IRISH LOW-COST operator Ryanair is linking its successful Dublin-Glasgow Prestwick flights into a new schedule from Prestwick to London Stansted, to be flown four times daily from 26 October.
The move brings to three the number of scheduled destinations served from Prestwick - in its heyday Scotland's premier airport, but long considered the poor relation to Glasgow.
Ryanair, which operates scheduled and charter services from Ireland to the UK and Munich in Germany, opened the Prestwick-Dublin connection earlier this year and reports good load factors.
With a highest fully flexible round-trip fare of £99, compared to an equivalent London-Glasgow fare of £234 charged by British Airways, British Midland and Air UK, Ryanair has thrown down the gauntlet to its competitors.
The lowest return fare is just £59 - against £74 offered by all three competitors - and will be available on more than 15,000 seats a month. In addition, Ryanair expects that the deal struck with Scotrail, which will give its passengers free travel to any Scotrail destination via Glasgow Central will negate any perceived disadvantages of using Prestwick, rather than Glasgow.
The new no-frills service, which will triple the number of flights between Stansted and Glasgow, will be operated by GB Airways with 130-seat Boeing 737-200As, until Ryanair UK (set up to operate domestic services within the UK) receives its own Air Operators' Certificate.
There are 28 daily connections between London and Glasgow, all of them operated into the main Glasgow Airport.
Source: Flight International
