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Stakeholders in Poitiers-Biard airport have been landed with a cruel dilemma, as the low-cost airline Ryanair demands an increase in subsidies, and threatens to quit the airport if it doesn’t get its way.

It has cost the local economy around 3 million euros over the last six years to tempt Ryanair into running regular services between Poitiers and the UK, but the company is putting pressure on the region’s airports to increase the amount they pay for “contribution marketing”, which is effectively a subsidy.  Angouleme airport has been asked to up its 2010 payment by 175,000 euros (see previous article), and now Poitiers is being asked to find an additional million euros.

The demand for extra cash has angered local officials, as Ryanair announced profits of over 380 million euros for the first half of 2009, a staggering result considering the plight of other airline companies who have been badly hit by the financial crisis and spiralling costs.

Elected officials from Poitiers and the surrounding areas have refused to pay the additional money, although the Poitou Charentes general council have offered to pay an additional 284,000 euros.

Despite the angry response from politicians, Poitiers-Biard has few options open to it, with no other airline showing an interest in operating services from there.  Without Ryanair, the future of the airport could be in jeopardy, with Airlinair the only other operator using the facility for domestic connections to Lyon.

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