AviationGeeks.com - Ryanair Loses to High-Speed Trains

We have earlier written about the increased competition airlines are facing from high-speed trains. Ryanair recently announced that they would pull out of the Madrid – Valencia route due to the new AVE high-speed train service between the two cities. 

Ryanair operated 3 daily flights from Madrid to Valencia.

The train takes 90 minutes to travel between Madrid and Valencia while it takes 60 minutes to fly – but that’s not calculating the two hours it takes to check-in, go through security, wait at the gate, and board. In addition to the obvious time advantage, the trains have better on-time performance, their cheaper and more comfortable with greater seat pitch and the train stations are more conveniently located.

This is similar to what happened when a new high-speed train was introduced between Paris and Brussels – flight frequency decreased considerably.

It’s very likely that we will see similar developments for routes between major cities in Europe and in Asia. It’s evident that airlines cannot compete with high-speed trains on legs that are 1-3 hours. Airlines like Ryanair is especially vulnerable to these trains as their main routes are the ones that are most suitable for high-speed trains.

Iberia has also announced that they will not continue with their daily Madrid – Valencia flights.