RYANAIR CALLS FOR EARLY SALE

RNS Number : 6664T

Ryanair Holdings PLC

10 June 2009

RYANAIR CALLS FOR EARLY SALE OF LONDON STANSTED AS TRAFFIC COLLAPSES

Ryanair, the UK's largest airline, today (10th June 2009) called for the early sale of London Stansted after BAA figures confirmed that passenger traffic at the airport collapsed by 19% in May and highlighted that traffic has now plummeted by 15% at London Stansted in the first five months of 2009.

Ryanair also called for Gordon Brown to follow the lead of the Belgian and Dutch governments by scrapping his £10 tourist tax in response to the 7% fall in traffic at BAA's UK airports so far this year which has resulted in huge losses for London and UK tourism.

Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said,

'Today's confirmation that London Stansted traffic has collapsed by 19% so far this year, proves that the Competition Commission's recommendation that that airport be sold is the only way to protect London tourism and jobs and we call for the fast-tracking of its sale in order to tackle the airport's plummeting traffic.

The abysmal performance of the BAA airports underlines the urgent need for government action to protect UK tourism and UK jobs. BAA airports have lost almost 5 million passengers so far this year and the UK Government must follow the lead of the Belgian and Dutch governments by scrapping its insane £10 tourist tax.'