CAIRO: European low-cost airline carrier Ryanair announced it would be reducing its Luton to Marrakech route to only two flights weekly this winter after a row with local support services. The airline said that 34 flights per week to Morocco would be canceled. Four flights a week between Stansted and Fez are among those being axed starting October 1. The cheap low-cost carrier is closing operations at Oujda airport, reducing 8 weekly frequencies at Nador, 6 at Fez, 8 at Marrakesh and four at Tangier, the company said. The move comes just days after it emerged that the Association of European Airlines had compiled a report alleging Ryanair has benefited from state subsidies worth hundreds of millions of euros. The AEA document reportedly alleges Ryanair would have lost €305 million (£250 million) in the last financial year without government support. Ryanair reported a profit of €503 million (£406 million) in the 12 months to the end of March. The budget carrier's chief executive Michael O'Leary denied the carrier received any state aid. The move to cut services to Morocco, which Ryanair claims will lead to a loss of 100,000 tourists, comes as the airline complained that country's airports authority ONDA had imposed unexpected cost rises. The airline said ONDA had refused to guarantee the continuation of the cost levels of its original deal.
