How is Ryanair’s Irish domestic route from Kerry to Dublin doing?

Ryanair operates one domestic route in their home country of Ireland, which is the service between Kerry and Dublin. This is one of two domestic routes in the country, the other being the Dublin to Donegal route operated by Emerald Airlines for Aer Lingus Regional.

Both routes were historically operated as a Public Service Obligation, meaning they were subsidised by the Irish Government. While the Donegal route is still a PSO, the Kerry services are operated commercially.

The Commercial Domestic Route

Ryanair’s press release issued on 14 July 2021 trumpeted the fact that the €3,950,000 annual subsidy would no longer be required. They were going to operate the service as a commercial route.

Kerry Airport is the only airport in the Republic of Ireland with a train station a short walk away. Eager to try out the new domestic route, I took the train from Dublin to Farranfore and then paid the cheap €19.99 Ryanair fare to fly back home to Dublin. It went like clockwork, convenient, quick and cheap.

Current Schedule and Pricing

As promised, they are operating a twice daily service. FR611 leaves Dublin at 9:10am, 9:20am, 9:40am, 9:45am or 10am depending on what day of the week it is. The afternoon service, FR6677, leaves the capital at 3:30pm, 4pm, 4:05pm, 4:10pm and 4:35pm over the week.

In the other direction, FR612 leaves Kerry at 10:30am, 10:40am, 11am, 11:05am and 11:15am. The evening service, FR6678, heads north at 4:45pm, 5:20pm, 5:25pm, 5:30pm, 5:50pm and 5:55pm.

The introductory fares of €19.99 each way have been consigned to the past, with the lowest fare now being €47.99 each way. When looking at the other domestic route, Dublin to Donegal, Aer Lingus Regional are charging €36.99 and €39.60 as their lead in price.

That makes the pricing largely similar, yet the Donegal route benefits from a government subsidy whereas the Kerry route does not. I think the money Ryanair charge for their domestic route is fair, based on this information.

What Is Happening Today?

According to this article from January, the Kerry Airport CEO states, “Ryanair has made every effort to recover the Kerry-Dublin route, and recent passenger numbers exceed 2019, when it was at its most successful.” The service also went viral when a 98FM presenter did a TikTok documenting the journey, proving it was cheaper and faster to fly than driving between Dublin and Kerry.

Looking at the train journey, the lowest price you will get is €24.99 each way and takes 3 hours and 41 minutes. That makes the Ryanair flight pricing positioned quite fairly overall, I’d say.

Overall Thoughts

It’s great to see Ryanair continuing to plug away on the route between Kerry and Dublin. As their only domestic route, let’s hope they continue to operate the service. It is especially convenient out of Kerry, as the airport is very small, so getting through it fast.

Domestic passengers used to have a separate security screening area in Dublin Airport, which was for domestic and crew. Perhaps something to enhance the service Dublin side would be for Dublin Airport to provide free Fast-Track security to Kerry passengers. Knowing security will only take you 10 minutes at most means you could arrive at the facility quite close to departure and save even more time.

What do you think of the Ryanair route from Dublin to Kerry? Have you flown on it before and was it very busy? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Ryanair.