Ryanair To Cut More German Flights

EI-EMR, originally uploaded by Colins plane pics.

Ryanair is planning to further scale down its German operations next year in response to a planned air passenger tax, its chief executive said.

Details on cuts to the 2011 summer schedule affecting flights at Niederrhein, Bremen and Berlin airports would be announced before Christmas, CEO Michael O'Leary told a press conference in Berlin.

Ryanair said last month that it would cancel flights on nine routes from Hahn airport, its largest German base.

The initial cutbacks would reduce the number of passengers Europe's biggest low-cost carrier transports from Hahn by almost a quarter to 2.9 million and affect about 1,000 jobs, Ryanair's deputy chief said at the time.

The German government, battling to find new ways of closing its budget gap, has announced plans to raise EUR€1 billion (USD$1.4 billion) a year by taxing air passengers between EUR€8 and EUR€45 per flight.

German airlines' association BDF has said it expects 10,000 jobs to shift abroad and German passenger volumes to drop by 5 million per year as a result of the tax.