French Travel News-2010/2011 | Ryanair to close Marseille base but London route will remain

Low-cost airline Ryanair has announced that it will close its base in Marseille early next year, after local prosecutors refused to drop legal action over the carrier's working practices.

According to The Connexion, Ryanair will close its Marseille base on 11 January 2011 after magistrates charged the airline with hiring staff on Irish employment contracts. Ryanair effectively treats its Marseille staff as Irish employees, with workers receiving their pay from and paying their taxes to Ireland.

Ryanair argues that as its employees work on Irish-registered aircraft, they are technically working on Irish territory and should therefore follow Irish employment rules.

In response to the legal action, Ryanair will close its only French base and will also scrap 13 of its Marseille routes, including domestic links with Lille, Brest, Nantes, Paris and Tours.

However, ten other routes will remain and Marseille's link with London Stanstead is unaffected.

Marseille Provence airport is a popular destination for Britons embarking on French holidays in Provence and the Mediterranean coast. As such, regular holidaymakers are sure to be relieved that the London Stanstead route has avoided the axe,

In a statement yesterday, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said: 'We are very disappointed at this decision by the French authorities to initiate proceedings against Ryanair's base in Marseille, which complies fully with EU regulations for mobile transport workers.'

'These are not French jobs, but rather Irish jobs on Irish aircraft, which are defined by EU regulations as Irish territory. All of these people pay their tax and social insurance, in accordance with EU regulations, in Ireland and they remain fully tax compliant.'

'Sadly the loss of these 4 aircraft, 200 jobs and 12 routes at Marseille is the high price necessary to demonstrate that these are mobile Irish workers,' he added.


Author: J.Jeffries
Posted: 14/10/2010