Ryanair this week has confirmed the early cancelation of 82 weekly flights to Rhodes and Kos, after DETAP and the Mayor of Kos failed to honour an agreed joint marketing campaign with Ryanair to promote Ryanair’s Rhodes and Kos routes this summer.

Ryanair will now close 11 routes to Kos and 13 routes to Rhodes, one month before the end of the summer season, resulting in the loss of over 23,000 high spending tourists and over €18m in tourism revenues to the local economy, after DETAP and the Mayor of Kos reneged on an agreement with Ryanair to promote these flights internationally. This promotion together with Ryanair’s low fares, would have guaranteed passenger growth and high spending tourists.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said,

“Ryanair originally intended to operate 11 Kos routes and 13 Rhodes routes to the end of the summer and these would have delivered over 23,000 passengers during October, providing increased tourism spending and sustaining local jobs.

However, DETAP and the Mayor of Kos have reneged on an agreement with Ryanair to jointly promote our flights and we have now been forced to cancel flights from 2 October

DETAP and the Mayor of Kos should now explain to Rhodes and Kos residents, why they have now refused to partner with the only airline interested in bringing new passengers, new jobs and millions in tourism revenues to the region.”