Ryanair has opened a new base at Newcastle International airport and launched ten new routes.
The low-cost carrier will base two aircraft at Newcastle and offer 19 routes in total, with new routes to Chania, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Krakow, Menorca, Milan, Paphos, Riga and Zadar this summer.
The airline will operate over 130 weekly flights for the summer 2022 season, 40 more than during the pre-pandemic summer of 2019.
It said that the move represented an investment of US$200 million (£152m) and creates 60 direct new jobs.
Ryanair’s director of marketing, Dara Brady said:
“The opening of this base and introduction of these new routes from Newcastle reinforces our commitment to increasing connectivity, travel options and inbound tourism to the area as Ryanair will now offer 40% more capacity than it did pre-pandemic.
“We are delighted to open this new base and strengthen our relationship with Newcastle Airport, which will now host a fleet of two Ryanair aircraft.”
Newcastle International Airport’s chief executive, Nick Jones added:
“Today sees a significant investment and commitment from Ryanair at Newcastle International Airport which will also benefit the wider North East, creating hundreds of new jobs and providing an even bigger choice of destinations.
“From today, Ryanair will operate a total of 19 routes from our Airport, including the brand-new destinations of Zadar in Croatia, Chania in Crete, Milan in Italy and Riga in Latvia. We look forward to welcoming even more Ryanair passengers through our doors this summer.”
To celebrate the launch the airline is launching a seat sale with fares available from £19.99 for travel from March to October, which must be booked by Thursday March 31, 2022.
