Ryanair Launches 3 New Scottish Routes To Dublin & London, Edinburgh-London, Glasgow-London & Glasgo

Ryanair, Europe's favourite airline, today (3 July) announced significant growth for Scotland with 3 new routes between Edinburgh and London, Glasgow and London and Glasgow and Dublin (three times daily), as well as a new base at Glasgow International (Ryanair's 69th in total), which will deliver over 3m customers, as Ryanair invests over $450m in Scotland.

Ryanair's existing once daily flight from Glasgow Prestwick to Dublin will now switch to Glasgow Intl as part of an expanded 3 times daily business service between Glasgow and Dublin. Despite this switch Ryanair remains committed to its long standing base at Prestwick where the airline has a major maintenance facility and is currently in discussions with Glasgow Prestwick and the Scottish Government, its new owners, to explore growth opportunities to/from Prestwick.

From October 2014, Ryanair will deliver:

Edinburgh:

• 3 based aircraft
• 1 new business route to/from London Stansted (3 times daily)
• 16 winter routes in total
• 79 weekly return flights
• Over 1.8m customers p.a.

Glasgow International:

• New base (3rd in Scotland)
• 1 based aircraft
• 2 new business routes to/from Dublin and London Stansted (3 times daily)
• 7 winter routes in total (to/from Bydgoszcz, Derry, Riga, Warsaw Modlin & Wroclaw)
• 55 weekly return flights
• Over 850,000 customers p.a.

Glasgow Prestwick

• 1 based aircraft
• 7 winter routes in total (to/from Alicante, Barcelona Girona, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Malaga & Tenerife)
  13 weekly return flights
• Over 500,000 customers p.a.

Ryanair celebrated its Scottish growth and 3 new business routes by releasing 100,000 seats for sale across its European network, at prices from £19.99 for travel in August, September and October. These low fare seats are available for booking until midnight Monday (7 July). Ryanair's new Scottish routes go on sale on the Ryanair.com website tomorrow at fares from just £19.99, which are almost half of BA's and 40% cheaper than Easyjet's.

In Edinburgh today, Ryanair's Chief Commercial Officer, David O'Brien said:

"Ryanair is pleased to launch three new Scottish routes, between Edinburgh and London, Glasgow and London, and Glasgow and Dublin, starting this October, with three daily return flights on each route at fares starting from just £19.99, which are half of BA's fares and 40% cheaper than Easyjet's, in response to strong demand for Ryanair's low fares from Scottish consumers and business customers, and increased competition between Scottish airports. Ryanair will also open a new base at Glasgow International this winter, with 7 new routes and will deliver more than 500,000 new customers through Scottish airports this year.

Scottish consumers already choose Ryanair for our low fares, industry leading customer service and great route choice. Now they can also book their flights on our improved website, carry a free small 2nd carry-on bag, enjoy allocated seats, avail of our recently announced new Family Extra service, and use their personal electronic devices at all stages of their flight, making Ryanair the ideal choice for families and friends. We also have a new app and business product coming soon, as Ryanair continues to deliver so much more than just the lowest fares.

However, Scotland cannot fulfil its true tourism potential until Air Passenger Duty is removed and we would urge Scotland to follow the example of Ireland, where Ryanair has launched 21 new routes and will deliver over 1.2m new customers this year, in response to the Irish Government's welcome decision to scrap APD. Regardless of the outcome of the referendum, Scotland cannot unlock its full potential until APD is repealed."

*ACI research confirms up to 1,000 'on-site' jobs are sustained at international airports for every 1m customers