Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) has confirmed it will close its sole remaining Danish base - Billund - with effect from Friday, July 17. In a statement marking the official closure of its Copenhagen Kastrup base on Wednesday, July 15, the Irish LCC said that of Billund's three based B737-800s, one would be redeployed to Dublin International with the other two heading to London Stansted.
Despite the jets' repositioning, the LCC says it will continue to operate twelve of its fourteen summer routes to/from Billund albeit with the exception of Chania and Kerkyra which will be terminated at the end of this month.
Ryanair is embroiled in a bitter dispute with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark - LO) over the latter's demands that the airline employ all locally-based staff on Danish labour contracts. The LCC has refused to comply arguing that as its employees work on-board Irish registered aircraft (defined as Irish territory) and pay their taxes in Ireland, they are therefore not subject to Danish labour law.
