Ryanair puts new summer 2019 routes on sale despite Brexit fears
Ryanair will base two additional aircraft at Luton next summer and launch six new routes from the airport to Alicante, Athens, Barcelona, Bologna, Cork and Malaga.
It will also offer new flights from Stansted to Kiev, Lviv in Ukraine (pictured) and Nantes.
It total, it will operate 23 new routes from airports in the southeast next summer, including 14 from Southend to Alicante, Bilbao, Brest, Copenhagen, Cluj in Romania, Corfu, Dublin, Faro, Kosice in Slovakia, Malaga, Milan, Palma, Reus and Venice.
The airline said it had had put 26 million seats on sale from Stansted, Gatwick, Luton and Southend for next summer, despite its fears that flights between the UK and Europe could be grounded from March when Britain leaves the EU.
Chief executive Michael O’Leary said: "We remain concerned at the increasing risk of a hard (no-deal) Brexit in March 2019. While we hope that a 21-month transition agreement from March 2019 will be agreed, recent events in the UK have added uncertainty, and we believe that the risk of a hard Brexit (which could lead to flights being grounded for a period of days or weeks) is being underestimated."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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