Ryanair announces new Manchester base

Ryanair announced (12-Jul-2011) plans to launch its 45th base at Manchester Airport in Oct-2011, basing two aircraft at the airport and launching 17 routes. The LCC plans to increase the based fleet to four aircraft and expand the network to 26 routes by summer 2012. Ryanair stated its services will deliver up to 2 million passenger p/a at Manchester on up to 260 weekly flights and sustain 2000 jobs. It claims it is investing GBP175 million in the base. The 26 routes from Manchester include Alicante, Barcelona, Bezier, Biarritz, Bremen, Brussels Charleroi, Dublin, Faro, Frankfurt Hahn, Ibiza, Katowice, Madrid Barajas, Malaga, Memmingen, Milan Bergamo, Murcia, Oslo, Palma, Paris Beauvais, Reus, Rome, Rzeszow, Tallinn, Tours, Tenerife and Valencia. Ryanair pulled out of Manchester in 2010 following a dispute with Manchester Airports Group about charges at the airport. [more]