RYANAIR CLOSES DOWN AT VALENCIA

Ryanair announced last week that it will close all its operations at Valencia Airport following a row with the Generalitat regional government over subsidies. Ryanair had sought funding to increase its operations at the airport, but the Generalitat said there was no money. Ryanair Deputy Chairman, Michael Cawley, said the Generalitat had refused to meet with them. He said it was "a very black day for Valencia Airport". Ryanair operates 70 flights a week from the airport to Stansted, East Midlands and Liverpool, among other destinations. It takes 750,000 passengers a year at Valencia where some 750 jobs could now be lost, although the airline said it wants to transfer the workers to its other bases in Spain - at Madrid, Reus, Alicante and Girona. Flights from ten routes to Bolonia, East Midland, Eindhoven, Liverpool, Maastricht, Malta, Oporto, Paris Beauvais and Santiago de Compostela will be cancelled from November 4th, and passengers will be offered a full refund.