Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) has officially announced that with effect from October 29, it will close its Oslo Rygge base in retaliation at the Norwegian government's decision to proceed with the introduction of a controversial NOK80 (USD9.07) passenger surcharge.

"The illogical decision of the Norwegian Government to introduce a flat rate environmentally unfriendly tax unfairly penalizes passengers on efficient, green airlines such as Ryanair in favour of passengers on high fare, half empty, gas guzzling airlines, and destroys the cost competitiveness of privately owned Oslo Rygge Airport in favour of the state-owned Avinor monopoly. As a result, Ryanair has no choice but to close its Oslo Rygge base which will result in our Norwegian traffic being cut in half," Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer, David O’Brien, said.

Given Rygge's now impending closure to all commercial traffic, the Irish LCC says it will cut Béziers, Brussels Charleroi, Chania, Dublin International, Edinburgh, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Poznan Lawica, Pula, Riga, Rzeszow Jasionka, Thessaloniki, Szczecin Goleniów, Tallinn Lennart Meri, Wroclaw, and Zadar while moving its remaining Rygge routes - Alicante Elche Miguel Hernández, Gdansk, Kraków John Paul II International, Gran Canaria, Manchester, Milan Bergamo, Tenerife Sur, and Warsaw Modlin - to Oslo Torp from October 30. London Stansted and Vilnius services will be moved to Oslo Gardermoen.

Ryanair's four Rygge-based B737-800s will also be moved to other bases in the carrier's network.

Overall, the closure is expected to reduce Ryanair's Norwegian traffic by 50% (approximately 900,000 passengers).