Ryanair opens seven new routes

Ryanair is to serve seven new destinations from April 5.

Europe's largest low fares airline announced the new routes as it took a swipe at competitors, saying that air travellers have been paying too much for too long.

The new routes from London's Stansted airport are Brussels, Gothenberg, Salzburg, Esbjerg in Denmark, Pescara in Italy and Stockholm.

Ryanair's Chief Executive, Michael O'Leary said he believes Europe's consumers have been ripped off by the high fare carriers for far too long now.

He added: "We can save our customers many hundreds of millions of pounds a year by giving consumers a choice over the rip off airfares they were previously forced to pay when flying with the flag carrier airlines."

Through its extra routes and flights the company expects to grow its traffic from 7 to 9 million passengers over the coming year,

Before the new destinations were announced, the carrier already operated 45 routes through 11 countries.

It employs more than 1,500 people and will carry over 7 million passengers this year

The new routes have been announced weeks after what the budget airline described as a record third quarter.

The number of passengers rose by 39% to 1.9 million, whilst adjusted profits after tax rose by 42% to 21.3m euros (£13.6m), compared to the previous quarter.