Ryanair announces €100m base at Leeds Bradford

DESPITE claims it has frozen growth at British airports Ryanair yesterday announced a €100 million expansion at Leeds Bradford airport.

The airline said it would still expand at “imaginative airports” where it got good deals despite the government travel taxes imposed at Irish and British airports.

Earlier this summer Ryanair said it had decided to freeze growth at its British bases.

It blamed the government’s £10 tourist tax and high airport charges.

However, a Ryanair spokesman said yesterday that negotiations with Leeds Bradford airport were taking place before this pledge and if the airline gets a good deal from an airport it would consider expansion there. Ryanair announced Leeds Bradford as its 34th base with two aircraft based there and 14 new routes.

Among the new routes is a three-times-a-week service to Knock airport starting at the end of March.

This latest expansion by Ryanair will bring an additional 59,000 seats a year to Knock.

Chief executive at Leeds Bradford John Parkin said Ryanair’s announcement makes the airport “an exception in the sector”.

“It shows Ryanair shares our confidence in the tremendous opportunity for strong market growth at the airport. Significantly it follows recent planning approval for the terminal development to deliver best in-class facilities and build upon existing routes,” he said.

Ryanair recently announced winter cutbacks at Dublin and Stansted, but Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said it was committed to expansion at lower-cost airports. He said Ryanair could have five aircraft based at Leeds within two years. “What we have at Stansted is a very high-cost airport that’s increasing charges and what we have at Leeds Bradford is a new management team that are reducing charges and developing a new low-cost airport terminal,” said Mr O’Leary.

Mr O’Leary also said people will continue to holiday abroad, but are switching to lower cost airlines. “The weather’s rubbish and so is the cricket. People want a couple of weeks in the sun. The only people I know who are staycationing are boring buggers like Gordon Brown,” he said.