Ryanair has announced it is to close nine out of ten routes currently flying out of Manchester airport.

Budget airline Ryanair has announced it is to close or switch nine out of the ten routes currently operating out of Manchester Airport.

The airline announced yesterday (17 August) that from 1 October, Ryanair will either close the routes or switch them to East Midlands, Leeds Bradford and Liverpool airports.

Ryanair blames the decision on Manchester Airport’s refusal to lower  airport charges in light of the ongoing recession. The move will result in the loss of 44 flights from Manchester weekly, up to 600,000 passengers per year and up to 600 local jobs – a figure that the airport has disputed.

A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “Notwithstanding all of our investment in Manchester Airport including during the current recession, we don’t believe that charges as low as £3 per passenger are unreasonable. Clearly, Ryanair do and that’s regrettable.

“We’ve consistently cut our charges for the last 15 years even when faced with increased costs such as security. Passengers will still be able to travel directly to the majority of the destinations affected by choosing other airlines.”

Ryanair currently flies to Barcelona (Girona), Bremen, Brussels (Charleroi), Cagliari, Düsseldorf (Weeze), Frankfurt (Hahn), Marseille, Milan (Bergamo) and Shannon from Manchester Airport.

Passengers who have already booked Ryanair tickets leaving Manchester on or after 1 October will be emailed directly and will be provided with either a full refund or an alternative flight.

Stephen McNamara of Ryanair said: “Ryanair will continue to grow at low cost airports which work with us to deliver the low fares required to keep passengers flying during this recession. Ryanair apologises to passengers affected by these cancelations.”