Ryanair on development plans in Poland. “There will definitely be a few news”

Alicja Miłosz, “Wprost”: We meet at such a moment of the year, where we can start summarizing the holidays, and at the same time look at the upcoming plans for fall and winter. Where are the Poles most often traveled with Ryanair this summer, which directions turned out to be a hit? Are you satisfied with the results?

Alicja Wójcik-Gołębiowska, Head of Communications for Cee Baltics in Ryanair: We are satisfied with the first month of vacation. Poles, of course, traditionally choose warm places in the summer – we see great interest above all with our Spanish directions, but also connections to Italy, especially to cities in the south of this country. Our novelties, such as Lamezia Terme from Krakow or Reggio di Calabria from Katowice, are popular.

Poles really like to travel to Spanish and Greek islands, as well as to Italian Sardinia or Sicily. Cyprus is constantly very much popular, and since last season the real gem of Europe – Malta. Bulgaria also returns to favor.

We also see the trend of selecting several shorter trips instead of one longer from the previous year. Our tourists are happy to discover places where they were not before.

On the other hand, are there directions where Poles prefer to go later? Those that did not quite work in the summer season?

We don’t have such directions from Poland. Poles are a specific group of passengers who travel absolutely everywhere where new routes appear. What is most important to them is a direct connection with the airport closest to them.

For example, we see great interest in the merger of Gdańsk-Bratysław, both from Slovak and from the Polish side. This is the only such connection from Poland to the capital of Slovakia and you can see that it enjoys growing popularity. Bratislava is still undiscovered by us and even a little forgotten, and has a lot to offer.

On the occasion of a summary of summer, it is difficult not to mention what bothers the passengers during the high season. Of course, we are talking about strikes – What does it look like this season? On which routes can Ryanair expect delays and difficulties?

Unfortunately, when it comes to strikes, summer does not spoil us. We already have a few hard days behind us and I’m afraid that they will also occur in August.

We try to inform all passengers on an ongoing basis that this misfortune can affect. Of course, the biggest challenge is the strikes of French flight controllers, which cause regular difficulties and delays. This is not even about strictly French directions, but even flights to Spain, Great Britain, Ireland or Portugal – all those on which aircraft must enter the space over the French sky.

The second problem is the general deficiencies of air traffic services throughout Europe. This month, the most affected by delays were airports in France – in July almost 7 million passengers. Spanish (almost 4 million passengers) was another, followed by Germany, Great Britain and Greece.

We also have information about the best -working controllers in Europe, including employees from Ireland, Slovakia, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. As for Polish controllers, it’s not bad either.

In recent months there have also been many significant changes for travelers. In July, Ryanair surprised tourists by signing a new agreement with Modlin, in which it will double the number of aircraft. You have announced 25 new routes from this airport, some of which, such as Athens, Sicily and Sardinia, are already known to passengers. We know that the connections that have been canceled will come back, but is there a chance for completely new directions?

We signed a six -year contract with Modlin airport, which includes a very strong increase from next summer and then these 25 new directions will appear. However, we have some surprises for this winter. Some of them are in the system, but I can’t talk about everyone yet. I will not hide that there is among them, among others connection Warsaw Modlin-Sofia.

How will coexistence take place at one airport with Your competition, which has recently announced the entrance to Modlin?

We have never had a problem with the competition in Modlin. If only the Modlin airport quickly expands the infrastructure, then there is absolutely a place for everyone.

In Chopin, you have recently announced new routes – To Porto, Leeds and Seville. Are there any surprises in the case of this airport, or should Warsaw residents think about traveling from Modlin?

In Chopin we already have a quite rich offer, looking at the fact that we returned there relatively recently. I still can’t talk about full plans, but I think it’s worth observing our system, because a few surprises for the residents of the capital may appear.

Poland remains the most important market for Ryanair when it comes to the region of Central and Eastern Europe and one of the key markets in general. We grow here very quickly and plan to double our presence in the next few years. We are currently finalizing the winter net. There will definitely be several extensions from the summer season and a few news that we will soon announce – it will be a very good winter for passengers from Poland. At the end of summer, at the beginning of September, we will definitely have a little more to say in this topic.

