Ryanair diversion policy is based on their own interest. Not of that of the passengers
When a Ryanair flights has to divert to another airport due to weather or closure of the destination airport, Ryanair has a passenger unfriendly policy for selecting the diversion airport. Not the closest airport is chosen but sometimes one many hundreds kilometers away. It is all about the money.
At January 21, 2024 multiple Ryanair flight diverted to remarkable airports far from the original destination. The reason was stormy weather. Some examples below. The explanation of these crazy diversions is given below.
Flight FR718 departed Manchester for London Stansted. The aircraft diverted to Budapest.
Flight FR6761 Seville to Edinburgh diverted to Cologne.
Flight FR2970 Tenerife to Edinburgh diverted to Cologne.
Flight FR816 Dublin to Edinburgh diverted to Cologne
Flight FR3598 Shannon to Edinburgh diverted to Cologne
Flight FR5911 Lanzarote to Dublin diverted to Bordeaux
Flight FR555 from Manchester to Dublin diverted to Paris Beauvais
flight RK9817 London Stansted to Edinburh diverted to Dublin
Flight FR9448 Malaga to Newquay diverted to Stansted
FR9078 Alicante to Leeds diverted to Glasgow
It is all about costs
Ryanair is a low-cost company. To be able to offer lower fares than the competition costs needs to be as low as possible. Ryanair has a single aircraft type in its fleet. Standardization reduces costs. Ryanair operates from many hubs in Europe. A hub is where dedicated aircraft and crew are based. The crew live in the area, travel to the airport in the morning, make a coupe of flights during the day and return to their house at the end of day. Ryanair crew hardly ever sleeps in a hotel This saves lots of money.
The reason for this strange diversion is costs. The decision to divert to an airport multiple hundred kilometers from the original destination is to get the aircraft on the airport for the next flight. All the diversion airports are Ryanair hubs. It is convenient for Ryanair to position the aircraft to the airport the aircraft is scheduled for the next flight. So Ryanair will never divert to an airport it does not operate from. That would be to expansive.
So buying a cheap ticket might end up in a remote place with no compensation offered by Ryanair and no information on how to get you back to your destination.
