Speaking at the launch of new routes for London, Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said if prime minister Theresa May sticks to her current timetable for leaving the EU, she will trigger the two-year process towards the end of March.
However, with airlines being forced to plan route development a year ahead of launch, he argued the industry will need to be well briefed in what will happen in 12 months’ time.
Most importantly of all will be whether or not the government is able to negotiate the UK’s remaining in the EU’s open skies arrangement or whether or not a series of bilateral agreements will need to be arranged.
Jacobs said: “There isn’t a plan but we need to see the arrangements. We want to see open skies continue.
“We are now a year away from needing to know what will happen with open skies. If we don’t know by this time next year what are airlines going to do?”
In the meantime, Jacobs predicted the forthcoming summer will see prices remain low thanks to predicted overcapacity in Europe as the number of seats grows by 6% compared to a 3% predicted increase in demand.
This will be further compounded by airlines continuing to take advantage of last year’s low oil prices – Jacobs said Ryanair is currently hedged at 85% at $49 a barrel.
He added: “It is going to be another year of soft fares which is great now for our customers.”
Many of the soft fares will be available for the forthcoming winter season which will see the airline run its largest programme out of London.
Stansted will see the introduction of three new routes to Aalborg, Oradea and Pardubice while summer services to Cagliari, Copenhagen, Naples, Nice and Oslo Torp and Ponta Delgada will be extended into the winter.
A further 13 Stansted routes will also see extra frequencies which, once combined with Ryanair’s Gatwick and Luton programmes, will give the airline its biggest winter season yet.
