Ryanair announces 40th base at Kaunas (Lithuania)

Ryanair, the world's favourite airline, today (9th Feb) announced it would open its 40th (and first Central European) base at Kaunas (Lithuania's second largest city) in May with 2 based aircraft and 18 routes (9 new). Ryanair's new base will deliver up to 1m passengers p.a. and sustain 1,000 jobs at Kaunas with over 120 weekly flights as Ryanair invests over $140 million at Kaunas Airport.

Ryanair also confirmed that it is in continuous negotiation with four other Central European airports to open bases and give consumers a choice and much lower fares than the high fares being charged by Air Baltic, WizzAir and other Central European airlines.

Ryanair celebrated its new Kaunas base by releasing 1 million €5 seats for travel on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on over 500 routes across its European network, in March. These €5 seats are available for booking on www.ryanair.com until midnight Thursday (11th Feb).

In Kaunas today, Ryanair's Michael O'Leary said:

"Ryanair is delighted to announce Kaunas as our 40th base with 18 routes from May 2010 which go on sale on www.ryanair.com tomorrow. Lithuanian consumers/visitors can beat the recession and escape Air Baltic's high fares by choosing Ryanair's lowest fares and our no fuel surcharge guarantee to 18 exciting destinations all over Europe including Germany, Italy and Spain among others. Ryanair's 1m passengers p.a. will sustain up to 1,000 jobs at Kaunas Airport."

Ryanair's Kaunas routes from May 2010