Ryanair to relocate CPH base to Lithuania

The airline confirmed in a press release on Friday that it will be officially closing down its Copenhagen base and relocating to Kaunas.

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair on Friday announced the closure of its recently opened base in Copenhagen to avoid a strike by Danish unions, but said it would continue to fly from the airport.

The airline said in a press release that it will relocate its Copenhagen base to Kaunas, Lithuania on July 14th. This would make the unions’ planned strike on July 18th illegal, the airline wrote.

“John Dybart of the Danish unions this week claimed that ‘Ryanair was bluffing’ when we threatened to close the whole Copenhagen base. Perhaps now he will realise that the Danish economy and the Danish unions cannot succeed by forcing Danish jobs overseas,” airline spokesman Eddie Wilson wrote in the press release.

“Perhaps Mr. Dybart will now call for the Danish offices of Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other non-union companies in Denmark to be closed since their employees, like Ryanair and other multinationals, don’t recognise Danish unions either,” Wilson added.

Ryanair’s only Copenhagen-based aircraft would be stationed in Kaunas in Lithuania starting on Tuesday, the company said.

The airline could end up leaving Billund as well.

“We have made it very clear that if there are sympathy actions in Copenhagen that affect Billund we will not accept it and in such case Billund could also be closed,” airline spokesman Eddie Wilson told DR on Wednesday.

Read full article in English at thelocal.dk