Ryanair: new investments in Italy and maintenance centre on the way

Ryanair wants to open a maintenance centre for domestically based aircraft in Italy. "We are evaluating the location we have several proposals, but at the moment we have not yet decided where it will be located. It will certainly be in the south of Italy. The new facility will be in addition to the training centre for pilots in Bergamo," announced Ryanair's ceo, Eddie Wilson in Milan to attend the G7 Transport meeting being held at Palazzo Reale until Saturday 13 April. "I was invited by Minister Salvini, I will attend as an auditor because Ireland is not part of the G7," he explains speaking to journalists.

The structure is necessary because of the number of aircraft based in Italy at the moment, about a hundred, which is destined to grow: 'Our intention is to continue investing in Italy, we have a growth plan for the next five years of 4 billion euro investment to base another 40 aircraft and bring another 20 million passengers to Italy. We continue to grow with the lowest fares on the market, but some people do not understand this'.

The ceo takes it out on AGCOM, which has opened an investigation against Ryanair for dominant position: according to Enac 2022 data, the low cost airline has an overall market share of 44% between domestic and international connections, which rises to 53% for domestic ones alone. "Agcm's investigation is unexpected for us. The Authority suspects our dominant position in Italy, but should instead investigate the pirate Ota (online travel agencies), which apply mark-ups of up to 216 on online bookings". Wilson has therefore asked the Antutrust to intervene against eDream, the Spanish platform for the purchase of airline tickets that, according to an investigation carried out by the same low cost company, has increased ticket prices with "hidden surcharges and invented service commissions of up to 65 euros that do not exist on the Ryanair website. It is unbelievable," Wilson adds, "that while the company is trying to keep fares low, consumer agencies like AGCOM are doing nothing in their defence.

The manager of the Irish low-cost company met with the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, in recent weeks: "We have good relations with the Italian government and with the minister we spoke about the forthcoming Jubilee and the need to grow Ciampino in order to better connect Rome". Also at the centre of the meeting were the development plans to bring tourists to Italy: 'Swe are the largest Italian investor in aviation, we are growing by 37%, we have over 100 aircraft, we have opened a base in Trieste and one in Calabria, where no one else would invest. We invest everywhere in Italy, because we are efficient and we take risks," he added, showing the ruling of the Court of Appeal of Milan last January which established that "there is no abuse of dominant position by Ryanair in the downstream market of travel and tourism services. The Agcm should go and read that ruling drafted with the help of economic experts instead of investigating us uselessly'.

The investments that Ryanair puts on the plate also depend on the willingness of municipalities to abolish the hated municipal tax that weighs on airline tickets as did Trieste where Ryanair recently based a plane and expects 200 thousand passengers while in Reggio Calabria estimates 500 thousand. "Ryanair has grown by 37% between pre and post Covid in Italy," Wilson explained, "in 2019 we reached 45 million passengers and we will close 2024 with 61.5 million (+37%). In the same period in which Ryanair gained 16.5 million passengers Ita lost 5.5, dropping from 25.4 to 19.9 million, EasyJet 1.8 dropping from 21.7 to 19.8 million and Volotea 1.9, dropping from 7.8 to 5.8 million'.