@SeanM1997

Following the loss of Ryanair in early 2021 and the travel restrictions imposed during the COVID-19, City of Derry Airport looked to be suffering. It had lost its two busiest routes (Edinburgh and Liverpool), with charter flights to Palma de Mallorca cancelled for the summer due to uncertainties in travel restrictions. This left the airport with just one airline (Loganair) and two routes - Glasgow and London Stansted for 2021. However, the airport has turned its fortunes around and have recently announced a series of new routes and increased frequencies, with Loganair today announcing a new City of Derry to Edinburgh route from May 2022. In March, Loganair announced a third route to Liverpool, with four weekly flights, increasing to seven weekly in late June and were further increased to nine weekly flights in peak summer. Whilst this was less seats than offered under Ryanair, it did involve more flights and were more attractive to those wanting to be flexible with their travel. Additi

Over the past few weeks, a number of Ryanair UK routes have been added from London Stansted and Manchester across Europe and North Africa. And now, the airline is re-entering the UK domestic market, with Ryanair launching flights between Manchester and City of Derry from 1 December 2021. Ryanair vacated the UK domestic market due to the UK Civil Aviation Authority due to regulatory changes post Brexit (1). This has meant UK registered aircraft are required for domestic and non-EU routes. This was a blow for many airports - especially City of Derry, where Ryanair had flights to Edinburgh and Liverpool. Loganair stepped in and replaced Ryanair at City of Derry, adding a Liverpool route and increasing its existing Glasgow flights, whilst Aer Lingus Regional and easyJet provided links between city pairs which have lost their Ryanair services. Ryanair now have 2 UK bases with UK registered planes - London Stansted and Manchester. With a Public Service Obligation between City of Derry and Lo

Doncaster/Sheffield has been one of the UK's fastest growing airports, growing from c.690,000 in 2013 to over 1.4m in 2019. The airport has seen TUI Airways grow its existing base at the airport and Wizz Air announce a two aircraft base, showing intent for the airport to have its busiest year yet in 2022. However, one airline is missing from the airport - Ryanair. Could the Irish low cost carrier return to the Yorkshire airport? Doncaster/Sheffield is currently the 6th busiest airport in the UK without a Ryanair presence - behind London Heathrow, London City, Belfast City, Southampton and Jersey. London Heathrow is a premium airport focusing predominately on hub and spoke routes and is not attractive to low cost carriers due to high fees and limited slots. The other 4 airports all have constrained runways, limiting or prohibiting the use of the Boeing 737 aircraft, the aircraft which Ryanair use. Therefore, of all the UK airports which Ryanair could next enter - Doncaster/Sheffield