[size=85:g09kenni]novinite 27 May 2010

Ryanair Takes Off to Bulgaria's Plovdiv City in September

Irish low-cost air carrier Ryanair will launch flights to Bulgaria's Plovdiv airport in September this year, a deputy minister has announced.

“The company has certain requirements that airports should meet, including low fees,” Economy and Energy Minister Ivo Marinov announced on Thursday.

Ryanair representatives visited Bulgaria last month, conferred with Transport Minister Alexander Tsvetkov and visited Plovdiv airport to finalize an agreement.

According to Plovdiv airport executive director Doychin Anguelov the attraction of low-fare air companies is part of the airport strategy to increase its passengers and revenues.

Ryanair has been planning to launch flights to Plovdiv airport for several years.

Plovdiv became even more attractive for air companies as of April 1, when its fees were sharply reduced and stand three times lower that the fees at the airport in the capital Sofia. The low fees will be in forced for two years.

Fantastic news!!

Oddy

Bring on the the low fare airlines,Bulgaria has really been left out of the picture for too long. I travel with Aer Lingus from Dublin to Bucharest which can be reasonable enough but can't wait for Michael O Leary to start checking out more of Bulgaria's airports.

Great news lets hope that more will follow

Yes excellent news lets hope more will follow on.

[size=85:34nppwa5]Sofia echo 11 June 2010

Ryanair call for boarding in Plovdiv

Despite flying "
in bulk"
to more than 150 destinations throughout Europe, low-cost airline Ryanair is very picky in choosing which airports it uses. Among the list of conditions that must be met, the most important is that the use of the airport must come cheaply.

This is one of the main reasons why the largest no-frills airline in the world is yet to launch flights to Bulgaria. But all of that could change now that several municipalities in Plovdiv region – Hissarya, Assenovgrad and Rodopi – have joined forces to draw more tourists by exploiting the proximity of Plovdiv Airport.

In 2009, the Bulgarian Government completed work on a large passenger terminal in the country’s second-largest city, investing more than 40 million leva in the construction, which for now stands empty.

Until April, the only regular arrivals to Plovdiv were by Russian airline S7 out of Siberia, which will resume flights in September.

Cargo flights are out of the question because Plovdiv Airport has no cargo terminal, so the only option is to attract passenger flights by low-cost airlines, since the traditional carriers operate flights to the not-so-distant Sofia.

To draw the interest of big-name players like Ryanair, the Cabinet halved the fees for Plovdiv Airport starting May 1 until May 1 2012. The airport fee is thus half that charged by Sofia Airport and and the passenger processing fee is three times lower.

There is still no contract with the Irish low-cost carrier, but people familiar with the situation say that there is an unspoken competition to win Ryanair’s business. On May 26, the airline’s officials met representatives of all civilian airports in Bulgaria and a technical review of the Plovdiv Airport is said to have been scheduled.

I want to fly

The three municipalities set up on May 20 a fund for the development of Plovdiv Airport.

"
The goal of this non-profit organisation is to raise funds and help the creation of permanent flights to Plovdiv Airport, as well as advertise the municipalities,"
the executive director of Plovdiv Airport Doichin Angelov said.

Plovdiv city hall is expected to join the initiative and 20 more municipalities are in talks to do the same. The fund’s decisions are taken by majority vote of its board, which includes all mayors, while Plovdiv Airport has been retained as a consultant.

The money would be raised from tourist taxes, which hotels have to pay to local authorities. Additionally, a small local tax would be levied on residents of municipalities that have joined the fund. For the three municipalities now on board, that would generate an estimated 56 000 leva a year.

"
It is an opportunity for joint action if any given municipality cannot manage on its own,"
the governor of Plovdiv region, Ivan Totev, said. "
The fund is a mechanism to share risk, a practice common in the West, but not used a lot in Bulgaria,"
he said.

The example that the local authorities in Plovdiv hope to emulate is that of Girona Airport in Catalonia, about 92km from Barcelona, which Ryanair picked as one of its destinations in 2000.

"
After the creation of a similar fund by Catalonian municipalities, an airport that had no passengers managed to build a passenger flow of eight million people,"
Totev said. "
Such a practice can be used in other fields, Plovdiv Airport is just one separate case."


The first step is to help attract airlines to use Plovdiv Airport, which is now underused, followed by the establishment of regular bus lines between individual municipalities and the airport.

After the local authorities announced their plans, the immediate follow-up question was whether the money would be treated as state aid. The fears are that the airline could be compensated under certain conditions, such as flights not being sold out.

"
There can be no talk of state aid because the fund was not set up to help a particular airline,"
Totev said.

The proposed solution is that airlines would sign separate contracts with Plovdiv Airport and the fund, the second one being optional and carrying certain obligations for both sides. "
The airlines would be paid by the fund in return for advertising space on their websites, promoting [Bulgarian] municipalities and their tourist attractions,"
Angelov said.

Like many other low-cost airlines, Ryanair flies mainly to regional or secondary airports that charge lower fees. Sometimes, these airports happen to be even closer to the central city areas than the main airports, as is the case with Belfast, Gothenburg and Rome.

Cheaper is better

Ryanair has the reputation of unscrupulously pursuing its agenda in all negotiations with airports, with the end goal being lower costs. It is no wonder that its chief executive Michael O’Leary is one of the least liked in the industry.

