Comment: David Parkin on Ryanair’s Yorkshire arrival

RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary would be impressed.

There have been no shortage of opinions already from our readers about Ryanair’s announcement yesterday that it is investing £80m to create a base at Leeds Bradford International Airport.

If there is one subject in particular that gets business people to react, it is the issue of transport – and Leeds Bradford International Airport in particular. The comments added to our Breaking News story yesterday were not just enlightening but highly entertaining and in some cases, made this reader laugh out loud and you can click hear to read them.

One man who would be impressed by such forthright views is the always outspoken Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary who flew into Leeds yesterday declaring that it is being boosted by Britons wanting to escape poor summer weather and the England cricket team’s performance.

“People want a couple of weeks in the sun. The only people I know who are ‘staycationing’ are boring buggers like Gordon Brown,” he said.

The consensus is that people are pleased with Ryanair’s arrival as it adds more routes from the airport, some which will compete head-to-head with existing carrier Jet2.com which dropped any pretensions about being a low-cost airline long since.

A bit of competition on the Malaga and Palma routes will do no harm, given that it can cost around £300 for a return flight via Jet2.com during the peak holiday season.

President of the Leeds Chamber of Commerce, Gary Lumby, added his voice to the debate, saying: “Strong aviation links are key to a regions success, so we welcome the decision with open arms. It is a fantastic boost to the local economy – which will benefit from the extra tourism and business, as well as the significant increase in regional employment opportunities. “

Business travellers are concerned that most of the new routes added are clearly to leisure destinations, but let’s take this one step at a time.

For LBIA’s senior team of John Parkin and Tony Hallwood to have achieved this during the current recession is a coup. What it will do is add further momentum to owner Bridgepoint’s £28m terminal expansion plan which is part of a wider £70m investment project at the airport.

Goodness knows it needs it. Now, with Ryanair promising to add 1m new passengers a year to the current 2.6m, the airport’s chiefs can push ahead with the plans which gained planning approval from Leeds City Council last month.

Given the current economic climate we can’t expect business flights to be any airline’s priority from LBIA. But the arrival of Ryanair, the improvement of the terminal building and the subsequent momentum will help attract business carriers when an improvement in the economy comes.

And let’s hope sometime before that, passengers will be able to get a decent cup of coffee at LBIA and eat in surroundings that are one step below what is offered at a transport caff on the A1.