Ciudad Real

[atoutprix]

The airport of Ciudad Real (half way between Madrid and Granada) announces a new Ryanair line to London Stansted, thrice a week, from May 25th, 2010.

http://www.aeropuertocentralcr.com/index.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Real_Central_Airport

[MrHoyt]

Wow, long runway and it looks big. But it's really in the middle of nowhere (by the looks from the picture on wiki).

Wouldnt be surprised if ryanair moved from barajas, im sure this airport has cheaper fees...

[RYRaddict]

They say it's 50min from Madrid but by AVE (high speed train), cause it's 200km away. I hope they will not move their base from Barajas to Ciudad real but I think it won't happen cause it's much too far. Ryanair will have 12 aircraft based at Madrid, it's their largest base on the continent (with CRL and HHN), and I don't think so many passengers would accept to fly there, especially on Spanish domestic routes, a huge part of their network at Madrid.

[danieln]

I guess the people flying to Ciudad Real are not interested in Madrid. But the airport is a perfect gateway to visit Andalucia. Cities like Cordoba and Toledo are within easy reach, as is Granada (okay, Granada is a FR airport as well.)

But for those who want a nice 3 or 4 day break: try Toledo and Cordoba!

[amnesia]

Wow! I saw this destination in other airlines but didn't know if FR would like to fly there, especially when they fly to Madrid.
About switching bases - no way! As one said, Madrid base has many domestic routes and it would make no sense to go for example from Barcelona to Girona, fly for minimal of €5 to Ciudad and then pay a lot for train. This will not count in time and financial aspects as there is large competition with local airlines like Spanair or Vueling... Also Madrid has a large airport with many connections to whole iberic world - this is very important for many passengers too. Also, spanish airports seems to be very cheap as Madrid is exception with FR's "far away from large city airports" policy and several rumours about entering Barcelona El-Prat has also appeared.
I think this is just another destination. Hope they will fly one day to some other western areas like Salamanca or Badajoz as those are empty fields on FR's destination map