Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – The Irishmen consider to build their technical base in Jasionka but they have one condition – they want their operational base to be located in Modlin, a regional airport the Polish authorities still haven’t started to build.
One of the world’s biggest low-cost carriers is postponing its decision to build its technical base in Jasionka, near Rzeszow. To a big extent, the decision depends on the regional airport in Modlin. According to unofficial sources, it is one of the main conditions in the negotiations.
“The Irishmen proposed something for something. They will choose Jasionka for their technical base if they have the guarantee that the Modlin airport is launched soon. They would not only fly from this airport but build their operational base for several airplanes”, “PB” source engaged with the negotiations with Ryanair said.
“PB” sources connected with the carrier confirmed the news.
“I deny it. Since we entered Poland, we have been repeating that it is necessary to build an airport for low-cost carriers near Warsaw. We have never talked about a specific location. In negotiations, we have never made the two decisions connected with each other”, Tomasz Kulakowski responsible for Ryanair’s sales and marketing in Central Europe said.
“This would be a good blackmail. If the local authorities are unable to influence the right people to build the airport in Modlin, maybe a strong negotiator will do this”, Tomasz Dziedzic from the Institute of Tourism commented.
In his opinion, Rynair will not implement its plans unless it strongly enters the capital.
“They will have problems with transporting 1.6m people this year. They were talking about 10m in the future. I’m surprised that they have decided to offer services from Okecie Warsaw airport at such a small scale”, Tomasz Dziedzic said.
Meanwhile, the upcoming elections for the local authorities are not making things easier, especially that several towns fight to for the regional airport. Polish negotiators hope that Ryanair will focus on the attempt to acquire Airlingus. Latvia competes with Poland to win Ryanair’s project.