Ryanair announces new routes from Edinburgh

Ryanair has announced that it will operate eight new Edinburgh routes to Barcelona (Girona), Brussels (Charleroi), Gdansk, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Memmingen (Munich West), Oslo (Torp) and Tenerife this winter (from 30 Oct) and the airline is also extending its summer routes to/from Malta and Rome (Ciampino).

Ryanair will offer 26 exciting routes from Edinburgh this winter – a 42% increase on last year’s winter schedule of 19 routes.

Ryanair’s winter schedule will concentrate on outbound winter sun and city breaks as Gordon Brown’s £11 tourist tax continues to devastate inbound UK tourism and visitor numbers. Ryanair will carry 2 million passengers through Edinburgh this year, which will sustain 2,000 local jobs.

Ryanair celebrated these eight new routes and increased winter traffic by releasing 1 million £4 seats, for travel across its European network in late Sept, Oct and Nov, which are available for booking on ryanair.com before midnight Sunday 23 August.

Speaking in Edinburgh today, Ryanair’s Head of Sales & Marketing Lesley Kane said;

“Ryanair and Edinburgh today=2 0celebrate eight new winter routes and 2 million passengers p.a. These exciting new routes go on sale tomorrow and will begin from 30 October. With a total of 26 l ow fare routes from Edinburgh this winter, passengers can beat the recession by flying at Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel surcharges to exciting destinations all over Europe. Ryanair’s 2 million passengers will sustain 2,000 local jobs in Edinburgh and its surrounding regions.

“To celebrate these new routes and our increased winter schedule for Edinburgh, Ryanair is offering 1 million £4 seats for travel across Europe in late September, October and November. These seats will be snapped up fast and are available for booking on ryanair.com before midnight Sunday. Seats on the new routes from Edinburgh are available from £10 for booking from tomorrow until Friday 28 August for travel until March 2010.”

Managing Director of Edinburgh Airport, Gordon Dewar said:

"We are delighted that Ryanair have once again committed to expanding their operation out of Edinburgh Airport, now the fastest growing airport anywhere in the UK.

"These are exciting new destinations, which will give our increasing numbers of passengers an even greater choice of places to jet off to this winter. We are particularly pleased to see new routes to Germany, Spain and Norway, key tourism markets for Scotland, particularly over the Christmas and New Year period. It is great news for the airport and I have no doubt these new services will continue to allow us to buck the trend that has seen traffic decline at most other airports."