublin with Alghero's major Marco Tedde and Ryanair's deputy CEO Michael Cawely in October. The aim of the low-cost is airline would be to reach 140-150 thousand passengers for its national and international links with Fertilia's airport. "We have verified and shared a path that will now be examined by the heads of the airline with SOGEAAL's managers, to pass the current impasse -Cappellacci stated- Ryanair will restore routes to Frankfurt and Madrid and is ready to study further development hypothesises for Alghero, besides the traditional route to Barcelona". The problem stood out in recent weeks when the Irish carrier announced its intention to leave Alghero in order to point on Cagliari, generating protests from local institutions (see AVIONEWS). "Obviously -the president of the Region said- these solutions are not in contrast or alternate to Ryanair's further development programmes at Cagliari-Elmas airport". (Avionews)

All Ryanair destinations from and to Alghero:

Bari 3,00Bruxelles (Charleroi) 3,00Francoforte-Hahn NEW 3,00Girona (Barcelona) 3,00Madrid NEW 3,00Milano (Bergamo) 3,00Parigi-Beauvais 3,00Parma
3,00Pisa 3,00Roma (Ciampino) 3,00Venezia-Treviso 3,00Verona (Brescia) 9,99Ancona NEW 23,82Billund NEW 23,82Dublino NEW 23,82Düsseldorf (Weeze) NEW
23,82Eindhoven NEW 23,82Liverpool NEW 23,82Londra-Stansted 23,82Memmingen (Munich West) NEW 23,82Oslo (Torp) NEW 23,82Reus (Barcelona) NEW 23,82Stoccolma Skavsta NEW

Fares From Italy:
Ancona
Bari
Bologna
Brindisi
Cagliari
Cuneo
Genova
Lamezia
Milano (Bergamo)
Olbia
Palermo
Parma
Perugia NEW
Pescara
Pisa
Rimini
Roma (Ciampino)
Torino
Trapani
Trieste
Venezia-Treviso
Verona (Brescia)

bmibaby announce massive expansion plan from East Midlands Airport

bmibaby has announced a massive expansion plan from East Midlands Airport (East Midlands Airport : Nottingham, Leicester & Derby). The plan breaks down into three key initiatives:
1. Three additional aircraft to be based at East Midland Airport
2. Eight new European routes from the airport to: Alghero (Sardinia), Barcelona, Bastia (Corsica), Cork, Dubrovnik (Croatia), Malta, Newquay and Venice
3. Increased frequencies on key winter and summer routes, with the addition of Palma to the winter flying programme, and a year round service to Geneva and Prague
As a result of the new routes and additional frequencies, the airlines’ capacity will increase by 40 per cent from East Midlands Airport. bmibaby’s expansion plan will mean that an additional 350,000 passengers will fly with the airline from East Midlands Airport in 2010, and an additional 2,872 flights will be operated by the airline next year from the airport. Flights will go on sale today (09 September, 2009) and are available to book at http://www.bmibaby.com/. The news comes just days after easyJet announced its departure from East Midlands Airport.

Flight Schedule for Alghero:

Alghero (Sardinia)
29 May 2010 to 25 September 2010
Saturday
£39.99


bmibaby now offer 24 European destinations from East Midlands Airport: Alghero (Sardinia), Alicante, Almeria, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bastia (Corsica), Belfast International, Cork, Dubrovnik (Croatia), Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow International, Grenoble, Jersey, Malaga, Malta, Menorca, Newquay, Nice, Palma, Paris (CDG), Prague and Venice.
Crawford Rix, managing director, bmibaby, said:
“Our rapid expansion programme at East Midlands Airport is fantastic news for the Midlands. It not only further demonstrates our commitment to the airport, but also to the people of the region, as we continue to offer low fares to a range of exciting new European destinations.
“As well as announcing eight new routes today to Sardinia, Barcelona, Corsica, Cork, Croatia, Malta, Newquay and Venice, we have also increased our capacity on key winter and summer routes to meet the extra consumer demand.
“We are confident that the services will prove extremely popular and we will make sure that everyone who wants to fly can, whether it’s for a sunshine holiday, a city break or for an important business trip.
“We continue to be a champion of the consumer market – currently we are offering no credit and debit card fees on all flights, and skis and snow boards fly free of charge on bookings to any of our ski destinations. Plus all passengers travelling with us are allocated a seat, so there is no need to dash for seat, and customers can enjoy the benefits of the UK’s most generous frequent flyer programme - bmi diamond club.
“bmibaby and bmi have operated from East Midlands since the airport opened in 1965 – and is an embedded part of the local community. We recognise the size of the East Midlands market and its future potential, and we will continue to offer the people of the East Midlands low cost flights with a high quality service. bmibaby is here to stay!”
Penny Coates, managing director, East Midlands Airport, said:
"This is fantastic news for our passengers because bmibaby are not only adding new routes but also extra destinations for summer 2010, a significant increase in the number of flights to popular winter and summer destinations, and the addition of three based aircraft, meaning an even greater choice.
"The bmi group have served the East Midlands region for 45 years; they are a local, long term operator that is committed to the growth of the East Midlands region. bmibaby has continued to go from strength to strength with their East Midlands Airport operation by providing a comprehensive range of business and leisure destinations combined with competitive low fares.
"Offering 24 European destinations shows that bmibaby is committed to the airport and the region and we are looking forward to working with them to make these new routes a great success."

