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Up, up and away...for good

The flights between London Stansted and the airport near Angoulême in the Charente have come to an abrupt end. Ryanair have pulled out of the service with immediate effect, despite the fact that the five-year they signed with the airport authorities runs until 2012. How has this situation arisen on a new route that had already proved popular with passengers?

Essentially it’s been a row about money. Late in 2009 Ryanair demanded more money from the Angoulême airport authorities to continue the service, making it clear that if no more cash was put up, the flights would end. The authorities in the Charente, not unreasonably, said that they would abide by the terms of the existing contract and would not therefore hand over any more money for what are described as ‘marketing fees’.

 Indeed the head of the Charente conseil général (or department council) Michel Boutant went so far as to describe Ryanair’s behaviour as ‘blackmail’. Anyway, Ryanair said they were ‘disappointed’ at the reaction of the Charente authorities and their refusal to put up more money to keep open the service to Angoulême. And at the end of February they formally notified the airport authorities that they were ending the service, and thus there will no flights in 2010 or for 2011 and 2012 as envisaged in the contract. An angry Michel Boutant has meanwhile made it clear that the authorities in the Charente will now use Ryanair for breach of contract.

Of course, for people wishing to visit the Poitou-Charentes region there are still plenty of local airports to fly to – Poitiers, Limoges in the neighbouring Limousin, Tours and La Rochelle. There’s also the bigger airport at Bordeaux. But many in the Charente consider it a shame that the Angoulême flights have stopped so soon. However the Charente airport is in talks with other airlines – so watch this space!