EVEN as the champagne was flowing last month at the opening of the new multi-million pound terminal, rumours were rife about the extent of Ryanair’s services at Bournemouth this winter.

An announcement in December last year of a second Boeing 737-800 based at Bournemouth from April was coupled with new routes and increased frequency to three of its more popular destinations and was unalloyed good news. It brought the airline’s investment in Bournemouth to more than £140 million.

But speculation about this winter has intensified, not least because it is still not possible to book flights from Bournemouth with Ryanair after the end of October and because of continued difficult trading conditions for all airlines.

After yesterday’s meeting with all ground crew and flight crew and senior executives, the picture is still not much clearer, though current discussions have nothing to do with any differences over landing charges.

Next week, however, will probably bring some clarity.

As problems have mounted in the aviation industry because of the global recession and more recently the Iceland volcanic ash crisis, all carriers have been trying desperately to cut costs.

Routes have been pulled, capacity slashed and planes mothballed.

It’s been the toughest trading period for decades, worse than after 9/11.

Ryanair has always had a reputation as an uncompromising negotiating partner, with chief executive Michael O’Leary cultivating his reputation as a tough talking, no nonsense boss.

An airline has little control over expenditure like fuel, maintenance and Eurocontrol costs (air traffic fees paid to fly across Europe) but can make considerable savings on salaries and other operating costs like landing fees – if airport owners are prepared to strike a good deal.

Often they are, banking that the volume of passenger traffic (and associated spending on car parking, catering and duty free) that Ryanair can bring will more than compensate for cheap or reduced landing fees.

One of Ryanair’s specialities has been to build up what’s called ancillary revenue – charging for bags, check-in and, if some reports are to be believed, possibly for using the toilets at some stage in the future.

They also charge staff for uniforms and training fees.

The company has also been especially good at computer driven yield management – mixing very cheap fares on flights (fly to Spain for £1 for instance) with selling other seats on the same plane for premium prices.

As Ryanair’s operations at Bournemouth have expanded they have found the same problem as other airlines – half of the airport’s limited catchment area is the sea.

Ryanair, who have been flying from Bournemouth since May 1996, when the operation consisted of just one daily route to Dublin, have steadily added another 14 destinations to their timetable from Bournemouth over the years including Ibiza, Malta, Dublin, Gran Canaria and Alicante.

If Ryanair does cut its capacity from Bournemouth, it may not be a disaster for the recently relaunched and revamped airport.

The insider said: “Most people in the industry have huge respect for what Ryanair do and how they do it. They do it very well. But I am sure some carriers look at airports dominated by Ryanair and decide they don’t want to get into some kind of air or route war and they walk away.

“They just don’t fancy that kind of tough competition.

“In the end, a scaled-back Ryanair programme could well work in Bournemouth’s favour.”

Whatever the outcome, this will be a tough winter – for all airlines.