Ryanair looks for Polish government support for ambitious growth
By Alan Charlish
WARSAW (Reuters) - Ryanair is hoping that Poland's new pro-European government will support its growth plans in the country which assume a doubling in size over the next 6-8 years, CEO Michael O'Leary said on Tuesday.
A new government headed by former European Council President Donald Tusk took power in Poland in December after 8 years of nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party rule.
"I think the previous government were interested in holding down that growth. They didn't want Ryanair to expand, so we ran into a lot of political interference," O'Leary told Reuters.
"We hope the new government will be more outward looking...the more Poland looks toward the EU...the better that will be for Poland, the Polish economy and for Ryanair's growth in Poland."
The company said it plans to raise passenger numbers in Poland - the largest country in the European Union's eastern wing - by 10% to 18 million this year. It announced 30 new routes from the country for a total of 300.
"We have ambitious plans to double in size in Poland over the next 6-8 years but what we need here is increased infrastructure," O'Leary said.
He said Ryanair had not yet met with the new government but hopes an agreement on its growth plans could be reached this year.
In addition to complaints about capacity constraints, particularly at two airports around Warsaw - Modlin and Warsaw Chopin Airport - Ryanair has criticised the former government's plans to build a new airport in central Poland, the Solidarity Transport Hub.
"The central airport plan was the dumbest plan ever invented by a pretty dumb government… it has never made any sense, we have always been opposed to it, it is stupid," O'Leary said.
"This is what the communists used to do: 'we'll build an airport in Siberia and everybody will use it because we say you all have to use it'. It doesn't work that way."
The new government is re-examining plans for the construction of the hub, which was envisaged to be operational in 2028, serving 40 million passengers per year. Construction work has yet to be started.
O'Leary said the airline plans to invest in Ukraine and planned to fly from the country within six weeks of skies reopening for commercial flights which were halted due to Russia's invasion in 2022.
"We will be the largest airline in Ukraine the minute the war ends."
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, writing by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Ros Russell)
