Ryanair Expands European Routes from Brescia Airport in 2001

The Montichiari airport will not be the European base for Ryanair at least for the year 2001, contrary to what was speculated a couple of months ago. It may be considered for 2002, but the airline’s remarkable low-cost flight offers will certainly continue, not only with London but also with other European capitals, as the Irish company announced in February new routes from Montichiari to other Italian and European cities.

Meanwhile, the new year starts with a price reduction campaign for flights to London from the Gabriele D’Annunzio airport in Brescia-Montichiari. From Montichiari to London, round trip, tickets can be purchased for the modest sum of 45,000 lire (excluding 60,000 lire in taxes). This is what Ryanair offers between January 19 and February 22, a period during which travelers can take advantage of this special offer for 20 days, as the deal is valid on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

One condition: bookings must be made via the Internet website (www.ryanair.com) from January 12 to 18, 2001. The announcement of this promotion was made yesterday in Milan at Corso Buenos Aires, at the offices of the Wall Street Institute, during a crowded press conference where Sinead Finn, Ryanair’s sales director for Italy, described with the help of a video the meteoric rise of the young Irish airline, which is reaching 7 million passengers across 45 routes in Europe.

Company Results and Outlook

“This is the biggest promotion Ryanair has ever run on its website,” said Ms. Finn, “and it covers all 8 low-fare routes from Italy to London. The success of the website has been phenomenal in Italy. Currently, 50% of all bookings from Italy are made through the website.”

Thanks to their low fares, Ryanair allows Italians to visit London frequently, with over 1 million passengers having already flown on the 8 low-cost Ryanair routes from Treviso, Pisa, Rimini, Turin, Genoa, Ancona, Brescia, and Alghero to London. The fares from Genoa and Rimini are particularly low: 15,000 lire round trip (excluding taxes), while tickets from Pisa and Treviso cost 60,000 lire.

Moreover, the fact that Ryanair has temporarily chosen not to promote Montichiari as its European operational base does not seem to worry either the airline’s management or that of the Brescia airport, given the promising outlook for 2001.

“Growth in 2000 has been remarkable,” commented Antonio Realdi, director of D’Annunzio Airport. “Considering that in the seven months of 1999 we had 22,400 passengers and in 2000 we reached 165,000, we can only be satisfied.”

Provincial transport councilor Vigilio Bettinsoli, who had already spoken multiple times about the significant contribution Ryanair has made to increasing the use of the airport by Brescia residents, agrees. “We have managed to increase the interest of Brescia residents in using our airport,” explains Bettinsoli. “Both for domestic flights and those heading to the UK capital. We now need to finalize the new management company’s arrangements, and I will be speaking soon with the president of Catullo spa, which manages both Villafranca and Montichiari airports, to assess the feasibility of this plan.”