Compare the prices of over 100 low cost airlines!


Looking for a flight - check out Bravofly.co.uk

Ryanair Launches 1 Million €8 Seat Sale: Travel in late Sept, Oct & Nov

Ryanair, the World’s favourite airline, will at midnight tonight (24:00hrs 17th Aug) release 1million seats at an all inclusive price of €8 for travel in late Sept, Oct and Nov. These €8 fares will be available on over 500 of Ryanair’s European routes but must be booked on http://www.ryanair.com/ before midnight (24:00hrs) Thursday (20th Aug).

Ryanair’s €8 tickets include all taxes and charges so passengers who chose to avoid discretionary fees by paying with Visa Electron, travel with carry on luggage only and forego priority boarding can fly for this advertised €8 fare.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“Ryanair provides Europe’s lowest fares and a no fuel surcharge guarantee. We continue to grow traffic rapidly thanks to our low fares and our on-time performance across our 900 routes and we release 1million €8 seats for travel on over 500 European destinations in late September, October and November. These seats can be booked until 24:00hrs this Thursday (20th August) and are sure to be snapped up fast so we urge passengers to book them on http://www.ryanair.com/ today, before they sell out.”

Ryanair News

Ryanair cuts nine out of 10 routes from Manchester Airport. This means routes to and from Cagliari in Sardinia will cease from October.

Ryanair has announced it will cut nine out of 10 routes at Manchester Airport from October creating a loss of 60,000 passengers a year.
The low-cost carrier announced its decision yesterday blaming the airport's refusal to lower its charges for giving them no other option.
A total of 44 weekly Ryanair flights will be lost at Manchester from October 1as well as 600 local jobs.
The airline’s decision comes after cuts to its base at Stansted, as well as Dublin, in favour of cheaper airports elsewhere in the UK and on the Continent.

Ryanair said it had offered Manchester an additional 28 weekly flights and 400,000 new passengers which would have created 400 new jobs if the airport 'reduced its high charges' but airport bosses had rejected this offer.
This means routes to and from Barcelona (Girona), Bremen in Germany, Brussels (Charleroi), Cagliari in Sardinia, Dusseldorf (Weeze), Frankfurt (Hahn), Marseille, Milan (Bergamo) and Shannon will cease from October.
Passengers affected will be provided with a full refund from Ryanair or given the alternative of flying to some destinations from 'competing, lower-cost airports' such as East Midlands, Liverpool or the airline's new base at Leeds Bradford.

Ryanair.com 10 Hour Closure: 24/25 June (19:00hrs-05:00hrs GMT)

Due to an essential reservation system upgrade the below services on www.ryanair.com will be unavailable on the 24/25 June 2009 (19:00hrs - 05:00hrs GMT). Ryanair strongly recommends that passengers travelling on Thursday 25th June 2009 ensure that they have checked in online and printed their boarding passes by 18:00hrs on the 24th June 2009.
Customers who booked flights on or before the 21st May and selected to use airport check-in will be unaffected and can check in at the airport as normal, please note that check-in desks close 40 minutes before the scheduled departure of the flight.