In the past, the airline has employed such tactics as pitting nearby airports against each other for its business and arm-twisting airports into agreeing to its terms. In April 2006, Ryanair surprised the management of Cardiff Airport by announcing an end to flights to Dublin. More recently, the airline said it would cease operations in Budapest and Prague starting with October 2010 because of the high fees.

This constant drive to minimise airport and ground personnel costs is the main reason for Ryanair’s ability to offer cheaper prices to its customers. As an example, by booking two months in advance, flying from London to Madrid would cost 35 euro with Ryanair, compared to about 150 euro using British Airways or Iberia.

The service offered for the lower price is also different – Ryanair passengers end up paying for extras like food, seat preference and luggage, as do customers of other low-cost airlines like easyJet and Wizz Air.

It is still unclear what destinations Ryanair would pick in Bulgaria and where those flights would be headed. But according to an Economy Ministry source, the expectation is that Plovdiv would be linked to five destinations and flights could be launched as early as September.

[size=55:36n4hteg]Metro.co.uk 02 August 2010

Ryanair: Violins will cost you £1,340 extra
Three classical musicians were left stunned after Ryanair charged them an extra £1,340 for their violins.

The trio were told just three days before their flight that they would have to buy an extra seat for each of their instruments, rather than being allowed to take them on board as hand luggage.

The airline ruled that the cases, which could have fitted an overhead locker, were larger than the maximum permitted size - 55cm x 40cm x 20cm.

18-year-old Hungarian Agnes Langer, along with Russian Igor Tsinman, 26, flew from Frankfurt with their tutor, Professor Anne Shih for a concert in Salle, Norfolk.

Prof. Shih's valuable Guarnerius violin, alongside Tsinman's rare Sanctus Serafin and Langer's Testore had to be strapped in for the journey instead, as they were deemed 'too precious' to go in the hold.

Norfolk Concerts executive director Douglas Gowan, who organised the concert, paid for the seats - though is now preparing legal action against the budget airline, claiming that the airline had agreed that the instruments would be exempt from the limit.

He told the Daily Mail: 'Obviously you cannot put a fragile Stradivarius or Guarnerius in the hold due to the cold, let alone risk of damage.

'Ryanair want to get the message out that they don't want hand luggage in the cabins and they simply don't give a damn if a few musicians have a problem. It is so anti-cultural.

'We are saying that we had a contract and they have changed the rules - and our lawyers think we have a good case.

'When you buy a cello seat, you know you have to do it because the instrument is too big to go into the overhead rack. But a violin case is very slim and will go in easily, even if it is a little bit over the limit.'

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: 'The policy has been the same for two years and the terms and conditions clearly explain that musical instruments need to have a second seat.

'It is the responsibility of individual passengers to research the conditions before they book their flights.

'There can be no allowances made for anyone, whether its the next superstar in cricket, tennis or music. The terms and conditions are the same for everyone.'

Well we can't have one rule for the general public and then break that rule for musicians or anyone else for that matter. If I were to take a suitcase bigger than the allocated allowance I would have to pay the extra, so why take the risk. They could have booked a seat or made special arrangements for 'Fragile items' at the same time at a much cheaper price too no doubt. Surely they have traveled before and know the rules.

I have to agree with the airline - not the extortionate amount they charge but rules are rules and the guidelines are clearly printed on every website and correspondence.

Oddy

[size=55:nq1n7k0w]Plovdiv airport 03 August 2010

RYANAIR PRESS-CONFERENCE

A press-conference will be held in the passengers’ terminal of Plovdiv Airport, on Wednesday, 4th of August 2010, 12 a.m. The occasion is launching of scheduled services by Ryanair to Plovdiv airport.


The press-conference will be addressed together by Plovdiv airport and the Sales &
Marketing manager of Ryanair – Mr. Laszlo Tamas. All the details including the particular destination, the number of weekly services, the beginning date and the future development plans will be highlighted at the conference.


Invited to the event are representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Economics, the Governor of Plovdiv region, the Ambassador of Republic of Ireland, numerous majors of Bulgaria’s South-Central municipalities, numerous tourism associations etc.


Entering of the Europe’s largest low–cost carrier in terms of international passenger numbers and financial results is crucial not only to Plovdiv Airport but to Bulgaria’s South–Central region and the country as a whole.

Looking forward to hearing more about this at lease its another carrier

There are no tickets on sale as far as I can see from the web site. Will they be flying from Stansted or London Gatwick? If prices compare to Easy Jet then worth looking at. Waiting with tickets to book. Where is the airport at Plodiv been past the place on the motorway several times but never seen it.

tonyb60 wrote:

There are no tickets on sale as far as I can see from the web site. Will they be flying from Stansted or London Gatwick? If prices compare to Easy Jet then worth looking at. Waiting with tickets to book. Where is the airport at Plodiv been past the place on the motorway several times but never seen it.

I understand that the first flights are on 2nd November from Stansted to Plovdiv

Thank you willowsend

tonyb60 wrote:

Thank you willowsend

Ryanair will operate two flights a week to Plovdiv, namely Tuesday and Thursday
Seats can be booked now until midnight tomorrow 5th Aug for £32.99 on way inc tax
Ryanair's representative Laura McCormack, said that Plovdiv makes a great city break destination at any time of the year and it is
in easy reach of the ski resorts of Bansko and Pamporovo ::
PS I couldn't find a smiley on skies

Thank you once again

All I need to know now is where have they hidden the airport. The Plodiv option could cut our travel time by 1 hour.