Ryanair has announced plans to offer 14 new routes from London’s Stansted, Luton and Gatwick airports this winter.
The low-cost carrier will offer a total of 142 services from London airports during the winter 2021 schedules, including the following new routes:
- London Stansted to Helsinki, Oradea, Stockholm, Tampere, Trapani, Treviso and Zagreb
- London Luton to Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Grenoble, Naples, Shannon and Turin
- London Gatwick to Malaga
Announcing the news Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said that the carrier was “committed to re-building the London’s tourism industry, jobs and connectivity as we grow across Europe and recover air travel to pre-Covid levels”.
“As Ryanair takes delivery of 55 Boeing 737-8200 ‘Gamechanger’ aircraft this Winter, we are delighted to announce these 14 new routes from our three London airports in Stansted, Luton and Gatwick,” continued O’leary.
“We will also create over 500 new jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers this winter at our London airports as we gear up for more fleet and route growth in S2022.
“As vaccinations rise and consumer confidence returns, Ryanair again calls on the UK Government to scrap PCR tests for fully vaccinated arrivals and also to suspend APD (air passenger duty), to allow airlines and airports quickly recover connectivity, jobs and tourism in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.
“APD makes UK airports uncompetitive against lower cost EU airports, which is why Ryanair has added capacity at other EU airports in recent months in the likes of Zagreb, Stockholm, Billund and Riga.
“While Ryanair is committed to its London airports, the lack of Government support for aviation and tourism recovery creates further barriers to traffic and growth.”
Last month Business Traveller reported that Ryanair would be ceasing flights from London Southend, following a similar decision by Easyjet in 2020.
The news comes as Ryanair published its latest traffic figures for August 2021. The airline carried 11.1 million passengers over the month, up from 9.3 million in July. Load factors also increased slightly, from 80 per cent in July to 82 per cent in August.