Online Check-in - Not available from 19:00 hrs(GMT) on Wednesday 24th June 2009 until 05:00hrs (GMT) on Thursday 25th June 2009.
Passengers should check-in online before or after the above closure times. Online check-in is available from 15 days before up to 4 hours prior to the flight departure time (except during the closure period). Customers booked on flights departing on the 25th June 2009 who are unable to check-in online will be reissued a boarding pass free of charge at the airport (please allow sufficient time to check-in at the airport and to obtain your boarding card).

New Bookings cannot be made on Ryanair.com between 21:30hrs (GMT) on Wednesday 24th June 2009 until 05:00hrs (GMT) Thursday 25th June 2009

Flight Changes (date/time/route) cannot be made between 21:30hrs (GMT) on Wednesday 24th June 2009 until 05:00hrs(GMT) Thursday 25th June 2009.

Review Existing Booking - This service is unavailable between 21:30 hrs (GMT) on Wednesday 24th June 2009 until 05:00hrs(GMT) Thursday 25th June 2009.

Airport Check-in/Bag Drop - Customers who booked flights on or before the 21st May and selected to use airport check-in will be unaffected and can check in at the airport as normal, please note that check-in desks close 40 minutes before the scheduled departure of the flight.
All passengers travelling with checked baggage, are recommended to arrive at the airport 2 hours before their scheduled flight departure time.

Mobile OnAir: Use of cell phones allowed on Rome-Alghero routes

Ryanair is now enabling in-flight cell phone calls on select aircraft. Other European airlines have tested wireless usage on a single aircraft, but Ryanair has already installed the service on 20 planes, with plans to expand to 50 within six months and eventually the entire fleet if it proves successful, the company said. The news service is called Mobile OnAir.
Ryanair confirmed the first flights to Alghero with inflight-telephone services are the national flights from Rome-Ciampino to North Western Sardinia, Alguer.it reports.

Ryanair launches three new Italian bases: Alghero, Cagliari and Bologna

Ryanair has launched three new Italian bases (now totaling seven) at Alghero, Bologna and Cagliari Airports offering a total of sixty-seven domestic and international routes, generating over four million passengers per annum and supporting four thousand jobs in Italy.

Ryanair will base two aircraft at each of these three airports bringing Ryanair’s total investment in Italy to twenty-six aircraft worth almost two billion dollars.

Celebrating these Italian Base Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“Ryanair and Italy today join in the celebration of continued low fares growth across Italy. Our three new bases in Alghero, Bologna and Cagliari will see over four million new passengers pass through these three airports over the next year on sixty-seven low cost domestic and international routes.

Easier.com
“Ryanair’s continued expansion in Italy during a time of economic recession shows the benefit of competition and low fares in Italy. Ryanair will carry over seventeen million passengers to/from Italy this year and will sustain seventeen-thousand jobs throughout the regions. Passengers can continue to beat the recession by choosing Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel surcharges over Alitalia’s high fare, strike ridden services.

“Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares are available to book online at Ryanair.com”.

Ryanair insults bloggers about o Euro booking screenshots. Is it a Marketing strategy?

Jason Roe wrote in his blog about what he thinks is a bug in RyanAir’s website. Some RyanAir employees saw it and left some pretty rude comments.

Ryanair's (Social) Marketing Strategy is some sort of “Any publicity is good publicity” and Guerillia Marketing actions.

This Blog post fom Jason Roe caught attention in the UK, Germany, Italy and many other countries and guaranteed free coverage for Ryanair! However, there are not going to be any customers that ever booked a Ryanair flight because they offer customer-oriented and friendly service and user-friendly and well designed website. Then again - isn't strange that blog author Jason Roe announces his presence at the Irish Blog Awards? Did this news posting help the Blogger to gain attention as well?

Ryanair to Eliminate Check-in Counters

Ryanair hopes to eliminate all check-in counters by the end of the year and replace them with a self-service bag drop. Customers would check-in on line and then bring their bags to a designated area of the airport. The move is part Ryanair's overall goal to cut services and thereby reduce costs. Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told the Telegraph of London, "Ultimately, we want just one in five people to check in luggage."
The European low-cost carrier also recently announced it will begin charging a £28.50 for duty-free shopping if those purchases cannot fit into a passenger's carry-on luggage.
Ryanair's business model is simple, and no secret: Passengers who need the bare minimum (basically a seat aboard the plane) can travel cheaply, but people who need anything beyond that minimum service will be hit with expensive fees left and right. In my mind, however, these moves push the carrier a bit beyond reasonable "no-frills" service and toward something more like cheap bus travel. I'm sure Ryanair has a plan for its "bag drops," but the idea seems fraught with potential issues. How easy would it be for a passenger to make a mistake somewhere along the check-in process? How secure is the bag drop? And charging passengers to bring duty-free purchases aboard seems downright cynical to me, though it will keep the overhead bins less crowded, which is largely Ryanair's goal.

