Oslo Rygge base closure & 16 route cancellations

Ryanair today (1 Jun) confirmed that (from 29 October) it will be forced to close its Oslo Rygge base and reduce its Norwegian traffic by 50% after the Norwegian Government confirmed the introduction of a new nationwide air passenger tax.

The Norwegian Government today introduced an 80 NOK tax on all departing passengers, and as a result, Ryanair is going to:

• Close its Oslo Rygge base from 29 Oct 2016
• Cancel 16 routes
• Reduce its Norwegian traffic by 50% (-900,000 passengers)
• Move 4 aircraft & Ryanair jobs out of Norway to other Ryanair bases
• Switch its London Stansted & Vilnius routes to Oslo Gardermoen (where it can avail of low cost airport agreements at Stansted & Vilnius)
• Switch the remaining 8 Oslo Rygge routes to Oslo Torp, since Oslo Rygge has advised it cannot sustain reduced operations.
• All airlines operating in Norway had repeatedly warned of the damage this tax would have on Norwegian air travel and tourism and had urged the Norwegian Government to scrap their plans.
  
  Summary:
  Aside from the loss of over 500 jobs, the closure of Rygge to commercial traffic will also affect Norwegian (DY, Oslo Gardermoen) which offers regular flights to Las Palmas, Malaga, and Alicante through its Norwegian Air International (D8, Dublin Int’l) subsidiary.