Ryanair to Cyprus
 

Sorry if this is a bit OT but I know there are a lot of Cyprus travellers on the board.

According to today's Cyprus Mail, Ryanair are to announce new routes to Cyprus later today. This comes at a time when BA have recently reduced their frequency to the island (PFO) and suspended their PFO winter schedule. They are to be paid subsidies by the CTO for landing fees etc.

"AFTER MORE than three years of on-off discussions, and several weeks of hard negotiating, low-cost airline Ryanair is finally set to start operating routes out of Cyprus from November, using the island as part of its strategy to offer flights to Israel and the Middle East". - Cyprus Mail

I had the misfortune of going EZY to PFO in February this year. Even in 1A/B on the A320 it was torture. I can't even imagine how much worse it would be on Ryanair.

According to Air Transport Intelligence flights will be from Brussels Charleroi though.

As somebody once said to me, flying Ryanair is like Googling 'Goatse', you only do it once....

***NB please don't Google 'Goatse'. You have been warned***

I agree - 4 or 5 hours on Ryanair would not be my idea of fun, but I guess they've worked out it can pay. Especially as a staging post to Israel/Middle East. Fares eastwards from Cyprus (Lebanon, Jordan, UAE etc.) are horrendously expensive for such short journeys.

What's the maximum number of hours before airlines are obliged to serve food? I'm just wondering what sort of offering FR would have.

Doubtless they'd try and get out of it anyway. Monarch, I notice, come round offering sandwiches for sale just before serving the hot in-flight meals.

On your first point I doubt there is a limit as Air Asia has optional meals to the far east from London.

On the second, I did a charter BMI flight from Kefallonia last year to Heathrow and they did a buy on board sweet (junk food) run before serving the hot meal included in the ticket. I think a few people fell for it!!

I am a bit surprised at this as it seems to contradict of their strategy of being a point-to-point airline, not using hubs for onward travel. I can't imagine them offering to book your luggage all the way through to your destination as they seem to be putting people off booking any luggage at all. Does this means that their flights could potentially be delayed waiting for an inbound flight or will the gaps between flights be so great that it would take forever to get to the Middle East? And if flying from London would I have to fly to Brussels and then to Cyprus and then to the Middle East? All on Ryanair? I don't think so.

I guess we'll have to wait for the official announcement but my understanding is that the CTO "believe" they're getting flights direct from the UK, not Belgium. (UK is their major market). Maybe they didn't ask Ryanair that question.:o

Crikey. I really can see FR flying to DXB (SJJ), MCT (RKT). Perhaps SLL too.

Now that you've said 'don't', everyone would! :D
I have already had that "misfortune" once, and I'm not doing it again. However, I would not be flying Ryanair even once, so I could say flying Ryanair would be worse than Googling 'Goatse'.

While I find some of the MO'L's comments somewhat amusing because they are so appalling, I still do not wish to contribute to his coffers.

I thought that it was quite funny to be honest. :D

I must admit I quite like O'Leary, although flying Ryanair isn't an experience I want to repeat unless absolutely necessary.

He was very entertaining on Panorama.

That said, he makes me realise why I'm glad I'm not part of the traditional 'corporate world'....

Well, I'd be pretty upset if ATI got it wrong. No official announcement yet on the FR site.

By the way I don't believe they would run a connecting hub at LCA. That would go entirely against their whole business philosophy. They may want to set a base at LCA, alongside the 17 or so bases they already have in Europe, but if you want to connect it's your problem.

BlackBerryAddict: You were right. Initial service is only from Brussels to Larnaca and starts early in November. CTO have said that a further route will be announced very soon. I can't see there being much demand for this, as most Cyprus visitors (who are likely to use LCC) are from UK and the former Soviet Union.