Ryanair has announced its largest ever summer schedule from its London airports, with the launch of 14 new routes.
The low-cost carrier will offer a total of 181 routes from London Gatwick, Luton and Stansted, with new destinations including Burgas, Catania, Helsinki, Lublin, Maastricht, Madeira, Menorca, Naples, Orebro, Stockholm, Tampere, Tangier, Trapani and Vaxjo.
When announcing the new routes, Ryanair’s group chief executive Michael O’Leary said that the government has missed the opportunity to accelerate the recovery of tourism and jobs this summer by delaying the reduction in Air Passenger Duty until 2023.
In a statement, he said:
“Despite launching our biggest ever schedule, the UK Govt failed to support this recovery by delaying the reduction in APD until 2023. Ryanair again calls on the UK Govt to scrap APD completely, to allow airlines and airports to quickly restore traffic, jobs, and tourism.
“The 50% reduction proposed for 2023 is too little, too late as APD puts UK airports at a severe cost disadvantage versus European competitors, and the absence of Govt support for aviation and tourism recovery creates further barriers to UK traffic and growth.”
