The Empire Weblog

On the one hand, it's nice to hear that Dresden Airport at last starts thinking of becoming more attractive and more interesting, for foreign visitors in particular. On the other hand, it is quite disappointing to hear of the prejudices Dresden Airports speaks out against Ryanair.

I myself have been flying regularly with Ryanair the route Berlin - London for now over one year and I cannot complain in any way. The price/performance ratio is quite good: I cannot really remember one flight I took which was delayed. On the contrary, almost each flight is between ten and fifteen minutes ahead of scheduled time. As a matter of fact, my last flight from Erfurt (last Saturday, 03/27/2004) was even thirty minutes earlier.

It's not necessary to offer the best service on board for flights of such a short duration (about 90 minutes to less than three hours) which Ryanair usually services. However, Ryanair's passenger's main concern is to travel from A to B in a quick and safe way. For this, Ryanair economize a few things which are not absolutely necessary for such a shuttle service. Amongst other things, this is one of many reasons why Ryanair can offer their customers such low ticket fares that they are famous for.
Thus, it is quite natural that Ryanair demands lower airport charges. After all, Ryanair uses only a split of the airport's service offer which other airlines often completely use. That's why there also has to be a difference in the charges the airlines have to pay. If AIR Berlin claim, that Ryanair wants to get payed 4,50 EUR for each passenger in Frankfurt/Hahn, then it is formulated quite unfair. All that Ryaniar wants is to pay 4,50 EUR less per passenger. Rightly!

Moreover, the comparision with London Heathrow which is mentioned in article is only an attempt to change the subject of the original topic. I don't really believe that there is or will be any Low Fare Airline which flies to London Heathrow. For this, other London airports have specialized for Low Fare Airlines, e.g. London Stansted or London Luton.

For me personally, it is quite frustrating to see with which blindness Dresden Airports acts. Business methods which have proven themselves elsewhere are ignored by pure pride and extreme short-sightedness. Synergies which propably would arise through the increasing number of passengers are just ignored. It seems to me, that Dresden Airport's main concern is making profit as much as possible. Offering good service and attractive routes for local as well as for foreign customers is obviously not on their agenda!

So, I will keep travelling from Berlin or Erfurt because it's still much cheaper in spite of the additional cost of the train tickets.

Dresden Airport is and stays unattractive for many commuters. It is regrettably almost a pure holiday airport.
Moreover, customer service is not the best as you would expect.
Two inquiries (at the service desk and on the phone) for possible new direct routes to London with Low Fare Airlines have been refused. In both cases I didn't mention Ryanair, but each of the women pointed to the supposed "bad" business methods of Ryanair. In the case of my call, the woman just hung up after she recommended that I write to the management.

For me there is still the unanswered question: why Ryanair is NOT taken into account for further negotiations about new routes from/to Dresden. Statements like "Ryanair is flimsy" shouldn't be accepted.

Ryanair have been operating now for over fifteen years. Much longer than Dresden Airport exists in the today's known form. I don't think there is any discussion which of these businesses are currently experiencing more financial problems. That's why sweeping statements as the one from Mr. Huppe are not acceptable nor tolerable.

I will stay tuned and watch the ongoing story. I still have a small hope, Dresden Airport will become sensible and realistic!

Check out this press release of Dresden Airport from 2002: Negotiations with Low Cost Carriers

What an arrogance already in those days!