Ryanair will carry over five summer routes from Shannon Airport this winter, it has announced.
The airport's winter schedule, which starts at the end of October, will see Ryanair retain its new Paris, Berlin, Fuerteventura, Warsaw and Krakow routes, all of which started in April (see news, October 2013).
The budget airline will operate a total of ten routes this winter, five more than last year. The other Ryanair routes across the winter schedule will be to Gatwick, Lanzarote, Liverpool, Stansted and Wroclaw.
Neil Pakey, Shannon Airport CEO, said: "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."
Airport chairman Rose Hynes said she hopes the new routes will act as a "catalyst" for growth across the region.
She said: "Shannon needs to be sustainable across the entire year and these five new routes are helping us improve the balance across the two seasons.
"The new routes all have strong demand and a major positive also is the potential for inbound tourism in the off-peak period, which is extremely important for not just Shannon Airport but the region."
Graham Smith
