European low-cost carrier Ryanair has announced that it will close its base at Frankfurt Airport at the end of March. All flights to and from the German hub will be cancelled from 31st March.
In a statement, the airline explicitly blames the move on Frankfurt’s unwillingness to lower airport fees. Instead, Ryanair will move all five aircraft that are currently based at Germany’s largest airport “to airports that have responded with lower airport charges to stimulate traffic recovery”, the company says.
At the same time, Ryanair is re-opening a base at Nuremberg Airport, located about 190 kilometres southeast of Frankfurt. It will station two aircraft in the Bavarian city, serving 27 destinations. The airline already operates a larger base at Cologne-Bonn Airport, 140 kilometres northwest of Frankfurt.
The Ryanair Group, consisting of five subsidiary airlines, operates more than 470 aircraft in total. More aircraft are being added as the airline group receives new Boeing 737 Max 200 jets, a high-density variant of the 737 Max 8.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
