Ryanair discontinue flights from Paphos to Athens

[graham43]

I am both surprised and disappointed to learn that Ryanair will soon be discontinuing flights from Paphos to Athens which means that there will no longer be any direct flights to Athens from Paphos. My understanding is that this decision has been made because of the new Ryanair service to Telaviv. I would have thought that there is far more demand for travel from Paphos to Athens for business, family connections, study and tourism and also as the hub for onward flights to various Greek islands and elsewhere in Europe than to Israel. The Ryanair flights to and from Athens have been generally full whenever I've used them and have operated twice daily. It seems a rather strange decision to discontinue them completely from Paphos. Hopefully another airline will 'pick up the slack' otherwise a significant number of people will be travelling to Larnaca in order to fly to Athens in the future.

Graham

[Mike J]

Would imagine it is to do with airport charges at Athens. Last year they expressed their unhappiness with them " Mr. O’Brien made reference to Ryanair’s relatively low passenger volume and “downgraded” performance at Athens Airport compared to other European airports, which he said was due to the high charges of AIA. He said Athens Airport has tremendous potential and that if airport taxes and fees were reduced, Ryanair could increase passenger traffic to the Greek capital by 10 million a year, which would translate to some three billion euros in tourism revenue for Greece."
Ryanair are happy to walk away from airports that either increase or fail to lower fees as many have learnt to their cost over the years. I have no idea of their load factor but would imagine Larnaca is a better catchment area ( Nicosia and Limassol ) for a profitable route and Aegean provide plenty of daily capacity complemented by the like Emirates. Full flights are unfortunately no indication of a profitable service in the airline world.

Cheers

Mike

[Kili01]

No it may be because Ryanair is starting a new route to Israel.perhaps that will be more lucrative?

Dee

[tonee]

And what a nightmare for us.Have family coming over from USA,decided to meet up in Athens in June for a couple of days(June) then on to Paphos.Booked and paid flights with Ryanair end of October,they contacted me December to tell me flights cancelled and would refund me.
Then the fun began...Flights £745....Refund £660.Dealing with Ryanair is like banging your head against a wall,they owe me £85.
You cannot reply to any email they send you,my credit card company are now dealing with it.
I emailed Hermes regarding PFO to Athens and they told me to contact them mid March when the summer schedules will be released.

[Yioula]

Israelis had Banks and homes in Limassol 25/30 years ago before the Russians took over.
O'Brien always has a nose for new opportunities.........it's his way or no way......

[Aargent]

I suspect that it may just be a tactic to get a reduction in charges for Ryanair in Athens. O'Brian is a very sharp cookie and suggests some strange things [ remember paying for toilets ] but he usually comes out in his favour. - watch this space !

[OhSusana]

Anybody heard of any replacement on this route? eg. by Aegean or? ....
I've often flown from Athens. This is a real pain.
Ryanair used to fly every day I believe. And there are far fewer connections to Thessalonika - which route I believe they still retain (to PFO).