A lot also depends on the geopolitical situation and whether some directions we had suspended will be restored in the near future – I’m talking about Israel and Jordan. These are places that traditionally enjoyed great interest in the winter season, and at the moment their development is suspended. We also want to be present in Morocco, offer even more connections from Poland.

Which Polish regional ports are in Ryanair’s crosshairs? Where do you see the greatest potential?

We certainly operate in Bydgoszcz. We also started the development of the Olsztyn-Mazury airport by opening a new route to Germany to the summer season. We also work very well with airports in Wrocław, Poznań, Krakow and Katowice. Rzeszów and Lublin also have very high potential that we want to use.

Does Ryanair plan more alpine directions from Poland this winter season, or are you focusing on an extension of holidays?

Poles generally look for heat and we see it after our reservation systems. As for skiing – we will be able to say more at the end of the year, when passengers will look for winter directions. We observe trends and look at slightly different directions, more unusual. It is possible that they will soon appear in our offer from Poland.

For example, we see that for financial reasons skiers throughout Europe are looking for such directions that are snowy, but also financially attractive. I was in Plovdiv this week. It is a city in southern Bulgaria, which is a very good point to discover the slopes. We do not offer connections from Poland yet, but in the winter season you will be able to fly there, among others from the Milan-Malpensa airport and ports in Great Britain.

From August 1, new hand luggage limits are in force. Have you managed to install stickers on sisers (luggage measures) at all airports?

Currently, on board as part of the so -called hand luggage, you can take a free of charge personal item with dimensions of 40x30x20 cm. Sizers are updated at the moment – the boxes will remain the same, but stickers with new dimensions will be placed on them. It has been implemented for several weeks and I think that in the near future it will be completely finalized. Of course, we work here with airports to do it as soon as possible, but it is really on our side.

The key is that the rules apply. Passengers can therefore be calm that if they take a 40x30x20 personal item, then these famous 5 cm will no longer be a reason for them to the headache.

Tourists are worried, however, that new luggage limits can cause more and more restrictive inspections and additional payments for overpayments that they do not want to incur.

We want passengers to take the baggage that they have as part of their offer. Unfortunately, it happens all the time that passengers are trying to take a cabin suitcase as a personal item or take two or three pieces of luggage with them when they paid only for one.

This, unfortunately, causes a big problem both at the Boarding stage and taking places on the plane, when you need to put these luggage in the right place on board. The limits result from the fact that we have a specific space that is available and if the luggage is too large, they will not fit. We have no joy that passengers take too much luggage with them and have to pay extra. This is simply a great difficulty for other passengers and for service. We want boardings to go smoothly and punctually.

If passengers refuse to pay the fee, they must be aware that they will not let them take this luggage on board – either it will stay on the airport or simply will not enter the plane. Neither the amount of luggage nor the fee for it is a secret. When we do the last check in front of our journey, information about what luggage we bought and what are the fees for an additional suitcase (which we can book during check -in) are very highly emphasized, both in the application and on the page.

A loud topic is the issue of commercials from the duty -free zone lately. Can passengers still bring them on board outside the permitted personal subject?

When it comes to Duty Free bags, nothing changes and at this point you can still take them to the plane.

Let’s talk about promotions, because it electrifies passengers the most. Recently You have launched the Ryanair Prime member program. Opinions on the Internet are divided for now – some tourists are not sure that it actually pays off. Is there interest in this offer and are there any improvements for members in the future?

It is still an extremely fresh program, launched just a few months ago and we listen to feedback from passengers all the time. It is possible that we will modify it depending on what their expectations will be.

Certainly it is an offer addressed to people who travel a lot – those who fly at least a few, several times a year. For them, this program is really very attractive because they have access to the discount and benefits package.

There will also be further instant sales, from which we are known. Here I can only encourage you to regularly visit our website and sign up for our newsletter, in which this information appears the fastest. There will definitely be a lot of promotion. Poles like to hunt for them because it encourages them to discover new directions.