Stakes raised on low-price airline routes
Ryanair announces plans to double its number of routes in Denmark, forcing SAS and Sterling to rethink their strategies
Irish Ryanair is preparing a more 'offensive' strategy for Denmark, boosting competition on the growing low-price airline market.
'We expect to present new routes which will double our passenger numbers over the next nine months,' Wilhelm Hamilton, the airline's new head for northern Europe, told financial daily Børsen. 'Our current routes from Esbjerg and Århus are going well, so the growth has to come from new destinations.'
Some 200,000 Ryanair passengers fly from Århus and Esbjerg to London annually.
Ryanair would not reveal which airport the new routes would fly out of, but competitors Sterling and SAS are waiting expectantly to see which direction the airline takes. SAS admitted the Ryanair strategy could force the airline to further lower its prices.
'Ryanair is a tough competitor which we take extremely seriously. We need to watch the front gate and follow suit if they decrease their levels, too. We can't sit idly by and accept that they take away our customers,' said Jens W. Willumsen, the vice-president of SAS in Denmark.