Ryanair Adds New Routes at Newcastle Airport.
Ryanair bosses praise airport bosses for being ahead of others in planning recovery for the aviation sector, and add 12 new routes with £150m investment at Newcastle Airport.
The Newcastle Chronicle is reporting that Ryanair is investing almost £150m in the North East with plans for 12 new routes and a permanent base for two of its aircraft. The Irish airline will next year have 63 flights a week from Newcastle International Airport flying to 19 destinations, with two airplanes based in the region, providing 60 new direct jobs and supporting an estimated 400 indirect jobs.
New routes to areas such as Milan, Menorca, Gran Canaria and Krakow will start next year, along with existing services to Alicante, Faro, Gdansk, Malaga, Dublin, Palma de Mallorca and Wroclaw.
Ryanair saw an opportunity to expand its services from Newcastle after budget airline rival easyJet last year closed its base in the region.
The company’s CEO Eddie Wilson praised airport bosses for being at the forefront of attracting new services, and said its investment at Newcastle would help the airport rebound quicker from what has been a disastrous period for the aviation sector. He said: “We are delighted to launch a new UK base, which represents a $200m investment at Newcastle. This development will create over 60 direct jobs and offer our UK customers a host of European hotspots to choose from next Summer, including popular destinations such as Paphos, Chania, Menorca, Ibiza and Zadar.
“We have seen massive demand for flights from Newcastle this summer as UK customers flock to the beaches of Spain and Portugal and now customers will have much wider choice next summer with the addition of these 12 new routes.”
He added: “People will always want to travel and there’s huge pent-up demand because they haven’t been able to for lots of reasons during the pandemic. Lots of things have been put on hold – family events, conferences – and they will come back. It will take a while but it will return, and if airports are doing their stuff now, as Newcastle has, they’ll be in the best position to grow.”
New routes starting next summer will go to Zadar, Paphos, Chania, Milan, Riga, Ibiza, Menorca, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Krakow.
But Mr Wilson said the permanent basing of two aircraft at Newcastle offered the opportunity to add more routes to the region in future years.
Newcastle International Airport chief executive Nick Jones said: “Today’s announcement from Ryanair to base two aircraft at Newcastle International Airport for summer 2022 is very significant news for both the airport and the region.
“Ryanair’s investment is a sign of growing confidence and will provide the North East public with a great selection of new destinations and extra weekly frequencies, providing more options for leisure and business travel. This will create new jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineering alongside support services, and will generate economic value for the wider area. The two based aircraft will see the number of routes operated from Newcastle by Ryanair increase from seven to 19, including some exciting new destinations such as Milan and Riga”.
“These new routes, alongside extra capacity on current services to destinations, provides our customers with choice not only on where to travel but also on the length of time when visiting friends and family, on holiday or away on business.”