Ryanair has scrapped its membership scheme after the airline revealed it was forking out more in discounts than the money generated from subscriptions.
The budget airline launched the ‘Prime’ service to customers in April, promising jetsetters the chance to save up to £351 a year.
For a fee of £66, subscribers were treated to a number of perks, including reserved seats, free travel insurance and access to member-exclusive seat sales.
But today Ryanair announced ‘Prime’ would not be continued.
Some 55,000 people signed up to the service and £3.8million was generated for the company – but a whopping £5.3m was handed out in discounts.
Chief marketing officer Dara Brady said: ‘Over the years, customers have asked for a Ryanair members scheme, so we trialled this ‘Prime’ scheme over the last 8 months.
‘To date, we have signed up over 55,000 Prime members, generating over €4.4m (£3.8m) in subscription fees.
‘However, our Prime members have received over €6m (£5.3m) in fare discounts, so this trial has cost more money than it generates.
Ryanair has scrapped its Prime membership scheme after the airline revealed it was forking out more in discounts than the money generated from subscriptions
‘This level of memberships, or subscription revenue does not justify the time and effort it takes to launch monthly exclusive Prime seat sales for our 55,000 Prime members.’
The low-cost airline added that those who signed up can continue to have access to ‘exclusive flight and seat savings for the remainder of their 12-month membership.’
Ryanair’s latest announcement comes a week after revealing it is no longer operating flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, with the destination having been removed from its online map.
The airline said it had been impacted by higher rates charged by Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport for use of the main terminal, while the cheaper low-cost terminal remains closed for security reasons.
Ryanair also grounded flights next year to a popular Portuguese destination – because of EU taxes.
The Irish low-cost airline revealed it would not be running flights to and from the Azores, Portugal’s mid-Atlantic archipelago, from March 29 next year.
The budget carrier said the decision had been made because of increased Air Traffic Control charges, a new €2 travel tax and high airport fees.
The move will result in a loss of six different routes to and from the Azores, which, in total, carried 400,000 passengers a year.
The low-cost airline added that those who signed up to ‘Prime’ can continue to have access to ‘exclusive flight and seat savings for the remainder of their 12-month membership’
Ryanair hit out at ‘French airport monopoly ANA’ which they claim ‘has no plan to grow low-fare connectivity to the Azores’ and is responsible for the airport fees.
The airline called for the Portuguese government to ‘intervene’ and make sure the country’s airports ‘benefit’ locals instead.
And last month, Ryanair announced it would scrap 24 routes to and from Germany, cutting nearly 800,000 seats in total.
It comes as tensions rise over what the airline describes as an ‘exorbitant’ air travel tax.
Ryanair, which describes itself as Europe’s number one airline, said the move will affect nine German airports, including Berlin, Hamburg and Memmingen, while Dortmund, Dresden and Leipzig will remain closed.
As a result, Ryanair’s overall capacity in Germany will fall below Winter ’24 levels.
The low-cost airline blames the government policies for damaging the country’s competitiveness within the European market.
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