Ryanair adds five routes to Shannon

Ryanair yesterday announced five additional routes to its Shannon winter schedule which commences at the end of October.

The new services will be to Paris, Berlin, Fuerteventura, Warsaw and Krakow.

The other routes operated by the airline across the winter schedule will be Gatwick, Lanzarote, Liverpool, Stansted and Wroclaw.

Shannon Airport chief executive Neil Pakey said: “This is a very important commitment by Ryanair to its Shannon schedule. We are already experiencing a significant upswing in summer passenger numbers thanks to the airline’s nine new routes which started at the beginning of April.

“A major objective of ours after securing those new summer services was to bolster the winter season and this is a significant move in that regard.”

Shannon, Airport chairman Rose Hynes said: “We have forged a strong relationship with Ryanair since the airport was made independent and this is making a significant contribution to the re-emergence of Shannon Airport as a catalyst for growth across this region.

“Shannon needs to be sustainable across the entire year and these five new routes are helping us improve the balance across the two seasons.”

Ryanair’s chief commercial officer David O’Brien said the scrapping of the air travel tax from April last year by Finance Minister Michael Noonan had restored Ireland’s competitiveness and attractiveness to overseas visitors.

Mr O’ Brien said they were not adding any new routes at Cork this year due to the high charges there.

He said: “Shannon has reduced its prices for Ryanair. The initiatives at Shannon give us the confident to apply more capacity here.”

He said an independent Shannon, freed from the Dublin Airport Authority, appeals to Ryanair.