29 February 2008

Ryanair to fly 19 routes from Edinburgh

Ryanair is to open 17 new routes from Edinburgh by creating its second Scottish base after Prestwick.

The budget carrier will base two aircraft at Edinburgh airport from September to handle the majority of the new services.

The move will see the route network expand from existing links to Dublin and Shannon.

Ryanair claims the expansion will sustain 1,200 jobs and generate visitor spend of more than Ã&#pound;100 million based on a projected 1.2 million passengers a year.

A new route opening next month will be to Alicante, followed in April by Bremen, Frankfurt, Marseille and Pisa.

The bulk of the new destinations will start being served in September when Berlin, Billund, Bournemouth, Bratislava, Krakow, Lodz, Malaga, Palma, Poznan, Stockholm and Wroclow are introduced.

The domestic route between Edinburgh and Bournemouth will be served with 13 flights a week, while the other points receive between two and four flights a week.

Special fares of Ã&#pound;10 are being made available on all the new routes until midnight onb Monday.

The airline's scheduled revenue director Sean Coyle said: "Edinburgh has competed successfully against airports across Europe for Ryanair's 27th base.

"Our 19 routes will deliver significant economic benefits for Edinburgh by capitalising on Scotland's huge tourism potential and making it cheaper and easier than ever before to get here."

by Phil Davies