Ryanair retaliates against Norway air tax

Ryanair is to close its main base in Norway and cut half of its flights to the Nordic country in retaliation at Oslo’s decision to introduce a tax on air travel. The airline announced its decision to close its base at Oslo Rygge — which in turn is likely to shut down the airport itself — on the day that Norway introduced the tax of NKr80 ($9.60) a passenger for international flights and NKr88 for domestic journeys. Ryanair will start flying to London and Vilnius daily from Oslo’s main Gardermoen airport and move some flights to Torp, an airport 75 minutes south-west of the capital, but 16 routes in all will be cancelled, reducing Ryanair’s flights by a half to Norway. <br/>Norway and Ryanair have been in a stand-off for some time over issues ranging from labour conditions and pay to the introduction of the tax. Erna Solberg, Norway’s centre-right prime minister, said last week: “This government will not be blackmailed by Ryanair.” David O’Brien, Ryanair’s CCO, called the introduction of the tax illogical and unfair because it penalised the Irish airline more than local rivals SAS and Norwegian Air Shuttle, which often had higher fares. Both SAS and Norwegian had also criticised the tax. He deflected criticism from the Norwegian government that Ryanair was merely using the tax as cover to close down its Rygge base. “Call our bluff . . . I want to make it clear: the only reason we are closing it down is the new tax,” he said, adding that Ryanair would reopen the base if the tax was withdrawn. Ryanair claimed Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands had all scrapped similar taxes. <br/>