Ryanair to shutdown one of its Norway bases

Oslo / AFP

Irish no-frills airline Ryanair announced on Wednesday it will shut down one of its Norway bases, condemning to closure an airport in the Oslo region, in protest against a disputed new tax.
“The Oslo base will close in October,” Ryanair’s chief commercial officer David O’Brien told reporters as an 80 Norwegian kroner ($10, nine-euro) passenger tax came into force.
The decision means 16 routes will be cancelled and the reduction of Ryanair’s traffic in Norway by 50 percent, the company said in a statement.
Should Ryanair stop operations in Oslo Rygge airport, which is located some 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the capital, it too will be shut down.
Airport managers had warned they would have to shut down Rygge should Ryanair leave, because the low cost operator runs the bulk of flights in and out.
Should that happen, 1,000 people would be left jobless, they said.
“There is still an opportunity. If the tax is scrapped … in fact we won’t close the base and we will reopen it depending on when these decisions are made,” O’Brien said.
The Norwegian government has rejected Ryanair’s demands.
“I won’t let my choices be dictated by Ryanair,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg has said.
Ryanair’s remaining operations will be moved to another privately-run airport named Torp Sandefjord some 90 kilometres southwest of Oslo, O’Brien said.
He meanwhile announced the opening of a new route between Gardermoen, Oslo’s international airport, and London Stansted.