Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) has announced it would open bases at Marseilles and Bordeaux Mérignac as of March 2019. The decision marks the return of the low-cost carrier to stationing its B737-800s in France, where it has not had any bases since early 2011.
Ryanair said that it would base two B737-800 at each of the airports.
Out of Bordeaux, the carrier will launch 16 new routes, namely to: Bari (2x weekly), Cologne/Bonn (3x weekly), Copenhagen Kastrup (3x weekly), Dublin International (2x weekly), Fes Saïss (2x weekly), Kraków John Paul II International (2x weekly), Manchester International (2x weekly), Marrakech (2x weekly), Marseilles (7x weekly), Mykonos (1x weekly), Nantes (4x weekly), Naples Capodichino (2x weekly), Ouarzazate (2x weekly), Tangiers (2x weekly), Valencia Manises (2x weekly), and Venice Treviso (3x weekly). According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the LCC already operates 29 weekly departures out of Bordeaux to eight destinations.
In turn, Ryanair will launch 11 new routes from Marseilles, namely to: Agadir Al Massira (2x weekly), Alicante (2x weekly), Bologna (3x weekly), Bordeaux (7x weekly), Bucharest Henri Coanda (2x weekly), Budapest (2x weekly), Manchester (2x weekly), Naples (2x weekly), Ouarzazate (2x weekly), Prague Václav Havel (2x weekly), and Warsaw Modlin (2x weekly). The LCC already operates 120 weekly departures out of Marseilles to a total of 30 destinations.
The carrier previously closed its base at Marseilles, at that time already the last one in France, in early 2011 due to a legal conflict with the French authorities regarding employment terms. At that time, France demanded that all Ryanair's staff in France be employed under the French law, with all due taxes and social contributions payable locally. The LCC employed staff through its Irish subsidiaries and challenged the French demands. Ultimately, the European Court of Justice sided with Ryanair, saying that France should have accepted Irish contracts. However, the court also said that airlines' employees should be employed under the local law in the place where they work.
Currently, besides Marseilles, the only other French airport at which Ryanair maintains a sizeable presence is Paris Beauvais with 183 weekly departures.
Ryanair will now employ workers under the French law and tax them locally.
Chief Marketing Officer Kenny Jacobs said that Ryanair was currently looking at three more French cities for possible bases.
