Ryanair ‘blames’ Scottish Government over cut to Majorca winter service
POLITICAL EDITOR
BUDGET airline Ryanair is cutting winter flights to Majorca for commercial reasons, pointing the finger at the Scottish Government for failing to cut air passenger duty. Ryanair said the service that ran last year from Edinburgh was being scrapped from October 26.
The move came after the Irish airline warned it would have to halt flights from the UK for “weeks or months” if Prime Minister Theresa May did not seal an early bilateral Brexit deal on international aviation.
The Majorca Daily Bulletin, a news organisation for English-speaking residents in the Balearic Islands, reported that Ryanair blamed the Scottish Government for the withdrawal of direct flights to Majorca.
The Bulletin carried a statement from Ryanair calling on the government to abolish air passenger duty (APD), which it reported as the airline “pointing the finger very much at the Scottish Government”.
Ryanair was reported to have said: “Our Edinburgh-Palma route will not operate this winter for commercial reasons, as we continually review each of our 1,800 routes. However, we continue to offer the lowest fares to/from Edinburgh with 38 routes to choose from.
“Air passenger duty continues to be a hindrance to Scotland, and we welcome the Scottish Parliament Finance Committee’s recent support for the government’s plan to halve APD.
“We now call on the Scottish Government to fully abolish APD, which would enable Ryanair to base more aircraft in Scotland, add even more routes and create thousands of jobs.”
Last night, a Scottish Government spokesperson said that ministers were committed to abolishing APD when the change was affordable.
The government spokesperson said: “We agree that air passenger duty acts as a barrier to Scotland’s ability to secure new direct international services and maintain existing ones.
“Our plan to cut air departure tax by 50 per cent by the end of the parliament, and then abolish it when public