By John Flett
Ryanair Announces Strategic Partnership to Boost European Destinations
Ryanair has announced a partnership with Junta de Andalucía to promote tourism to Spain’s southernmost region. The joint communications campaign aims to strengthen Spain’s position as an attractive tourist destination and to stimulate visitors from across Europe. The airline specifically highlights the following European countries as targets for the campaign: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Norway and Sweden.
Dara Brady Ryanair’s Director of Marketing said: “We have already significantly increased connectivity to/from the Spanish region with the introduction of new routes and additional frequencies from across Europe. This partnership will further promote this beautiful region and Ryanair’s network of low fare routes to Spain, which are becoming increasingly popular among our growing customer base as they plan their well-deserved new year breaks.”
Eurocontrol has reported that flights arriving and departing Spain are only 20% below 2019 levels as of 01 December. The country also ranks fourth below Germany, the United Kingdom and France for the number of arrivals and departures. However, those countries are operating significantly fewer flights this year as a percentage compared to 2019 levels.
The Andalucian region is famous for its Moorish architecture, region of hills, clear-blue rivers, and cuisine. Vice President and Minister for Tourism of the Regional Government of Andalucía, Mr. Juan Marín said: “We are very excited to work with Ryanair, Europe’s no.1 airline, on this incredibly important campaign promoting Andalucía as an attractive tourism destination for European travelers.”
Ryanair continues its positive bounce back from the troubles of 2020 with 10.2 million passengers carried in November. This compares to only 2 million travelers in the same month last year when Europe had significantly more lockdowns in effect, particularly in the crucial UK market. Crucially the 62,300 flights operated last month were 86% full compared to a load factor of only 62% in November 2020.
Ryanair’s announcement on traffic figures follows last week’s update that the airline has added 560 new routes and opened 14 bases throughout the last 12 months. The airline is also expected to receive 65 new B737-8200 aircraft for 2022’s summer season. An aircraft that the carrier has touted as ‘Gamechangers’ with each plane offering four percent more seats, 16% less fuel consumption and a 40% reduction in noise emissions.
However, with the reintroduction of travel restrictions in the UK and across other key markets in Europe the next few months will again be uncertain for the Irish carrier and the aviation industry. Therefore Ryanair has its sights set on a rebound for summer 2022 and an increase in leisure travel once the winter months are over. To bolster this the airline has had several aggressive marketing campaigns to coincide with the now worldwide Black Friday and Cyber Monday periods.
During his career with the airline, John held multiple leadership roles and was involved in projects such as the introduction of both the 777-200 and -300 type aircraft and the development of the IFE for the 777-300. He was also part of a small team that created and published the internal communications magazines for Air New Zealand’s pilots, cabin crew and ground staff, balancing a mix of corporate and social content.
John is educated to postgraduate level achieving a Masters degree with Distinction in Airline and Airport Management. He has been the course director of an undergraduate commercial pilot training programme at a leading London university and a member of Heathrow Community Trust’s ‘Communities for Tomorrow’ panel.
John is currently contracted as an external instructor for IATA (International Air Transport Association) and other aviation-related organizations.