Italy the focus for much of Ryanair and easyJet’s expansion in last 12 months; Spanish flights up over 20%

Ireland remains a jealously guarded fortress market for Ryanair…and despite its many resorts Greece also remains a ‘golden harp’-free zone (perhaps in deference to big easyJet shareholder and founder, Cypriot-born Sir Stellios Haji-Ioannou). He’ll also presumably be pleased by the cautious level of easyJet route launches this year in contrast to Ryanair, which now has significant dominance in Germany…while easyJet is likewise the biggest in France.

A year ago anna.aero looked at easyJet and Ryanair’s route networks by country. Since then Ryanair has continued to grow at a significant rate while easyJet has been rather more cautious. This week sees a final surge of new route activity from Ryanair before a summer lull. Its next new routes do not begin until September. Similarly, easyJet is launching a handful of new routes between now and the beginning of August. An analysis has therefore been undertaken on the networks of the two airlines as of the beginning of August.

Source: OAG Max Online for w/c 3 August 2009

The UK remains the biggest market for both airlines, though Italy has now overtaken Spain as Ryanair’s second biggest country market. Ireland and Germany make up the remainder of Ryanair’s top five. For easyJet, Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland complete the airline’s top five market list. Overall departures for the two airlines combined in the UK are down 5.4%, up almost 21% in Spain, up 47% in Italy and up 9% in both France and Germany compared with a year go.

Both airlines still have some ‘monopoly’ markets

easyJet, despite various attempts, currently has no presence in the Irish market. It did operate to Cork, Knock and Shannon (from London Gatwick) during 2005-06 but a vigorous response from Ryanair resulted in the airline reallocating capacity elsewhere.

Source: OAG Max Online for July 2008

Ryanair has lost its ‘monopoly’ in Finland and Sweden since easyJet has now begun services to Helsinki (from London Gatwick) and Stockholm Arlanda (from Geneva and Milan Malpensa). However, easyJet has left the Latvian market. Ryanair therefore has no competition from easyJet in Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Slovakia.

easyJet also has some ‘monopoly’ markets in which Ryanair is absent. Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece and Slovenia were existing easyJet markets with no Ryanair presence but the acquisition of GB Airways in 2007 added Cyprus, Egypt, Gibraltar and Turkey to easyJet’s markets that still do not yet include Ryanair.

Both airlines taking advantage of conditions in Italy

This August, Ryanair will be operating 806 routes across Europe and North Africa compared with 406 by easyJet. Analysis of how frequencies have changed by country reveals the key markets that the airlines have been targeting for growth.

	easyJet	Ryanair
Additional weekly frequencies	3 (+0.0%)	1,314 (+17.2%)
Top 5 countries (change in total weekly frequencies)	1. Italy +279	1. Italy +505
	2. Portugal +53	2. Spain +482
	3. France +44	3. Germany +178
	4. Greece +36	4. France +67
	5. Croatia +29	5. Belgium +60
Bottom 5 countries (change in total weekly frequencies)	1. UK -303	1. Ireland -117
	2. Germany -90	2. Hungary -16
	3. Spain -33	3. Austria -7
	4. Netherlands -30	4. Sweden -6
	5. Poland -26	5. Switzerland -5
Source: OAG Max Online for w/c 3 August 2009 and w/c 31 June 2008

Both airlines have added most new capacity in Italy, as Alitalia has contracted and opportunities have arisen. Both airlines have reduced capacity most in their home markets; Ryanair in Ireland (down 12.0%) and easyJet in the UK (down 9.5%).

Opportunities for growth outside the EU?

The biggest changes in percentage terms when looking at the two airlines combined have come from Croatia (+226%), Turkey (+89%), Morocco (+70%) and Italy (+47%), demonstrating that non-EU countries still offer opportunities for significant market growth. The steepest declines have been seen in Hungary (-25.4%), Czech Republic (-17.6%), Ireland (-12.0%) and Netherlands (-11.6%). Some of this can be attributed to new taxes (in Ireland and Netherlands), and rapid growth in developing markets leading to market maturity in the case of Budapest and Prague. Flights to Poland, which had been growing at a phenomenal rate in recent years, are virtually unchanged versus a year ago.

Sweet 16: The number of easyJet routes now serving Lyon after the launch of new routes to Ibiza, Olbia and Pisa this week. Also pictured, François Bacchetta, regional general manager, (France & Southern Europe) celebrates the 1st anniversary (in April) of easyJet’s Lyon base. (Copyright: JF Marin / Aéroports de Lyon). easyJet launched seven new routes this week, six of which involved French airports. See new route.