Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) is planning to dramatically expand its German presence with the longterm aim of establishing a presence at at least twenty central German airports the budget carrier's Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs, has said.
"We will come to all your large airports except Frankfurt International," he was quoted by the Wirtschaftswoche business journal.
Among the airports in the LCC's immediate plans is Munich where, Jacobs said, preliminary talks have already been held with operator Flughafen München GmbH over the possible establishment of a base. Potential operations could see "double-digit" flight frequencies.
"We just recently held talks in Munich and the only thing really missing is suitable take-off slots," he said.
Ryanair currently serves Munich via its secondary airfield, Memmingen.
The move is more bad news for Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) which has struggled against Ryanair, easyJet (London Luton) and Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) in the battle for the European regional market. In a bid to reclaim lost business, the German carrier has unveiled plans to develop its Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf) subsidiary into a budget operation with initial bases to focus on Germany, Switzerland, and Austria before expanding further afield.
