It was all systems go this afternoon as the inaugural Ryanair flight from Nuremberg, Germany, carrying 161 passengers landed at Madeira International Airport.
Although the plane arrived later than scheduled it created a mass media storm, as several guests including the President of the Regional Government, Miguel Albuquerque and the Regional Secretary for Tourism and Culture, Eduardo Jesus were in attendance.
Talking to reporters, the President of Madeira confirmed that Ryanair will provide 365,000 seats per year for four years, which will represent 22% of current regional market. He went on to say, that it is important to attract new markets, as well as increase mobility and the competitiveness of existing markets. However, he did acknowledge that a workable solution to the airports inoperability due to bad weather needs to be addressed.
Never a true word said in jest, as two Ryanair flights, one from Stanstead and the other from Lisbon were unable to land because of bad weather, and had to either diverge or return to Lisbon.
Not a good start!
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
