Ryanair’s claim that there will be a mass exodus from Southampton Airport is entirely true. However, the exodus will be satisfied Flybe passengers heading off from the central southern airport on their summer holidays.

The suggestion that Flybe passengers would be utilising Ryanair services following yesterday’s bungled attempt at a publicity stunt at Southampton Airport, couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the latest publicly available CAA figures show that Ryanair’s traffic on the Bournemouth-Dublin route is down 19%, since the start of Flybe’s Dublin service from Southampton.

Mike Rutter, Flybe’s Sales & Marketing Director, said: “The success of Flybe’s low fare services from Southampton and in particular the service to Dublin, has obviously had an impact on Ryanair’s services out of Bournemouth and the Irish airline is resorting to desperate measures in an attempt to reclaim its market share.

Annette McGarry of Ryanair’s promotions team, really should get her facts right. In the last month we have offered free travel from Southampton to Dublin as well as fares from as little as £10. Our pricing to Dublin has been as competitive as Ryanair’s and with load factors averaging more than 80%, our passengers are obviously delighted to travel from their local airport.

Ms. McGarry was right on one count however – and our statistics prove the point – there really is no contest!”

Flybe operates 12 routes from Southampton – Geneva, Milan (Bergamo) Malaga, Murcia, Toulouse, Alicante, Ibiza, Bergerac, Jersey, Guernsey, Belfast City and Dublin. Passengers can book online at www.flybe.com, by calling reservations on 08705 676 676 or by visiting travel agents.

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