Smartertravel

Ryanair specials for Valentine`s day

Ryanair Gift Vouchers - available from only £25/€25 up to £200/€200
Gift vouchers will be emailed to you or your intended recipient, including a personalised message!
Choose from our extensive & expanding route network, over 800+ routes across 25 countries
Quick and Easy gifts!
Let friends & family decide where and when they want to go

Ryanair gift vouchers are redeemable online at www.ryanair.com
From £25 and €25



View Ryanair Gift Voucher Terms and Conditions

Ryanair Flights to Alghero and Rome from £5.00

Ryanair has again special offers to Alghero and other Italian destinations. 5£ Fares include taxes & charges.
Booking Period: Mon 01st Dec 08 - Tue 09th Dec 08
Travel Period: Mon 15th Dec 08 - Sat 28th Feb 09
Applicable Days: Mon - Thurs & Sat (subject to availability)
Flight must be purchased: 14 Days in advance
Blackout Period: 18th Dec '08 - 05th Jan '09
12th Feb '09 - 23rd Feb '09 to/from IRE/UK

As always with Ryanair offers, all Holidays, School Breaks and Major Sporting Events are excluded from this offer
http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/cheapflights.php?dest=AAR&base=STN

Saint-Exupéry in Alghero: The French author landed in Alghero-Fertilia in 1944

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of all-time bestseller The little prince, landed 1944 on Alghero Fertilia airport as part of the French troops in World war II., just two months before he died in an accident.
Saint Exupéry, along with his navigator, André Prévot, crashed in the Libyan Sahara desert en route to Saigon in 1935. The team was attempting to fly from Paris to Saigon faster than any previous aviators, for a prize of 150,000 francs. Both survived the landing, but were faced with the prospect of rapid dehydration in the Sahara. Saint Exupéry's famous fable The Little Prince, which begins with a pilot being marooned in the desert, is in part a reference to this experience.

In 1944, however, the French author spent some time at Fertilia airport before being transferred to the French Island of Corsica. Saint Exupéry's final assignment was to collect intelligence on German troop movements in and around the Rhone Valley preceding the Allied invasion of southern France. On the evening of July 31, 1944, he left from an airbase on Corsica, and was never seen again. A woman reported having watched a plane crash around noon of August the first near the Bay of Carqueiranne off Toulon. An unidentifiable body wearing French colors was found several days later and buried in Carqueiranne that September.

The Exma museum in Cagliari dedicates an exposition to Saint Exupéry's stay in Sardinia until January, 31st 2009

Read full article (Italian)

Finding Spain in Alghero, Sardinia

It all sounds so romantic now. But as is often the case, this picture- postcard
Spanish enclave is the result of violent conquest. Originally peopled by native
Sardinians, Alghero was later ruled by the Doria shipping magnates of Genoa
before being conquered by the Spaniards in 1353. Spain so thoroughly stamped out
its previous occupants, today the town's language, food and culture are
considered more Catalan than Sardinian or Italian. In fact, Alghero was
primarily settled by people from Barcelona and Valencia. It's truly one of the
most authentic Spanish experiences in Italy.

Finding Spain in Alghero, Sardinia on Examiner.com

Better Access to Sardinia: Ryanair opens new base in Alghero

Better Access to Sardinia from the north of England and Scotland: Ryanair opens two new bases in Alghero and Cagliari next year, linking Cagliari with Manchester and Edinburgh. The new base that will be opened in Alghero will not serve new UK and Ireland destinations.

However, the list of UK, Ireland and other European and Italian Ryanair connections is yet long: Flights into Alghero start from

• London Stansted
• East Midlands
• Liverpool
• Dublin
• Oslo
• Stockholm
• Bremen
• Düsseldorf/Weeze
• Frankfurt/Hahn
• Milan Orio al Serio
• Vencice
• Bologna-Forli
• Genoa
• Pisa
• Rome-Ciampino
• Brussels
• Paris
• Barcelona-Girona
• Madrid