Ryanair plots expansion out of Edinburgh and Leeds Bradford

Ryanair is beefing up its UK programme, with service increases out of Edinburgh and Leeds Bradford Airport 

Ryanair Boeing 737-80a0 taking off from Dublin Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond

Edinburgh

Leeds Bradford Airport.

Ryanair’s Leeds Bradford based fleet will increase to 3 based aircraft, with the airline promising over 95 weekly flights and three new destinations including:

• Barcelona Reus
• Paris Beauvais
• Zadar

On the Edinburgh route launches, Ryanair’s Director of Commercial, Jason McGuinness said:

“As Europe’s and Edinburgh’s largest airline, Ryanair is pleased to deliver our biggest ever Edinburgh schedule with two additional based aircraft for Summer 2022 ($200m incremental investment). Ryanair’s Edinburgh based fleet will increase to 10 aircraft ($1bn total investment), 5 of which will be Boeing 737 8-200 Gamechanger aircraft. This larger fleet will deliver 65 routes in total, including 8 new routes to exciting destinations such as Nimes, Marrakesh, and Zadar along with increased frequencies to holiday favourites such as Malaga and Alicante.

Edinburgh Airport’s CEO Gordon Dewar said:  

“Ryanair’s continued expansion at Edinburgh is extremely encouraging and is a huge show of confidence in the Edinburgh market. Aviation will play an important role in the recovery of the Scottish and UK economies and to be in a position where Ryanair are offering more than they did pre-pandemic is a very good place for us to be in, especially when five of the based aircraft will be the quietest and most environmentally friendly in the industry.

“We know there’s a pent-up demand for travel and we want to offer choice to people, which is why we are looking to both retain and grow Edinburgh’s connectivity. We must work with partners including airlines and governments to ensure Scotland is flexible in its approach and is seizing new opportunities that arise.”

Ryanair’s Director of Commercial, Jason McGuinness said on the Leeds Bradford routes: 

“As Europe’s largest airline, Ryanair is pleased to deliver our Leeds Bradford schedule with one additional based aircraft for Summer 2022 ($100m incremental investment). Ryanair’s Leeds Bradford based fleet will increase to 3 aircraft ($300m total investment). This larger fleet will deliver 23 routes in total, including 3 new routes to exciting destinations such as Paris, Barcelona, and Zadar along with increased frequencies to holiday favourites such as Faro and Tenerife.

Always room for a snipe

It wouldn’t be a Ryanair PR if there wasn’t a big snipe at the government to reduce costs.  Ryanair’s Director of Commercial, Jason McGuinness dropped the usual snipe for Air Passenger Duty to go:

Efficient operations and competitive airport charges provide the foundation from which Ryanair can deliver long-term traffic growth and increased connectivity. We worked closely with our partners in Leeds Bradford/Edinburgh airport to secure this growth and improve the services for those that live, work, or wish to visit the region.

Ryanair now calls on the UK Government to further support this traffic recovery by scrapping APD completely. The 50% reduction proposed for 2023 is too little, too late for post-covid recovery since APD puts UK airports at a severe cost disadvantage versus their European competitors.

For passengers, however, there’s more choice for the Summer 22 season – always a good thing.

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