Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) is in talks about launching flights to Egypt and Libya, Ryanair Holdings Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said without providing any further details.
The Irish LCC is focused on serving Europe and has a much narrower African and Middle-Eastern network compared to rivals Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) and easyJet (London Luton). While Ryanair's total capacity to the MENA region trumps its rivals at 93,663 weakly scheduled seats, the ch-aviation capacities module shows it is concentrated in Morocco (where Ryanair and Ryanair UK proffer 68,022 weekly seats, making the holding the second-largest carrier in the country after Royal Air Maroc (AT, Casablanca Mohamed V)) and Israel (17,892 seats). The Irish holding also serves Jordan.
In turn, Wizz Air serves Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates through its European AOCs, proffering 45,530 weekly scheduled seats to these markets. In addition, the Hungarian LCC is a JV partner in Wizz Air Abu Dhabi (5W, Abu Dhabi International), whose weekly scheduled capacity adds another 40,504 seats. easyJet serves Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia through its various AOCs, proffering 37,580 weekly seats.
While Egypt is well-served by both scheduled and charter carriers on European routes, Libya currently sees an extremely limited network to Europe. The only carrier operating scheduled flights from Misurata to Malta International is MedSky Airways, a virtual carrier currently chartering an A320-200 from Malta MedAir (MT, Malta International) for its 2x weekly services. While all Libya-certified carriers are currently banned from the EU on safety grounds, there is no prohibition on services to Libya by EU-certified operators.
